I am both a gender studies and marketing minor and this semester I am finishing up my last gender studies credits. In my class today we watched a trailer for a movie that is set to release soon called Bully. It is a documentary film being made by the Weinstein Company which is a very credible company, having also contributed to the making of The Iron Lady, My Week with Marilyn, and The Artist. The film shows how parents band together who have lost a child due to the mental, emotional, and physical pressures of bullying. The trailer itself is extremely emotional and very powerful. It shows how the excuse that "boys will be boys" cannot be acceptable in schools. In addition, it accuses school staff members of not taking responsibility for creating a safe space. School should be a safe place for children to learn and be themselves. Of course, it is difficult to enforce such behavior, but the film shows that there needs to be consequences when children have lost their lives.
However, there is controversy over the rating of the film because it is currently rated R, yet many people argue that this means that teenagers (who are the ones being bullied) will not be able to see it. It certainly makes sense to me that they should lower the rating to PG 13 which is what they are hoping to do.
I think it will be somewhat of a struggle to market this movie and get people to actually spend the money to go see it. I say this because a lot of people are leery about seeing such a sad movie. Based on the trailer alone, I think a lot of people would say that they would rather rent it when it comes out later, simply because it would be a hard movie to watch. I think it's difficult to market a movie that has such intense content like this.
How do you think this film will be received, and what factors contribute to you/someone wanting or not wanting to see it?
Wow, this was a really worthwhile project for the Weinstein Company to undertake. I think that regardless of how it is received, the important thing is that it got made and that they are spreading awareness of the huge bullying problem we have in this country. The Weinstein Company probably knew this would be a difficult film to market and would not draw the crowds that star-studded blockbusters do; but they produced it anyway and that says a lot about them.
I do agree that the rating should be lowered, because in order for it to be successful in spreading its message, it needs to be accessible to the appropriate demographic--teens in school.
I think it's ironic that we just read the Emotions section of MTS and this movie sounds like it plays out on all sorts of our emotions. I do agree with you that it probably is very hard to market this movie to a general audience, but I think there are probably smaller markets that would jump on this movie and really promote it. In addition, I agree with Jillian in her saying it's a worthwhile project to undertake. More people would rather overlook bullying and pretend it's not there, than look at the realities that this movies presents.
Wow, this was a really worthwhile project for the Weinstein Company to undertake. I think that regardless of how it is received, the important thing is that it got made and that they are spreading awareness of the huge bullying problem we have in this country. The Weinstein Company probably knew this would be a difficult film to market and would not draw the crowds that star-studded blockbusters do; but they produced it anyway and that says a lot about them.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that the rating should be lowered, because in order for it to be successful in spreading its message, it needs to be accessible to the appropriate demographic--teens in school.
I think it's ironic that we just read the Emotions section of MTS and this movie sounds like it plays out on all sorts of our emotions. I do agree with you that it probably is very hard to market this movie to a general audience, but I think there are probably smaller markets that would jump on this movie and really promote it. In addition, I agree with Jillian in her saying it's a worthwhile project to undertake. More people would rather overlook bullying and pretend it's not there, than look at the realities that this movies presents.
ReplyDelete