The Cyberbully is a telemovie about a girl who is online, talking to her friends, until all of a sudden everything changes.
Anything more than that is a spoiler.
I will say that this was such compelling and relevant viewing. What was so good was the way Maisie portrayed her character. I mean she’s still young herself, so a lot of the things addressed in this film is probably what she’s seeing day to day, even more than me, and I’m not that much older. But I loved how relevant this was. Crazy things are happening these days as a result of technology, and I think some of the older messages are outdated. This was very powerful. It’s almost a modern horror story. I don’t watch any horror, but this was stuff of nightmares.
I give it a 9/10. I couldn’t look away.
Okay so we have a stranger hack Casey’s laptop, and threaten her that if she doesn't do what they command, they’re going to upload nude pictures of her. That in itself is frightening. It was almost too late at that point though. The mere fact that someone has access to those photos is enough. They have all the power. What is truly scary is that at any time, someone can hack into what’s yours, and while there may be laws against it, there’s nothing you can do to prevent it except not posting anything in the first place. The problem is that everyone has a camera these days, so even if you were to go so far as to not having any social media accounts, someone else could just take your picture without your knowledge and run with it. I mean just think of the people who get memes made of them. They’re almost never intentional, but they have to deal with the fact that their picture is used by anyone with any tagline attached.
Anyway, Casey had a difficult decision to make. Either overdose on her medication, or her nude pictures would be leaked. In the end, she does choose to shut down her computer, and let whatever happen, happen. But you could understand how scary that would be. I think that’s a key take home message there- don’t take nudes if you’re not comfortable with everyone on the planet seeing them. I think the right choice was made though. As horrible as that decision is, people do forget. It won’t ever be erased from the internet, but people move on.
What was incredibly sad was Jessica’s story. That was another great point that shone through. You don’t know what the person you are picking on is going through. It’s something that’s scared me about being online and being part of social groups online. You just don’t truly know who you’re talking to and how they’ll react to things. You have to be so careful about what you say, positive or negative, to ensure that you tread carefully and truly understand the power of your words. I've never written anything truly nasty about a video that I don’t like or that I think is bad, I just leave it be. I think for that video, that’s all Casey needed to do. Sure it was bad, and if anything she could have told Jessica to her face how she felt, rather than cowering behind anonymity. Saying that I just realised only 2 weeks ago, this sort of thing happened to someone in my school. Someone posted something really hurtful anonymously. It got taken to the top, but just remembering that happened reminded me that this isn't necessarily an issue just for youngins. It happens to everyone.
What I loved the most about this film was the way they had the social queues of youngins down. Like when Casey was talking about Jessica’s last video and commenting on how long it is and how typical the song choice was, I found it really clever. Casey was queued on too. Like she was suspicious about who she was talking to from the outset, but nothing could have prepared her for what happened afterwards. Even the way she would call her best friend horrible names, because that’s just what we do these days. I am pretty glad social media became as big as it is when I was on the right side of my teens otherwise I may have struggled. Or thrived. I like to think that I’m good with my written word. I could have helped some people out.
Arguably the best message out of this is the fact that Casey was pinned as the bully rather than the victim. In many ways she was a bully, but the fact a random hacked her was truly messed up. But you could see the experience showed Casey how truly not nice she is, and how hurtful the things she said were. And they were recorded.
All in all, a very important film. I thought the ending was kinda weird, but other than that I thought it was incredibly well done.
So I made these edits to represent the evil thoughts that plague us all when we look in the mirror. Bullying is a real issue and many people don't even know that they are bullying when they are putting someone else down. So I ask of you all to PLEASE reblog this and sign my petition to make bullying a bigger deal in the classroom. A kid should NOT hate them self because of something that someone else has said.
I don't even want to bring up everything wrong with this movie. I mean, it's amazing that they are putting this information out there to make people stop bullying but it's not even factual. The only part that was somewhat realistic was the scene where she was on the floor in her moms arms crying. That part hit me hard. But what pissed me the most off is that they took her to a hospital and didn't even admit her to the mental health unit. They also prescribed tranquilizers to even her mood out and that they want her to sleep this off. Okay, like what the fuck. And even the bullying was over dramatic. At least for me it seemed pretty harsh for what really happens. In my school, no one fucking believes anything online. I'm pretty sure who ever does is an idiot. No one will publicly call someone a homo or fairy because they are gay unless they wanted to commit social suicide. Also, the fact that all these characters see each other periodically through the day as much as they do isn't even realistic. I live in a really small town and we have at least 3,000 kids and that's a fucking lot. Not to mention how large the school is. I'm only pissed off because they didn't talk about treatment for after the semi suicide attempt. What really hit me hard was when her mom said "I almost lost her." I was just sitting there like, no, you didn't. She wasn't in any harms way. She did not take the pills or had anything done to her. Try actually getting your stomach pumped or seeing your child get their arm sewed up right in front of you. I do like how they addressed one of her friends catfishing as this guy. I don't even know why i'm saying this. It just pissed me off -.-
