A Christmas Story- A Tale of Bullying

I’m pretty sure almost all Americans have seen at least clips from this movie. In many households, it is on 24/7 on TBS on Christmas Day. A Christmas Story is an American Classic that shows a glimpse into the “good ole days” in the eyes of a young Ralphie. One nostalgic thing from the movie is the neighborhood bully, Scut Farkus. Scut constantly terrorizes everyone in the neighborhood and at school. Bullying is an unhealthy relationship and this movie has a lot of examples of how that plays a role in everyone’s lives.

See this video:

In this video, Scut is preying on Ralphie and his friends and terrorizing them just for fun. This video teaches us that bullying takes on many forms similar to unhealthy dating relationships: there’s intimidation and threats, put-downs, and sometimes physical abuse.

To deal with a bully in a healthy way, talk to a trusted authority figure. To be an UpStander and not a bystander to bullying make sure that it is safe to intervene first. Then try talking to the bully, especially if you are friends with them, saying things like “that’s not cool” and “I know you can be a better person” might actually cause the bully to think about their actions.