TOW #28

The documentary that I watched, called Bully, was about bullying in schools across the country, and the negative effects that it can have on the lives of many children. The people who made the film, the Weinstein Company, wanted to do a documentary about something that was important to the American people to try to make a change, and this was the exact way that they decided to go about it. The documentary features first-person accounts of people who have dealt with bullying and who have been negatively affected by bullying, including parents who have lost their kids to suicide because of bullying in school. Their stories and personal accounts make the documentary heartfelt, sincere, and beneficial as far as knowing how far bullying reaches to the hearts and minds of the kids and families affected.

The purpose of this documentary was to highlight bullying and the trauma that it can cause for everyone involved. People who are bullied have different negative reactions, ranging from suicide attempts, both failed and succeeded, self harm, or bringing a gun to school buses to protect themselves from the bullies. Families of bullying victims have to sit by and watch their children suffer, helpless to do anything but take them out of the school they were bullied in and move elsewhere. For families where this is not an option, they may lose their child to suicide or watch their child be thrown into juvenile detention centers for finally striking back against the bullies.

The most useful device in this documentary to highlight the main idea of the film were the personal testimonies of children who had been bullied or who were being bullied, or of parents who had lost their children to suicide. Truly heartbreaking scenes where parents break down because of the loss of their child made a very strong emotional appeal to the audience and made them understand the need for a change in how school systems approach and deal with bullying. The serious consequences of being a bully or having been bullied need to be more at the forefront of our minds when we think about the education system, and the documentary wanted to make that point.

TOW #27

In my TOWs, I've noticed an improvement in terms of how I analyze the content. In the assessed TOW as compared to TOWs, I was able to analyze the context, color and purpose of the picture presented, whereas with the first picture I analyzed, I almost summarized what was being shown. Now, in later TOWs, I understand more fully what is expected from the short analyses, and am able to complete them more with this in mind. I believe that I at least mastered identifying the author's purpose, which was incredibly helpful in my analysis essays going forward. When it comes to making improvements, I could still learn to further explain what the devices were that the author used to achieve his or her purpose, as this is what usually made my analysis essays in the 4-6 range instead of 7-8. Sometimes I stated the purpose in a confusing manner and other times I was simply commenting on the article, instead of actually analyzing what the purpose of it was. Overall I believe that I did benefit from these assignments because I was able to refine my skills for the analysis essay, which left me better prepared for the things that I ended up finding very easy at the end of the year, like argument and synthesis, and was glad that they are a part of the curriculum.