Movie Analysis: Social Isolation

The major key sociological term that can be associated throughout the film is social isolation. I feel as if this term plays a role in every individual’s story that is shown in the movie. Each character (Alex, Tyler, Ja’meya, and Kelby) experience social isolation and it is a detriment to their mental health. Because of the harsh bullying each person endures, they feel completely alone and isolated from society. In the case of Alex, he did not have any friends at all which makes one feel isolated. Tyler was bullied mercilessly to the point of not being able to cry anymore. Some of the characters were not welcome at friends houses, were made fun of at school, and were not even allowed in church. At least one of those places just listed affect
School has your peers, or the people you will associate with on a near day to day basis. Church is where you worship and have faith in a higher power. Going to a neighbor or friend’s house is something we have all done. Those are places you should never feel afraid to go to. When all three of them are taken away from you because of your sexual preference or some other trait or belief of yours or because of your appearance, there is nowhere to go besides home. Family is great, but we all need to break free from that at some point and associate with the outside world. But in the case of these poor teenagers and kids and many others like them, the outside world rejects them. When the outside world does not accept you and only hurts you, you feel like you are on your own island-isolated from everyone else. That is how social isolation affects each individual from the
The kids who were bullied at school had to act like everything was okay when they got home. The front stage was the actual bullying that took place at school. The bully and the victim were the main characters and “performed” teasing and bullying in front of all of the other students. The backstage was home for the student who was bullied. The bully and the other students who witnessed it first hand do not realize the affect that it takes on the victim of harassment. The victim lets out their emotions often at home or elsewhere in private. This would represent the backstage and also cooling the mark out. The person bullied saves themself embarrassment by crying or displaying their emotions in a hidden environment where other people and the bully cannot see. So, bullying can be seen as one giant theatrical performance which plays directly into Goffman’s dramaturgy