Patrice A. Oppliger

I've struggled through this Early Review book but been unable to complete it. It's simply too much a tedious listing of "bullies" and "mean girls" in books, films, and TV accompanied by very brief plot synopses but with too little analysis. It reminds me of the "index card" system of note-taking that we used for writing term papers prior to the laptop era.

One enormous omission is the character of Clarisse LaRue of Rick Riordan's "Percy Jackson" series. Why is it that we (or at least I do) have this sneaking fondness of Clarisse? It's got to have something to do with her gender-bending character — she's in no way deceptive but gives it to you right in the snout! In other words, Clarisse has "masculine" traits which we find acceptable in a tomboy while in contrast we would find "feminine" sneakiness unacceptable in a boy — and here I'm referring specifically to Draco Malfoy, whom Oppliger does mention briefly and acknowledge as perhaps being more a "mean girl" than a masculine-type "bully."

Alright, so I love Clarisse and I'm disappointed to no end that Oppliger makes no reference to her. But the problem with this book is that it doesn't contain anything significant by way of analysis of gender stereotyping and the like such as I've taken recognition of in the previous paragraph. And a discussion of the entire "Percy Jackson" series would have been very much in order considering that Rick Riordan has largely replaced Clarisse with Frank Zhang as the representative of the Mars/Ares parentage, largely I suspect because Clarisse's character does make "bullying" so very attractive. What does this (and the omission of Clarisse from the first "Percy Jackson" movie) say about pop-fiction and Hollywood concerns about glorifying childhood/teen violence?

Bullies and Mean Girls in Popular Culture might be of some use as a prolegomena to any future study of this phenomenon as it does provide lists of book, film, and TV instances many of which may be forgotten today. But even here, there are such notable omissions — the schoolyard bullying of John Ford's classic How Green Was My Valley {IMDb} or of the Flashman character of Tom Brown's Schooldays — that there are serious problems of completeness. And unless you have some particular need for "lists" (however incomplete) you're going to be disappointed by the book's analytical skimpiness.

This whole book strikes me as a not-so-accomplished first effort toward a doctoral dissertation.… (més)

Bullying has seemed to have gotten worse of the years, or at least it is being reported more with the thanks of mass media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Movies and television also have played a role in how women and girls are treated and are shown "how they are supposed to be-"you know-perfect and look down upon others that aren't "perfect." This took a solid look into how media has played a devastating role in how females are portrayed and how ourselves play a role in the ongoing bullying that has occurred… (més)

This book was truly a deep read. It really opened my eyes to how girls are portrayed thought movies and television. The things we accept and allow our daughters to watch on a regular basis is frightening. While certain kinds of bullying is becoming unacceptable, thank goodness, there is still an underlying current of subtle meanness that we tolerate and even accept. This book exposes the way that comedy and our own self-esteem makes us think that a level of bullying is ok. I would recommend that everyone read this. It is a very interesting read!… (més)