Introduction
As the social sphere moves further and further into digital spaces, it becomes of greater importance to explore and understand these online spaces and the way they may exclude or marginalize certain identities. In recent years, cyberbullying has become somewhat of a buzz word among teachers, parents, and teens due to an increase in online interaction among today’s youth. These interactions, however, do not just occur among middle and high school age students; people of all ages both can and do endure cyber harassment regularly. Both cyberbullying and cyber harassment are seemingly unavoidable when it comes to navigating social life online. In 2014, Pew Research Center found that 73% of Americans have witnessed cyber harassment, and 40% had experienced it firsthand (Online Harassment). Cyber harassment plagues the internet, occurring everywhere from public comment sections, to social media, to private emails and messaging platforms. In 2010, Pew reported that about 30% of teens online had themselves experienced some form on cyberbullying (Lenhart). The article also notes that cyberbullying is neither more common, nor more damaging than other forms of online harassment (Lenhart).
While it is difficult to find a concrete definition of cyber harassment, it can be considered behavior that involves “the intentional infliction of substantial emotional distress accomplished by online speech that is persistent enough to amount to a ‘course of conduct’ rather than an isolated incident” (Citron, 3). According to the US government’s website about bullying, “Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using electronic technology”, and can consist of “mean text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles (stopbullying.gov). The primary difference between the two is age; cyberbullying has both aggressors and victims who are under age (stopcyberbullying.org). Some definitions of cyberbullying cite a power imbalance as an important characteristic in the definition, though, usually for both cyber harassment and cyberbullying a power imbalance is involved. Often the terms cyberbullying, cyber harassment, and online harassment are used in tandem or interchangeably.
Online harassment has become a regular part of online life, and, in turn, has become the subject of many popular culture outlets. Examining the way popular mediums represent cultural phenomena can provide insight into how perceptions regarding these phenomena are shaped and what narratives are the most dominant. This paper aims to explore the way that popular culture portrays cyber behavior and how these portrayals may play a role in perpetuating said behaviors. Eight films were examined qualitatively for common themes and similarities. After closely watching some of the most popular representations of cyberbullying and harassment, it is clear that though they convey positive messages on the surface, they also create ideological and sexist representations of cyber harassment that trivialize the issue and ignore structural causes for digital hate.
Synopses
Cyberbully is one of the most famous films that focuses entirely on cyberbullying and harassment. The film follows main character Taylor Hillridge, a high school student who endures cyber harassment upon creating her first social media account on ‘Clickster’. The bullying stems from a girl at school who dislikes her, but soon the entire school joins in. After a fake account of a boy sparks a conversation and later becomes close to her, ‘he’ spreads a rumor about Taylor’s sexual health. Most of the online harassment she receives is gender based, consisting primarily of slut shaming. At the film’s climax, Taylor unsuccessfully attempts to commit suicide. In response, her mother campaigns to have a law passed to prevent this type of bullying from happening again. Taylor later learns that the disguised bully was one of her close friends. After she and her friend resolve the conflict, the film comes to an end.
Odd Girl Out is a film made in 2005 that centers on bullying in general with cyberbullying appearing throughout the film. After middle-schooler Vanessa talks to her friend’s crush, the girls turn on her. They use classic in person bullying tactics, but also take to their phones and computers to cyberbully her. She is sent nasty text messages and online messages, and the bullies also create a website online centered on embarrassing her. Soon, most of the school joins in, and there are non-anonymous comments posted on the website about her. The harassment she receives is entirely gender based, and focuses on body and slut shaming. After almost a full school year of harassment, Vanessa attempts to commit suicide unsuccessfully. When she recovers, the bullying continues and she stands up to the ring leader of the girls. The film ends with Vanessa finding a new group of friends and moving on.
A Girl Like Her begins with news that a student, Jessica Burns, has attempted to commit suicide. It is unclear yet if she will live. The film is shot in a faux-documentary style with the ‘filmmakers’ attempting to uncover and understand how this happened. The film is layered with additional footage that comes from a hidden camera that Jessica wore in the weeks leading up to her attempted suicide. It is revealed that a classmate, Avery Keller, has been relentlessly bullying her, both in person and online. The film primarily shows the in-person bullying, but also touches on moments of cyberbullying via social media, text message, and email. The faux-filmmakers decide to get to know Avery better, and learn that her home life is troubled. There is emphasis on stopping bullying by understanding why the bully is hurting others. The film ends with Avery admitting she is a bully and a shot of Jessica’s eyes opening, implying that she lives.
The DUFF is another famous film, but cyber-harassment only appears briefly in the film. The main character, Bianca, struggles with her identity when she realizes that she is considered the ‘designated ugly fat friend’ (DUFF) of her friend group. She cuts herself off from them and tries to change herself to no longer be considered the DUFF. In one scene, Bianca and her neighbor, who she recently befriended, are out shopping. She jokes around, dancing and kissing mannequins while a bully secretly films her. The video is edited and put to music, and soon goes viral. While there are moments that talk about the severity of cyberbullying and how bad it feels, the film is primarily a comedy. In the end, Bianca gets together with the ‘popular’ boy and regains confidence in herself.
Picture This tells the story of Mandy Gilbert, played by Ashley Tisdale. The film focuses on Mandy and her father, who is very strict and overbearing after her mother’s death. Unlike most kids at school, Mandy does not have a nice cell phone. However, one day she comes home to see that her father has bought her and himself the latest camera and video phone, which he insists that she uses to communicate with him and show him her constant location. She sneaks out to a party and pretends to be at a friend’s house so she can see the boy she has a crush on. A school bully, the ‘popular’ girl, also likes this boy, and she uses her phone to send around embarrassing photos of Mandy. In this film, similar to The DUFF, cyberbullying is portrayed light-heartedly. It is simply a side not and a source of comedy throughout the film. In the end, Mandy’s friends send around an embarrassing video of the bully, her father decides to be less strict, and she end up dating the boy she was hoping to.
Wrong Swipe is a thriller about a college student, Anna, who is signed up for a dating app by her sister. Much like Tinder, the app allows you to swipe based on who you are interested in. However, this fictional app also has a feature that lets you know when you are located near a ‘crush’, or someone that you have matched with. Anna has some bad interactions with those who she matches with – one man calls her a tease, another she is convinced tried to drug her, and an anonymous user with the name ‘watching you’ sends her various threatening messages. The anonymous profile has her ex-boyfriend’s photos on it, so she tries to contact him through the app. She starts dating a man, and after a few dates, he is mysteriously murdered. In the end, Anna finds out that the profile is controlled by her sister’s boyfriend. He kidnaps her, but luckily Anna’s sister finds them and they kill her boyfriend.
Trust follows high school freshman Annie who meets a boy in an online chatroom. Initially, ‘Charlie’ tells her he is a high school junior, just a few years older than her. However, he later reveals he is in college, and then even later that he is in graduate school. Annie continues to talk with him, shares intimate photos, and becomes increasingly close to him. He suggests they meet up, and, when they do, he turns out to be even older than expected – likely in his mid-30’s. He manipulates Annie – gives her lingerie as a gift, brings her to his hotel room, and rapes her. When Annie’s parents find out, they immediately call the police. A rape kit is done, and the FBI try to find the rapist. Annie is hurt and convinced that her and ‘Charlie’ were in love. Throughout the film the audience sees her and her family come to terms with the fact that she was raped. Although ‘Charlie’ is never found, it is revealed through the rape kid that he is a serial rapist/pedophile who can, through technology, can hide his identity and continue to rape young girls. After Annie’s classmates find out about her experience, a revenge porn website surfaces with doctored photos slut shaming her. The film ends on a positive note, as Annie and her family move through the hard time and come together.
In Revenge Porn, high school senior Peyton takes nude photos ‘for herself’ that she keeps on her computer. Her jealous best friend posts them online and eventually they end up on a revenge porn website. The website forwards the link to everyone she knows, from classmates, to her parents’ colleagues, to her future college. Peyton becomes the talk of her small town, and, when law enforcement proves to be no help, her mother decides to take matters into her own hands. She reaches out to various other victims and they research the website to get it shut down. The characters discover that the website owner was a former student of Peyton’s mother, and he holds a personal vendetta against her. He hacks into the family’s bank accounts and eventually harasses them physically. In the end, they take legal action against him, but, before he goes to prison he tries to murder them. The family stops him and he is arrested.
Common Themes & Similarities
While all of the films are unique, they share common themes that are important to examine. There was no strict coding device used, though notes were taken on each film and later, similarities were noted using tables and checklists (attached in appendix). The narrative of the films was the primary focus, though other features such as casting demographics, genre and style are considered as well.
Each film was centered on a woman, primarily high school age with the exceptions of Odd Girl Out, which looks at a middle schooler, and Swipe, which focuses on a college age woman. All of the main characters were white and appeared to be affluent. However, the main character in Odd Girl Out and her mother were Latina but there is no mention and no manifestation of that, so it is unclear. Five of the films are set in single parent households. There is only one mention of a male identifying character being harassed online for his sexuality in Cyberbully. This is the only non-female victim we see throughout any of the eight films.
In every film the main character’s online harassment stems from their interest in a boy. In Odd Girl Out, Cyberbully, DUFF, and Picture This, the characters all have crushes on boys, many whom are crushes of friends or of the “popular girl”. This conflict is what leads to their harassment. In Swipe, as soon as the main character signs on to the dating app she receives threatening messages. In half of the films, the primary aggressor ends up being one of their close friends, who usually acted out of jealousy. Three of the films featured bullies from the characters’ schools who bully them both in person and in digital spaces, sometimes related to the character’s interest in a boy, sometimes seemingly for no reason. Trust was the only film that featured an aggressor that the victim did not previously know – the slut shaming and revenge porn that surfaces comes from the students at her school that she does know.
All of the women in the films experienced almost exclusively gender based attacks. They consisted of body shaming, slut shaming, false rumors about sexual health, and, in two films, revenge porn. There is no acknowledgement paid to the role that gender plays in the nature of the attacks or why they are happening. In Revenge Porn, there is some allusion to the fact that the victims of this type of digital hate are primarily women, but still no direct acknowledgement of the sexism at play in these situations.
Interestingly, the films featured two polar representations of cyber harassment. On the one hand, there were what can be considered ‘extreme cases’. In these instances, the film presented stories with intense cyber harassment that usually leads to either suicide or violence. In four of the films the main characters attempts to commit suicide. In Swipe, a murder occurs, and, in Revenge Porn, physical violence. The other type of portrayals are the playful cases. In these lighthearted cases, cyberbullying is used as a means of humor and the severity of it is not addressed. In both the DUFF and Picture This, videos of the main character are sent around. In DUFF, some time is spent addressing the depth of the issue, but it is all light hearted.
Every film analyzed had a happy and clean ending. In Cyberbully, Odd Girl Out, and Swipe, the attackers all ended up being people close to them. Taylor, in Cyberbully, was cat-fished by her best friend, and confronts her bully in school. Odd Girl Out features a similar in person confrontation. Wrong Swipe’s main character was being stalked anonymously by her sister’s boyfriend, who ends up being killed in self-defense. In all cases, the main character overcomes whatever cyber harassment they experience, stands up to their attackers, and in some cases, new legislation is passed to remedy the situation.
Analysis: The Ideological Implications
In the 2009 Journal of Communication, Ji Hoon Park published an article that explores the way that MTV and reality television are responsible for upholding dominant ideologies about race and racism in the United States (Park). While the films explored in this paper do not lay claim to reality in the same way that MTV’s Real World did, their tendencies towards ideology still have an impact worth understanding. Indeed, the role of reality television’s genre plays an important role in Park’s argument. However, the narrative tendencies and character demographics in the shows are what stand out as most important in creating ideological storylines.
The films featuring cyber harassment, bullying, and revenge porn have similar ideological implications as that they do not challenge the audience’s pre-conceived ideas about online harassment. The focus on individual cases that often appear circumstantial is an argument that transcends reality television to fiction films, as well. The common theme of a friend as an aggressor or a known bully shifts our focus to an individual or a conflict between two individuals. Once this conflict is resolved, there is little, if any, acknowledgement of the others who piled onto the cyber harassment.
While these narratives create engaging films, they are misleading. The issues of anonymity and the structure of the internet are ignored. In the films, there were only a handful of instances where online harassment occurs anonymously. The focus on inter-personal relationships “suppresses [the films’] potential to engage with the serious subject… because the character-oriented narrative highlights the clash between individuals” (Park, 159). The personal narratives and conflicts that are responsible for the cyberbullying in the films both negate and ignore the factors at the root of this behavior.
The narrow demographics of the characters, featuring almost exclusively white, affluent, young women, ignore the experiences of people of color online, the LGBTQ community and other minority groups. The films also focus exclusively on young girls. This provides no awareness about the harassment of adults and creates the sense that this is an issue specifically linked to age group. For this reason, the films are unable to explore the significance of what it means to be a racial minority online, or the way that online harassment transcends age and is just as significant of an issue for adults.
The extreme representations of cyberbullying further perpetuate the idea that they are rare occurrences that occasionally get out of hand. By enforcing the idea that these stories are the worst of what happens, they therefore devalue the way that these situations happen regularly to a lesser degree, but can still have serious consequences not involving suicide or violence. They also take for granted the privilege it takes to be able to stand up to bullies or to receive support from law enforcement. On the opposite end of the spectrum, playful representations enforce the idea that this is a natural part of teen life. The films prioritize dramatic storylines and similar plotlines to draw in viewers and turn a profit. Unfortunately, this leads to the looping of a single narrative and in turn, the reinforcement of dominant ideologies.
Embedded Feminism and Enlightened Sexism with Web 3.0
Being ideological was not the only problem I noticed in these movies. Hints of enlightened sexism and embedded feminism are scattered throughout them. In her book Enlightened Sexism: The Seductive Message That Feminism’s Work is Done, Susan Douglas introduces two concepts prominent in today’s media– enlightened sexism and embedded feminism. Enlightened sexism and embedded feminism work to create a sense of ‘faux feminism’. Similar to the idea of a post-racial America, enlightened sexism and embedded feminism normalize women in power rather than showing them as exceptions to the rule, and, therefore, convinces audiences that feminism is no longer necessary (Douglas).
While images of women in power and media focused exclusively on women and teen women are becoming mainstreamed, they are also becoming undistinguishably interwoven with conspicuous consumerism, false sexual liberation and ideas of the female body acting as a source of power over men, encouraging a patriarchal bargain. The women in positions of power on screen get their power and pleasure “from consumerism, girliness, and the approval of guys” (Douglas, 31). In addition, “whatever the plotlines, these young women were…sexual objects on display who maintained their attractiveness by buying things” (Douglas 31).
Just like 90210 took teen girls issues of shopping and boys ‘seriously’, these films have simply added another variable to the mix– technology. In their pursuit of boys, which was the cause of bullying in the vast majority of films observed, the young women must now also navigate the digital world as well. Films like Cyberbully and DUFF uphold the enlightened sexist idea that young girls most important and consequential interests are boys. The films take for granted the idea that women are subject to sexism by not acknowledging how gendered their cyberattacks are.
In later chapters, Douglas explores the pornification of young women, and the paradoxical nature of the prudish yet pornographic American society. Women are encouraged to both dress revealingly and be appealing to men, yet also “just say no” (Douglas, 135). Douglas also notes that the way that women and girls are portrayed in the media when it comes to sex and relationships is particularly important to study because “there is evidences that watching such shows encourages gendered stereotypes about sex” (Douglas, 169). While most of the films centering on cyber harassment do not feature sexually active women, they all (with one exception, A Girl Like Her) have elements of sexuality and interest in pursuing boys. Studies show that in TV dramas, things for sexually active girls “were more likely to end badly…humiliation, disappointment, rejection and guilt”, and these films on cyber harassment are no exception (Douglas 170). The characters who take initiative or show interest in a boy face the consequences of online harassment and shaming.
While the women in the films show interest in romantic relationships, many never actually pursued anything physical with men to catalyze their shaming. The women harassed for sexual indiscretions, STDs, and body image weren’t actually ‘sluts’, fat, or have STDs. The characters are frequently struggling with the fact that they never did any of the things they are being shamed for. By displaying narratives in which women are shamed for slight interest in intimacy, and severely bullied over this interest, it poses the question of what would the hate have looked like if they had had sex, STD’s or sent naked photos? These films perpetuate the stigma around female sexuality and sexual initiative, and in turn perpetuate the enlightened sexist ideal of a sexually objectified woman who must also remain prude– if she doesn’t, consequences will put her back in her place. While happy to explore what it means to be attacked online, the films fall short in exploring what it looks like to be attacked for things that are real and true.
Perhaps most relevant to the films on cyberbullying is Douglas’s theory about female body/beauty standards leading to the ‘mean girl’ trope that floods the media today. She notes that in the 2000’s the ‘mean girl’ became something of a phenomenon and portrayed as an epidemic. She even sites the book version of a film observed in this paper, Odd Girl Out. Douglas argues that the idealistic beauty standards set for women has led to an aimless frustration that has been set to be taken out on other girls. Suddenly, teenage girls began to be presented as “supremely confident, Machiavellian cyberbullies” (Douglas 215). The mean girl narrative presents audiences with the idea that girls’ biggest problem is each other, rather than men or political inequality, therefore maintaining the façade of enlightened sexism.
Popular representations of cyberbullying and harassment are no exception to this common theme among media geared towards women. In almost every film, the narrative centers around a conflict between characters, and at least one of these women is the classic ‘mean girl’. Only Revenge Porn and Trust feature male aggressors; however, even in Trust the mean girl is peripherally visible. Cyber harassment is often portrayed as a symptom of the mean girl dynamic and another way for young girls to attack each other. Despite research showing that sexual harassment and victimization from boys are both more damaging and more common among young women, these films focus instead on girls attacking each other. The gender based attacks in the films often consisted of obscene, sexual remarks that could have similar effects as sexual harassment, causing women to “internalize the attacks and…become depressed, withdrawn and anxious” (Douglas, 253). None of the films explored gendered attacks coming from male characters, or their impact on the girls. By ignoring the way men are often the aggressors against women, both online and in physical spaces, the films minimize these experiences by chalking them up to mean girls and gendered stereotypes.
Using Douglas’s framework of enlightened sexism and embedded feminism sheds light on the way that current popular culture representations of online harassment perpetuate gendered stereotypes and create sexist representations of cyberbullying. Douglas notes that often the problematic images of women on television serve as reminders of “female power run amok” and what happens when women move outside of their socially sanctioned roles in society (Douglas 241). Focusing only on women, sexualizing characters yet expecting them to be prudish, and the mean girl dynamic, these films trivialize the very real and serious problem of women being pushed out of digital spaces.
Other Thoughts
In addition to the most prevalent issues of being ideological and sexist, the films on cyberbullying had other similarities that are worth noting. Most of the films were made-for-television movies that aired on networks such as ABC Family and Lifetime. Television is indeed one of the most interacted with, and likely also the most learned from, mediums (Douglas). It is not insignificant, then, that a majority of these films were made exclusively for release on TV.
With the exception of The Duff and Trust, the budget and box office information about the films was unavailable. However, for most of the films it seems evident that they were produced with relatively low budgets. Stylistically, the films used classical Hollywood techniques; however, almost all of the films employed editing and shooting techniques, such as extreme expressionist coloring, that made the films feel both cheesy and poorly done. More often than not, the style was laughable, and felt typical of the television-movie drama genre. The campy, melodramatic Lifetime formula is nothing new, and neither is what some call the “teens-in-peril” subgenre that frequents the network–it is often considered somewhat of a ‘guilty pleasure’ (Ross). However, the lacking stylistic norms of television films as well as the established norm of melodrama/soap opera-esque programming can lead to the films being perceived as not much else than mindless entertainment.
Conclusion
The current popular culture representations of online harassment are limited by their ideologies, sexism and other narrative and stylistic similarities. The priority of profitmaking leads to an emphasis on individual narratives and conflicts that ignore the greater issues of which cyber harassment is a symptom. Moreover, Douglas’s concepts of enlightened sexism and embedded feminism not only help to critique the sexism in these films, but also to explain the consistent narrative similarities across the films.
While this paper explored a majority of films on the subject and the way that they can be considered problematic, the analysis provided is far from complete. Employing more quantitative analysis, genre studies and audience reception studies would provide a clearer image of how these films influence perspectives surrounding online harassment. In addition, more films and documentary films should also be considered. Nonetheless, this paper serves as an introductory glimpse into the narratives circulating popular culture, and makes evident that the few representations of cyber harassment in the media are imperfect and disappointing.
Based on the analysis of each film, it is clear that they are either creating or upholding barriers to social and legal change surrounding online abuse and digital hate. Without falling into a chicken-versus-egg cycle, these films can also be considered a reflection of the existing perspectives surrounding cyber harassment. While cyber abuse such as harassment, bullying, revenge porn and stalking can and should be considered issues of civil rights, the few films that exist on the matter prevent audiences from seeing the gravity of these online behaviors. Audiences are rarely exposed to the extent to which online harassment takes place, the vastly different types of victims, and the fact that it can stem from a wide range of places. There is undoubtedly something to be said for placing stories about young women’s experiences in school and online at the center of media. Unfortunately, there is little hope for understanding and social change when these stories are wrought with ideological narratives and sexism that belittles the experiences of victims of online harassment.
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