Educational Media Reviews Online

This film is part of the 2008 ABC television series, What Would You Do? Instinctive Reactions and What They Reveal. Split into scenarios where acts of aggression and bullying are staged to see how witnesses will react, this DVD will make students and teachers think, feel and empathize.

The first scenario deals with name calling. The scene starts with girls bullying girls and demonstrates the differences between how girls bully as opposed to how boys bully. Most adults know that words can cause serious harm yet the adults who witness aggressive behavior amongst tweens in this brief scene do nothing until they see that physical violence is about to occur. We have to ask ourselves why these witnesses hold off on taking action. Why do people wait until it’s nearly too late ?

In the second “what would you do” scenario, which is produced by Clem Taylor, the witnesses to blatant acts of public vandalism by teenage males rarely get involved in the situation. When the race of these boys changes from all white to all black, the majority of the witnesses called 911. A surprisingly sad twist to this segment is an event that occurs to two young black males who are family of the actors in this segment; rather than be a spoiler, this reviewer will say no more. In this segment we clearly see that both gender and race play a part in how society views aggression.

In the third segment the audience is taught a lesson on indifference. This scene includes the theft of wallets and pocketbooks. The viewers see how the public differ on how they intervene (or do not intervene) in criminal activities. The viewer also watches how witnesses to these crimes respond differently when the victim is a male versus female. The witnesses to these thefts all look to each other for cues as to if they should act or not. Although the scene ends with an elderly gentleman playing the hero, it is made clear that the right thing to do is to think before acting.

The final segment of this film, produced by Ed Delgado deals with a twisted and cruel form of aggression known as “bum bashing” where the homeless are attacked. This segment displays how members of society often come quickly to the aid of society’s most vulnerable. Although the homeless may be an unfamiliar sight to children in the suburbs, they are a common sight in most cities in America. Most citizens in this segment seem at a loss of what they should do when they see a male homeless person being bashed—they say, “stop that” or “go away” but they just literally do not know what to do or how to stop the bashing. When the gender of the victim is female, the vulnerable female stereotype seems to pop into the witnesses’ heads and an instant involvement to end the bashing occurs. This segment is a good way to teach about compassion and community.

This DVD will help instructors initiate provocative discussion surrounding the topics of aggression and bullying. If aggressive behavior is environmental, then it would stand to reason that if teachers and/or parents change the environment, that they can change the behavior. This film is a good place to start to help make those changes.