Children’s Violence on Film: ‘Hunger Games’ v. ‘Bully’

If you follow the movies at all, you’ve probably heard a lot about child-on-child violence on the big screen over the past week. Last Friday, of course, was the release of the Hollywood blockbuster “The Hunger Games.”
“The Hunger Games” tells the story of a post-apocalyptic future, in which children are forced to fight to the death for the amusement of the government and the control of the people.
And today, the new documentary called “Bully” hits theatres in very limited release. “Bully” tells the story of five real-life children who’ve been bullied; two of whom kill themselves.
In the cases of both films, there have been struggles over how they should be rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. In the end, “The Hunger Games” received a PG-13 rating, while “Bully” received an R rating. But not everyone thinks these ratings make sense. David Long and his wife Tina Long appear in the film “Bully,” in place of their son Tyler, who couldn’t. After years of bullying, Tyler killed himself at the age of 17. Rafer Guzman  is a film critic for Newsday and co-host of the Movie Date Podcast.