MovieChat Forums > The Final (2011) Discussion > The thing about retaliation/revenge

The thing about retaliation/revenge

posted 14 years ago by t_canup
29 replies | jump to latest

Bullying is horrible and should not be done. What these kids went through was absolutely horrifying. I was bullied when I was in school, and it was awful. But honestly, I never wanted to torture my bullies. Being picked on and called names for years on end is awful, but honestly torture is worse than name calling.

But the thing about retaliation/revenge is where does it end? I always hear this saying "The thing about an eye for an eye is that eventually everyone is blind." Let's say these victims got revenge on their bullies by torture. But then one of the jock's brother/sister gets revenge on the misfit kids by torturing or even killing one of them, the one of the misfit's cousins gets revenge on the jock's sister/brother, then the boyfriend/girlfriend of the jock's brother/sister gets revenge back on them...and the cycle goes on and on until every one in both families is dead. And trust me, just because those bullied kids got a little vengeance on them doesn't mean their lives are going to get better, because the kids knew who they were. So now they are going to go to jail, so their lives go from awful to even more awful in jail. So yes, this movie is about consequences--the consequences the bullies faced by the misfits and the consequences the misfits are going to have to suffer sooner or later.

Sorry this post was so long.

How silly of us, to think we could borrow a book from THE LIBRARY!!

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] t_canup 14 years ago

I'm not saying the kids should not have stood up for themselves--I mean I would have applauded if one of the victims punched and beat up one of the bullies--that would have been ok by me. But to brutally and sadistically torture someone? Also, no one feels sympathy for the bullied kids anymore because they took it too far. Now instead of people saying, "OMG those poor kids got bullied and went through that. I need to think about what I am doing next time I try to bully someone. That was so awful", people think, "Wow those kids were crazy. I hope they go to jail and get tortured for what they did and rot in hell." I'm not saying they should have done nothing, I am just saying that they should have found other ways of dealing with it and getting help. There are people out there that have been bullied even worse than these kids, and yet they don't drug and chain their bullies up and torture them. And yes, I know that not everyone is the same and people deal with things the same way. Think about Columbine (sry to bring that up, but it is the only thing I can think of). Those two kids were bullied, but it does not justify them coming in with a gun and shooting the place up. And I agree with you--violence against someone should not be forgotten. In my opinion, the movie really isn't about bullying--its about kids (ALL kids, not just the bullies or victims) being selfish and only thinking of themselves.

Wow--sorry that was so long. I get kind of long winded sometimes.

How silly of us, to think we could borrow a book from THE LIBRARY!!

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] llamafarm2002 14 years ago

None of them are going to jail. They all killed themselves which was the plan all along. Their thoughts were that the after life (no matter what it is) is better than this "hell" they are living on earth. Instead of having any act of decency though, they decided to take others down with them.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] llamafarm2002 14 years ago

No...what I meant as an "act of decency" was to kill ONLY themselves. If you're planning on killing yourself, the most decent thing you can do (besides not killing yourself of course) is to do it alone. Don't take anyone with you by murdering them or torturing them as we saw here.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Angelus-16 14 years ago

It's important to remember that in this film - and indeed all revenge horror/slasher films - the killer(s) exclusively pick their tormentors (the bullies) as their victims, whereas real life school shootings seem to be haphazard kill-anyone-in-the-vicinity affairs.

This is clear in the film Elephant, where the two bullied kids go to school with guns and the first victim is not only somebody who never bullied them, but a girl who, herself, was being bullied.

If in real life cases the killers had ensured that they only killed the few who made their lives hell (as opposed to random classmates), the cases would probably not have been nearly as horrifying because they would have been "acceptable" or "understandable" acts of retaliation or revenge as it were.

I deeply sympathise with anyone who is tormented on a daily basis.

Discuss!

[–] SkaterDave 13 years ago

Wrong. The act of decency that should have happened is the bullies not doing what they did. Unfortunately they did and in real life do, so are the victims supposed to just take it or kill themselves nice and peacefully just to be decent? Hell no. You reap what you sow and in this films that's exactly what happened to the bullies.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] gharflux 14 years ago

I think bullies atleast deserve to go into a Saw trap. Just kidding. I believe in karma and that they will get it. For example, my high school bully is now a loser on the street doing drugs.

[–] chooflafla 13 years ago

I was a victim of both physical and verbal bullying for 8 years by the same person whilst at school. He got his comeuppance a few years ago the day before I moved to the other side of the planet!

I went to a hardware store to buy a screwdriver and as chance would have it, my bully was a member of staff there. When I got to the parking lot, I noticed a car with a vanity plate on it which blatantly belonged to him.

So, I went back and made sure to go to his checkout and bought a tin of the most garish purple paint I could find as well as a tube of expanding foam. After pouring the paint all over the hood of his car and scratching my name into the doors with the screwdriver, I emptied the entire tube of foam into his muffler.

The best thing is that I hear he's still working at the store and I've gone on to have a happy life and a decent job.

Revenge is a dish best served by me!

[–] SkaterDave 13 years ago

You know, I really shouldn't condone what you did, but that was greaT. He found out what happens when you are being a jerk and he himself wasn't hurt. But boy, will he be miserable.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] SillyGayBoy 12 years ago

I am not sure what all that car stuff does but it sounds fun and I wonder how he addressed you in the check out line.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] HippieDrillSealOfApproval 13 years ago

but honestly torture is worse than name calling.

Yeah, any reasonable person knows that. But it would be hard to make a good revenge flick and adhere to that principle. Fiction often needs to change the rules in order to be interesting. It's also important to remember the fantasy aspect of it. Most people fantasize about doing things they wouldn't really do and films can play on that.

Conform or be cast out

[–] ave_roma2004 12 years ago

Sounds good to me. A never ending cycle of vendettas and blood feuds. That's the way it should be.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] TheFatDruidofNacyl 12 years ago

Well the two things about this movie is;

1. They didn't intend to kill all of them or even torture all of them. They wanted to torture them and make them look on the outside as ugly as they were on the inside. Teaching them a lesson, but they still live.

2. The ones seeking revenge planned on dying at the end anyway so there is no future retaliation.

Come visit my blackrosecastle.com
stephentheblackroseenterprises.com

[–] etf-3 12 years ago

I agree with the OP.