MovieChat Forums > Unfriended (2015) Discussion > Laura, a bully, not a victim?

Laura, a bully, not a victim?

posted 10 years ago by eric_m_bi
38 replies | jump to latest

I recall that in much of the promotional material, Laura was described as a bully who then got bullied herself and that's why she killed herself. After seeing the movie, I think it's pretty clear that the writers originally had Laura as a bully (Ken, Blaire, and Mitch all mentioned that she acted rather mean; also in a text to Val, Laura apologizes for being mean but Val tells her to kill herself) but then changed it at the last second to make her more of a victim of bullying to give the film a more revenge-like taste.

Tbh, a bully who commits suicide because people ended up bullying her isn't a tragedy, it's more a poetic irony/justice; nobody is going to care if a bully kills herself, people would just say she got a taste of her own medicine. I wonder what kind of bullying shenanigans Laura got herself up to in the original version of the story? I suppose this could somewhat change how I feel about her ultimate suicide.

[–] michael-watkins-laj7 10 years ago

were we supposed to feel sorry for her? I thought it was more of a freddy Krueger scenario; bad person returns from the dead to exact vengeance. and she could have been a really horrible person, while living. that doesn't absolve them from driving her to suicide (cheating on each other, stealing, etc).

[–] eric_m_bi 10 years ago

I get the feeling that they were trying to make Laura more likable since the film barely even teaches on the fact that she was a bully herself, I think it was changed because people don't want to hear about how a girl deserves to be bullied to suicide (even if it's because she is a bully herself). Of course, I'm not saying anyone truly deserves that fate but the parents of the dead children who have suffered this fate may think otherwise for their child's tormentors. :/

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Redrum237 10 years ago

I think it is deliberately meant to be ambiguous whether Laura was more of a bully or a victim. Or maybe a bit of both.

OP, do you know as a fact that the film was changed or are you just guessing it?

[–] eric_m_bi 9 years ago

OP, do you know as a fact that the film was changed or are you just guessing it?

At this point, I'm guessing it, but the promotional material did describe Laura as a bully; I'm just unsure whether this was deliberate or a typo.

[–] DorkoTheDorkLord 10 years ago

I don't think it was remotely that black and white. Laura may have been a bully, but so was damn skippy every character in the flick to one degree or another. Teenagers have a habit of being awful to each other without thinking through the consequences of it and this flick did an OK job of portraying that.

[–] foxyroxy_uk 10 years ago

I thought the point was more that everyone was awful to each other. When Laura's seen, she's not particularly sympathetic, the friends were horrible to each other outside of how they'd treated her, and everyone who comments on Val and Blaire's posts telling them to kill themselves is as bad.

[–] StarrKitty 9 years ago

@foxyroxy_uk, you took the words right of my mouth. I think one of the main things that stood out to me in this movie was how hypocritical all of them were. From Laura's so-called friends to the people who went to school with her and joined in humiliating and harassing her only to point the finger at Val and Blaire when they were offered up. As if they didn't send messages on social media to Laura.

[–] JasonRebourne 10 years ago

That's the problem with the film. We're supposed to think of them as horrible people but Laura was a scumbag that deserved it all.

Basically, justice happened to her and she couldn't handle that she deserved it all.

[–] VoodooGuru 9 years ago

How do you KNOW she was a bully, because these people said she was. They were all liars! :)

[–] eric_m_bi 9 years ago

How do you KNOW she was a bully, because these people said she was. They were all liars! :)

I doubt they were lying to each other, but the movie is still pretty vague about it.

[–] VoodooGuru 9 years ago

Yes they ARE very vague about it, because you get very very little evidence she was a bully at all. You have to BELIEVE what these people are saying about her.

But you can't. Which is what Laura SHOWS you by making them play the game. They were all liars. To eachother and to themselves. Especially themselves.

[–] universaldennis 9 years ago

Well, she did come back from the dead or Hell (or somewhere the others "wouldn't like") and start killing them. Most well adjusted, healthy people don't do that.

[–] charlicedawson 8 years ago

Not necessarily. Plenty of people would get revenge against people who wronged them, especially to this degree.

[–] VoodooGuru 9 years ago

How do you know she wasn't nice? All you ever see of her actions are her at the party yelling about something, then she's passed out, then she's filmed in a compromising situation, then she kills herself. That's all we know about her, apart from what Blaire can't tell Mitch about her childhood. Which is the suggestion that Laura was abused by a family member.

Other than that, you don't know she wasn't a nice person. But it seems people were truly saddened by her death on her Facebook page, no? Maybe read some of what they had to say about her to get a better picture of what she was actually like, because the people you're trusting to tell you who Laura Barns was, are all con artists and liars, and would backstab you in a heartbeat ;)

[–] universaldennis 9 years ago

I really don't think nice people come back from the dead and start killing people, even if they were bullied.

[–] charlicedawson 8 years ago

Have you been living under a rock? That's a huge recurring theme in horror movies, especially horror movies involving school in some way.

[–] matthewrutland 9 years ago

Heres my take on it, for what its worth:

They are all bullies, and victims, purely because they are human. We see the little bits of good and a lot of bad in all of them, But I believe the directors were trying to make a bigger statement about how people act with their real life and online personas, how people act in the confines of chat rooms etc. examples:

Adam - acting the tough guy, alpha troll, spouting off as he has a gun, will take anyone on, real "hard man" persona, but the second lights go off and heres a knock on the door in real life, he turns into a weeping child.

Ken - fat nerd trope. Good with tech as shown by the attempted removal of "Billie" But shown like most teens that instead of using his smarts and abilities would rather play the funny man and slacker, hence making him a stoner otherwise he would be more of an outcast than Laura was.

I could go on but you get the point. Also even in larger society looking at the FB friends of these people, as soon as photos etc were being posted, albeit incriminating stuff, are the outraged masses telling these bullies to go kill themselves any better? Or is it just symptomatic of a society that isnt used to dealing with social media and uses knee jerk reactions to everything they see and hear, like Laura herself did by committing suicide?
Thats what I took away from it anyway.