Media portrayals of bullying and cyberbullying: Using "Mean Girls" and "The DUFF" to analyze how the media portrays high school bullying

Abstract

This study examines the media’s portrayal of traditional bullying and cyberbullying in two movies, Mean Girls and The DUFF. The movies include both forms of bullying that the researchers completed a study on by analyzing media portrayals of cyberbullying and bullying. Due to the increasing prevalence of cyberbullying in society, the researchers look to examine how the portrayals of cyberbullying and bullying instances may influence audiences. By analyzing the amount of technology in the films used for cyberbullying, the researchers were able to determine that as the technology increased in the film, so did the instances of the media portraying cyberbullying. The most common way that the portrayals of cyberbullying and bullying in the media were framed were through a comedic frame and a serious frame. Overall, the researchers determined that both traditional bullying and cyberbullying portrayals in the media increased in frequency.