Board Thread:Sonic Boom/@comment-679780-20151107173553/@comment-679780-20151108024724

Thurrn the Ranger wrote: Mystic Monkey wrote:

Thurrn the Ranger wrote:

Mystic Monkey wrote: W-wait, moral of the story is, when it comes to bullies it's best to actually fight back than seek help for the problem?

I think thats a very mixed message there. Sure it's important to stand up and confront your problems but usually parents and teachers encourage victims to ask for help when it comes to bullying. Well, to be fair, Knuckles did actually attempt to resolve the conflict peacefully, even acknowledging his own fault, and then enlisted a local police officer to act as an intermediary. Violence was only when a last resort as not only had Charlie revealed himself to be absolutely psychotic, but Knuckles had exerted virtually all other viable options. So essenially, the message, as I saw it, was that of self-reliance. Well yeah but while the policeguy was just a funny character that gave his lunch money for the sake of the joke, he still represents the law and shows that even he was inferior to the matter, to me I think thats a bad message for the young audience the show is aimed at. That if you're being physically harrased, don't bother with the police, it's your problem to deal with.

Now I know calling the police may seem "overkill" to something as small time as schoolyard bullying, but bullying is still harrasment and personal assault no matter the age of both parties and at times I've heard accounts of children calling the police on their bullies and not considered at all a misuse of their time, and praised they did the right thing.

For Knuckles the whole matter was resolved with more violence, because Charlie was recognised as the "villain" and Knuckles found this excusible to stop being the victim of violence and become violent back.

Not all of us are as strong as Knuckles so just taking on bullies head on may not resolve the matter just as well as it did for Knuckles.

If the whole episode ended with a "Sonic Sez" on what to do if you're being bullied then the whole episode would be more excusible. Very true. Well, I suppose that, in retrospect, what was attempted to be conveyed was that though Charlie was subjected to bullying, he erred with his brutal retaliation as most of Knuckles' actions were born of ignorance. Neither were correct, but, in the end, Charlie became that which he had opposed and was promptly treated as such.

I agree that violence was certainly not an optimal resolution but, in consideration to the format of the show, it is expected as its means of depicting an exciting action scene alongside punishment for the character's transgressions. Thus, while not an ideal depiction of the message to young and impressionable individuals, I trust them to develop a reasonable distinction between truth and fiction. I know, it's all about the action, adventure, the fisticuffs and all that which is expected for a kids show about heroism. But the story seems it was trying to base itself around schoolyard conflict to the point of Mike the Ox stating the resemblence to Knuckles and Charlies brawl. Given the TV show is catered more specifically for children than Sonic fans in general, it would still give them the impressionable message on bullying they would relate to in their current school life. Especially those who themselves are bullies or victims.

So what should those kids do? Undig giant mechas? Or accept that violence is the only way to resolve being bullied? Keep in mind the target audience is around 9-13 so children may not fully grasp the reason or logic on what they should really do if bullied.

The episode could of ended with Charlie and Knuckles coming to a conclusion, but again Knuckles didn't seem to learn anything other he was initially at fault and Charlie was pretty much encouraged for being a bully.