Basic Trope: Bullying is seen as a minor issue.
- Straight: Bob has been pushed around by Derek and is humiliated by Bridgette, but when he comes to seek guidance from the authority figures, they laugh and say that it's nothing to be taken seriously.
- Exaggerated: Bob is always mercilessly ridiculed by almost all of the students in class on a daily basis and always gets beaten by Derek and his crew, but when he tries to seek help from the teachers, they all bluntly tell him to shut up and deal with it. Not even his parents and his closest friends could give him any help.
- Downplayed: Bob is heckled by Derek and Bridgette, but the teachers tell him that he shouldn't worry too much over it.
- Justified:
- The adults feel that Bob's appearance (i.e., unstylish) or personality (usually if Bob is socially awkward and solitary nature) is was what caused him to get bullied, and if he changed looks and personality, the kids would accept him.
- The adults believe that bullying is a means to make Bob stronger in defending himself.
- They believe that kids bullying each other is just "kids being kids".
- The school believes that the world thrives on "survival of the fittest".
- They believe that Bob is being too sensitive and should get used to the bullying.
- The adults believe that Bob is being overdramatic/oversensitive to an issue that is, admittedly, annoying, but hardly "bullying" (while the truth is that in the aggregate it still makes Bob's life hell, especially if he is subject to it repeatedly - and now that the bullies know it will be overlooked if they can justify it, it will).
- Inverted:
- Bob's friends stand up for Bob against Derek and Bridgette, but Bob tells him that it isn't all that bad.
- Bully Brutality
- Subverted: The adults realize that the bullying of Bob needs to stop once and for all.
- Double Subverted: Just until they decide to focus on other affairs and leave Bob to deal with it on his own.
- Parodied: Bob is subjected to extreme bully brutality to the point of potential lethality in the presence of the adults but because adults are useless they comment that it can’t be all that bad.
- Zig Zagged: The time that bullying is taken seriously or not depends on the mood of adults.
- Averted: Bullying is presented as a serious issue that isn't tolerated.
- Enforced:
- The writer wants to prove that bullying isn't all that serious through his past experiences, though some will not agree.
- The writer was a former bully in school who has got away with bullying his peers and wants to write a work about bullying being a minor problem to reflect on that.
- Lampshaded: "My parents enlisted me in the wrong school."
- Invoked: Most of the adults in school were bullies once and were not sorry for their actions. They also have a dislike for Bob because he reminded them of the kids they used to bully, so they instruct students to bully him.
- Exploited: Derek and Bridgette use the school's lack of concern of bullying to get away with their behavior.
- Defied: The adults knew how serious bullying is and swiftly punish Derek and Bridgette.
- Discussed: "How can anyone not take bullying seriously?"
- Conversed: "It seems that this episode is encouraging the bullying to continue."
- Deconstructed:
- Because of the school taking bullying very lightly, this results in the rate increase of students dropping out of school, getting suspended or expelled for fighting back, getting severely injured or killed, and committing suicide.
- Because bullying is normalised, bullies never learn their actions are unacceptable, and grow into sociopaths who continue their abusive behaviour into adulthood.
- Reconstructed: The school decides to punish bullying behavior that involves seriously injuring others and mocking people with disabilities. Nevertheless, they remain lenient on other parts of bullying.
Back to School Bullying Is Harmless
