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Layla Laque

Professor Denicolo

ENG 103

10 April 2022

Argumentative Pitch

Cyberbully was a movie that most kids were forced to watch in my high school. Most

kids were ready to enjoy a movie day with no responsibilities ready to relax. I saw teenagers in

my class be visually upset about this film because it proves how common this type of bullying is.

In class these impressionable young teens were in tears watching Taylor, the main character, try

to commit suicide. The movie is about a teenage girl named Taylor become cyberbullied online

by her peers and how she reacts to the bullying and how she overcomes it. Watching this film,

you feel the pain in the film and are distraught by the visualization because you realize how

people are highly affected by cyberbullying. However, once this movie started everyone was

engrossed in the film due to the reality of it. The teens were impacted the rest of day seeing how

quickly cyberbullying goes from nothing to everything in a matter of a few typed words.

Cyberbully is an accurate movie that teaches teenagers the effects of cyberbullying by showing

how it is started, the outcome, and how often people are affected by it. Today I am going to tell

you, board of Netflix, why the movie Cyberbully should go back on Netflix. Cyberbully is a film

that provides teens with insight on how cyberbullying affects teenagers, how people overcome

cyberbullying, and that Netflix would be able to make a profit due to this movie not being on any

other movie site.

Cyberbullying is extremely popular around teens, which is the demographic for Netflix

shows. Teens binge watch shows and movies like there is not tomorrow. According to
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Britannica, “90% of millennials and 87% of Gen Z stated they binge-watch, and 40% of those

age groups binge-watch an average of six episodes of television in one sitting” (ProCon.org).

Gen Z are the teens today which shows that majority of teens and younger adults binge watch

which prove how often teens watch shows and movies. Which ties into how you should

incorporate the movie Cyberbullying. This movie teaches teens, which are Netflix’s

demographic, how people are affected by cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is the act of using online

networks to bully people, which is very accessible today due to complete access to social

networks. Cyberbully, the movie, teaches teens about how cyberbullying can affect someone no

matter how little or big the bullying is. Taylor, the main character, is a sixteen-year-old girl who

is finally allowed social media, like Facebook, in the movie while her mom tries to track her.

However, once she meets a boy online it starts out well then it goes wrong quickly. The mean

girl of the school is taken to calling her names like “slut” and “whore” while the guy she met

online is turning against her. In the end the guy who she likes who turned against her turned out

to be her best friend. In the end Taylor eventually tries to kill herself due to all the hate she was

getting in and outside of school. This movie helps teens see how a teen can go from being happy

to being miserable in a span of weeks. Cyberbullying isn’t something to take lightly in this day in

age because of how social media incapsulates the teens of America. According to

Dosomething.org, “95% of teens in the U.S. are online, and the vast majority access the internet

on their mobile device, making it the most common medium for cyber bullying” (Hinduja). This

means that almost a hundred percent of teens could get cyberbullied because they have complete

access to online media. The movie Cyberbully paints a picture on how teens deal with bullying,

and how they respond. Netflix would have a strong benefit of having an educational movie while

also being entertaining to your demographic. It will give the chance for teens to learn about
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cyberbullying and have the power to re-watch the movie to fully understand the beginning,

middle, and end of cyberbullying.

Cyberbully has every aspect of cyberbullying including the recovery portion of being

bullied online. As soon as Taylor tries to commit suicide her mom and friend find her and bring

her to the hospital. After she is discharged from the hospital, she is put into a support group and

therapy one-on-one to help her overcome her depression and suicidal thoughts. The movie shows

signs of sleeping a lot which is a sign of depression after attempting suicide, close watch from

family members, and actions to take to get rid of the bullies in one’s life. This shows teens the

real affect bullying has on someone to the point of not wanting to be on Earth anymore.

Cyberbully shows how much work and effort Taylor had to put in to be able to overcome her

depression. It shows her going to group therapy even though she didn’t want to. The movie also

shows her confronting the people in her life that caused her turmoil. As well as admitting that she

should have talked to someone instead of dealing with the problem alone. According to Gordon,

“A big part of recovery from bullying is maintaining contact with supportive friends and family”

(Gordon) which is shown in this movie. It shows how Taylor has support from her mother,

brother, father, and friends. Gordon states, “The changes may be small and slow, but they are

still changes” (Gordon) which is displayed in Cyberbully when Taylor is seeing improvements

and feeling free after having her technology taken away from her. What I am getting at, Netflix,

is that this movie teaches lessons and shows the steps of getting over bullying like not allowing

yourself to isolate, having support from your family and friends, talking to someone like a

therapist or group therapy, and shows the lengthy recovery process. This will help Netflix gain

viewers because parents will realize that an idealistic movie about bullying, specifically
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cyberbullying, which is frequent in today’s society will give Netflix because you have an

educational movie along with entertaining attributes.

Following up the recovery portion of bullying, I understand your hesitance to add this

movie due to it being graphic and showing a teenager commit suicide. It is a sad situation that

moves people to feel something. It has multiple slurs used and shows harsh words and actions

against a defenseless teenager. Realistically adding one movie would not impact much of your

stats but would make teenagers around the Unites States happy seeing this movie online once

again. It shows how difficult it is to stop a bully and how to force yourself to control your

actions. The movie shows Taylor reacting to bullies and bullying back because she was attacked.

The movie shows the wrong way to go about bullying but has positive attributes to how the

bullying is handled and the step-by-step process of recovery.

Going along with Netflix gaining new consumers you will gain even more because this is

a nostalgic movie for teens and young adults. Currently, Cyberbully is only on amazon prime to

rent. If you add it to Netflix, you will have viewers wanting Netflix because this movie is a high

school staple. It will be used by teachers who have a Netflix account or will get one since you

offer the movie and many other movies that can be used as educational entertainment. For

example, Netflix has the movie Unfriended which is an unrealistic attempt at tackling the topic

of cyberbullying. Cyberbully is a strong contender of teaching young teens to young adults about

what cyberbullying is. Personally, I have seen this movie multiple times and I enjoy watching it.

This movie provides schools the opportunity to use Netflix as a site to be able to watch a movie

that provides educational information about bullying to the teens of America. Netflix would have

full access to this movie that consumers must buy everywhere else. When I was in high school,

we watched this movie on Netflix and then grades younger than me had to stop watching the
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movie since the movie is off Netflix. On average, “In the fourth quarter of 2021, Netflix had

about 75 million U.S. and Canada subscribers” (Stoll) which are high stats for a movie site.

However, you are missing out on the opportunity to add an entertaining and motivational movie

to help teenagers overcome bullying. According to commonsensemedia.org, the movie is rated

14+ and four stars. A parent stated, “It gave off great examples of cyber-bulling and what was

done after words of it. From the beginning to the very end” (Ashby). Many parents agreed with

the anonymous review I just gave you. These parents agreed how this movie is a movie they

showed their kids and it taught them something. The parents all around sad it was educational

and helpful to teach kids about bullying and showed every stage to bullying.

Overall, I would highly suggest you bring this movie back on your site. Currently the

only way to stream this movie is to get it off amazon which would allow you to compete against

someone else in this field since you offer hundreds of other movies and television shows for one

price instead of buying individual movies like amazon does. Cyberbully is a movie that is

educational and entertaining that provides teens to learn about the effects of cyberbullying, how

to overcome cyberbullying, and how Netflix could make a strong profit by adding Cyberbully to

your site.
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Works Cited

Ashby, Emily. “Cyberbully Movie Review.” Common Sense Media, 2021,

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/cyberbully. 

Gordon, Sherri. “Discover How to Move beyond the Lasting Effects of Bullying.” Verywell

Family, Verywell Family, 15 Feb. 2021, https://www.verywellfamily.com/10-ways-for-

adults-to-heal-from-childhood-bullying-460794. 

hinduja, Sameer. “11 Facts about Cyberbullying.” DoSomething.org, 2019,

https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-cyber-bullying#fn2. 

procon.org. “Pro and Con: Binge-Watching.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia

Britannica, Inc., 2021, https://www.britannica.com/story/pro-and-con-binge-watching. 

Stoll, Julia. “Netflix Subscribers Count in the U.S. 2021.” Statista, 21 Jan. 2022,

https://www.statista.com/statistics/250937/quarterly-number-of-netflix-streaming-

subscribers-in-the-us/.