Ann Arbor teen’s effort to change film’s rating garners U.S. attention

Katy Butler, 17, an Ann Arbor high school student, shows petitions she took to the Motion Picture Association of America, Los Angeles. She says the movie ‘Bully’ could create a change among youth if they were allowed to see it.

WASHINGTON — The growing movement to stop bullying in schools may have found a hero in Katy Butler.

The self-assured 17-year-old from Ann Arbor, bullied in middle school, was outraged when she learned that a sobering new documentary about the problem would be rated R, keeping those under 17 from seeing it without an adult.

Miss Butler started an online petition in late February to change the rating of Bully — and over three weeks, her own world changed too. More than 300,000 people signed on. She met the producer and director in New York, then leaders of the Motion Picture Association of America in Los Angeles.

Last week, Miss Butler’s whirlwind took her to Washington, where she visited lawmakers’ offices Friday.

Undaunted by a relentless spotlight, she retold her own story of torment as she insisted that students everywhere need to hear the personal stories featured in the film. The film’s R rating stems from a scene on a school bus, when a bullied boy is cursed out.

“These are real people, telling their real stories,” Miss Butler said. “I think it could create a big change, and it could potentially save lives if kids are allowed to see it.”

Her rising profile comes as bullying gets increasing attention nationally. On Wednesday, Cartoon Network unveiled a 30-minute documentary on bullying at Stuart-Hobson Middle School. The film, which was to air Sunday evening, opens with a message from President Obama, who held an anti-bullying summit at the White House last year.

The motion picture association hosted a small audience Thursday for an early showing and discussion of Bully.

Asked to speak, she made another plea for changing the rating to PG-13. Seated beside her mother, Anne, a Michigan pediatrician, she said that with an R rating, “the kids can’t go to see the movie by themselves — and, honestly, how many 13, 14, 15-year-olds want to go to the movies with their parents?” she said. “That’s just not cool.”

The MPAA says its rating reflects language used in the film so that parents can make informed decisions. The movie has an initial release date of March 30.

Joseph Wright, who has worked on bullying issues for a decade and leads the Child Health Advocacy Institute at Children’s National Medical Center, said he has never seen a stronger interest in change — and believes students themselves are the best hope.

“I think Katy represents how this movement is really going to be galvanized by young people,” he said. “The adult community, in my opinion, has a very steep learning curve.”

Bully examines the devastating experiences of five students, including two boys who commit suicide. It ends with the idea of change. “Everything starts with one and builds up,” says one father in the movie.

For Miss Butler, a budding political activist in her home state, the idea for the petition came after she read news accounts about the MPAA’s rating of the movie. She watched a trailer and immediately felt connected, she said, having struggled alone in middle school without speaking up — not to her parents, not to school officials.

She said that in seventh grade, she told her best friend she was a lesbian.

“Not a lot of people liked that,” she said. “They bullied me, they called me names, they pushed me into lockers, they harassed me every day. It got to the point where I didn’t want to go to school anymore. I was crying in the morning.” One day, she said, several boys slammed her hand into her locker and broke her finger.

Some skeptics questioned whether the ratings controversy was a publicity ploy by Bully producer Harvey Weinstein. Miss Butler said her petition was inspired by her personal views and had 100,000 signatures before she talked to anyone involved in making Bully.

Her advocacy for the movie builds on work she did last year, she said, to help change a bullying law in Michigan. She created her first online petition then — on Change.org — and got more than 50,000 signatures — working with the group Equality Michigan.

Her second petition on the same Web site exceeded her expectations. Her petition was supported by members of Congress. Her high point was meeting Ellen DeGeneres — whose story is an inspiration to her, she said.

Other celebrities who embraced her petition include Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Justin Bieber, and NFL quarterback Drew Brees.