Who would feature on your list of the world’s worst bullies? A couple of meanies from school perhaps or maybe someone from your favourite book or TV show?
We love to hate those horrid meanies of the page and screen, don’t we? Without them, rooting for the underdog just wouldn’t be as fun. And, let’s face it, without Darth there would be no Luke!
I was always encouraged by the fact that fictional bullies get their come-uppance sooner or later. Hauntings, horse manure and hexes: made-up meanies have certainly met some sticky ends.
Here are my top four fictional bullies and their satisfying fates.
Image: Nik Hewitt
Biff Tannen
Ah, Biff, with your brilloed quiff and protruding bottom lip. I can’t help but like Back to the Future’s simpleton bully. He’s certainly a character, and without him, Marty McFly wouldn’t be able to save the day in quite the same way.
Biff meets three miserable fates in each of the three films, all involving getting covered in horse manure!
Nelson Muntz
Ha Ha! Nelson is the classic bully- twice the size of Bart and the other pip-squeaks in the class, mocker of nerdy Millhouse and Martin. Waiting for unsuspecting victims after school, Nelson has been known to pick on foreign exchange students, beat people up, and steal Bart’s treasured comics.
In a surprising twist of fate, Bart and Nelson eventually become friends, and we learn of Nelson’s unhappy plight- his dad ran away with the circus when he was young and his unfit mother works a waitressing job at Hooters.
Miss Trunchbull
Reading Roald Dahl’s Matilda as a kid, Miss Trunchbull was surely the most terrifying creature I had ever heard of. Her crimes involved locking children in the chokie, chucking kids around by their pigtails, force-feeding massive chocolate cakes to her pupils (okay, so that didn’t sound so bad) and generally being a grumpy old meanie.
Image Via Screen Capture
Athletic aunty of Miss Honey, Matilda’s beloved teacher, Trunchbull is out of control, and magical Matilda decides to do something about it.
Using her powers, she scares the Trunchbull into thinking that her dead brother has come back to haunt here, scrawling a message from him on the classroom chalkboard. She is then pelted with a flying array of packed lunches before leaving the town for good. Hooray! I wonder where she went next.
The Never Ending Story Gang
I always sympathised with book-worm Bastian in The Never Ending Story. Chased by bullies on his way to school who constantly torment him, Bastian hides in the bookshop, and there discovers the book that leads him into the fantasy world.
At the end of the film, Bastian is told by the empress that he must make wishes on a magic grain of sand to rebuild fantasia. His first wish is one of revenge! Bastian, riding the giant pink Luck Dragon he has befriended in Fantasia, swoops down on the bullies causing them to scarper. Still, they come back to get him in the second and third films, don’t they?
I guess the luck dragon’s pink fluffiness isn’t overly terrifying
About The Author: Anne Standing writes for Vinehouse, an HR consultancy firm that helps people to deal with bullying in the workplace. She believes that workplace bullying shouldn’t have to be endured, and that, with help, it can be irradiated.
