[Instrumental “Let’s Hear it for the Boy” by Denice Williams playing]
Music fades up with moving on-screen text that reads: “Content Warning: this video contains a scenario of relationship violence”
The screen fades to two female students walking together down the Rabb Steps.
Swati: “So today in class, I was like so funny, you know? Cause I’m just hilarious.”
Swati notices Kelyn texting, stops walking, and turns in close to her.
Swati: “Who are you texting? Who are you texting?”
Kelyn: “Uh, just a friend.”
Swati, angrily: “Who is this person? God! You’re so unfaithful”
Swati throws Kelyn’s cell phone on the ground. Swati gets closer into Kelyn’s personal space. Kelyn looks scared.
Swati: “Why are you cheating on me? You are cheating on me!”
Swati continues to berate Kelyn indistinctly as we see Juan approach from up the steps. Juan wears a glasses, a beanie, and a messenger bag. He notices the fight, slows down, and removes his earbuds. After a brief pause, Juan continues walking by.
The scene pauses and a narrator figure, Chila, enters in front of the frozen frame.
Chila: “Witnessing a harmful situation and not doing anything about it is called being an apathetic bystander. We don’t want that. Let’s give them another chance.”
Scene rewinds quickly with a rewind sound effect. It replays again from the beginning of Swati and Kelyn’s fight.
Swati: “... Cause I’m just hilarious. Who are you texting? Who are you texting?”
Kelyn: “Uh, just a friend.”
Swati: “Who is this person? God! You’re so unfaithful!”
Swati throws Kelyn’s cell phone on the ground. Swati gets closer into Kelyn’s personal space. Kelyn looks scared.
Swati continues to berate Kelyn indistinctly as the camera focuses on Juan approaching from up the steps. This time, Juan is dressed in a business suit and is talking indistinctly on a cell phone. He notices Swati yelling at Kelyn aggressively, ends his phone call, and pushes his way between the two women.
Juan: “Hey, stop. Stop!”
Swati pauses for a moment, then swings at Juan and we hear a punch land. The scene freezes with Kelyn looking shocked.
Chila enters the frozen frame again.
Chila: “Oh yikes. Okay. So, sometimes you can do something and actually make the situation worse. The important part of being a pro-social bystander is centering safety, accountability, and support. By responding with violence, Juan escalated the situation. Let’s try that again.”
Scene rewinds quickly with a rewind sound effect. It replays again from the beginning of Swati and Kelyn’s fight.
On screen text reads: “Distracting”
Swati: “Who are you texting? Who are you texting?”
Kelyn: “Uh, just a friend.”
Swati, angrily: “Who is this person? God! You’re so unfaithful”
Swati throws Kelyn’s cell phone on the ground. Swati gets closer into Kelyn’s personal space. Kelyn looks scared.
Swati continues to berate Kelyn indistinctly as the camera focuses on Juan approaching from up the steps. This time wearing black motorcycle jacket, long jean pants, black boots, and sunglasses. He approaches Swati and Kelyn.
Juan: “Excuse me, excuse me. Can you tell me where the library is?”
Swati, seeming a little irritated, points to the building behind them: “It’s right there!”
Juan, looks at Kelyn: “Can you like…”
Kelyn: “I… I’ll walk with you.”
Juan: “Thank you, thank you.”
Juan and Kelyn walk away from Swati together, towards the library. Swati is left alone looking confused.
The scene freezes and Chila enters again.
Chila: “Juan created a distraction, that gave the person experiencing harm an opportunity to get out. But what if Juan wasn’t sure he should approach them by himself?”
Scene rewinds quickly with a rewind sound effect. It replays again from the beginning of Swati and Kelyn’s fight.
Text appears on the screen that reads “Directly Asking/Distancing”
Swati: “... Cause I’m just hilarious. Who are you texting? Who are you texting?”
Kelyn: “Uh, just a friend.”
Swati: “Who is this person? God! You’re so unfaithful!”
Swati throws Kelyn’s cell phone on the ground. Swati gets closer into Kelyn’s personal space. Kelyn looks scared.
Swati continues to berate Kelyn indistinctly as the camera focuses on Juan approaching from up the steps. This time, Juan is wearing workout clothes and lifting small barbells in each hand as he jogs down the steps. As he sees Swati and Kelyn arguing, he looks around to see if anyone else is nearby. He notices Tanaysha and her friend and waves them over. Juan and Tanaysha approach Swati and Kelyn.
Juan, to Swati: “I’m so sorry, is everything okay?”
Swati, a little irritably: “I’m just talking to my girlfriend.”
Juan: “I just wanna make sure cause…”
At the same time, Tanashya asks Kelyn: “Are you okay?”
Kelyn, hesitantly: “Yeah...”
The scene freezes again and Chila enters.
Chila: “You could also get a friend involved to help out!”
Scene rewinds quickly with a rewind sound effect. It replays again from the beginning of Swati and Kelyn’s fight.
Text appears on the screen that reads “Delegating”
Swati: “... Cause I’m just hilarious. Who are you texting? Who are you texting?”
Kelyn: “Uh, just a friend.”
Swati: “Who is this person? God! You’re so unfaithful!”
Swati throws Kelyn’s cell phone on the ground. Swati gets closer into Kelyn’s personal space. Kelyn looks scared.
Swati continues to berate Kelyn indistinctly as the camera focuses on Juan approaching from up the steps. Juan is dressed like he is going to the beach, including sunscreen on his nose and a big sunhat. He notices Swati and Kelyn are arguing, stops, and dials a phone number.
Juan: “Hello? Yes, Brandeis Public Safety?”
Scene freezes and Chila returns.
Chila: Of course, if someone might be in immediate physical danger, you can always call the police.”
Chila continues: “So, here we have five examples of different ways to intervene in situations of violence. First we saw that doing nothing, or escalating the situation are possible negative ways to contribute. Then, we saw that directly asking, distancing, delegating, and distracting are positive ways to contribute. Depending on the situation at hand, and of course, always centering your own personal safety”
Scene fades out as music resumes.
[Denice Williams singing “Let’s hear it for the Boy”]
‘Cause every time he pulls me near ♪ I just wanna cheer ♪
Let’s hear it for the boy ♪
Let’s give the boy a hand ♪
Let’s hear it for my baby ♪
You know you gotta understand ♪
Credits roll up the screen:
Starring (in order of appearance)
Swati Kaushik
Kelyn Zhang
Juan Bordon
Tanashya Batra
Ali Hagani
Chila Haber
Directed by Lucia Pugh-Sellers
Thank you Sarah J Berg and Vilma Uribe