- The students at East High are upset that Bruce (who is actually never shown) is allowed to attend their high school, and that he is an undesirable element whom their parents have told not to associate with. However, an incident soon occurs that makes them rethink their ideas about prejudice.—frankfob2@yahoo.com
- A crawl tells us that Bruce Jones is a symbol standing for any or all minority groups - racial, socio-economic, or religious. Therefore, he will not be seen or identified ... except in your own mind.
We do see Bruce briefly from the waist down, walking to the high school building. As he approaches a group of students, he quickly turns away. A girl says she can't understand why he's allowed to attend their school - and that her folks feel the same way. A boy adds that his dad insists he not associate with Bruce. Another boy points out that since Bruce's grades are good, the school can't get rid of him. They decide the best things to do is just to avoid him. Just then, there's a commotion. Some students claim to have witnessed Bruce punching the much smaller Ed Reese without provocation. After a class, a boy can't find his green sweater, and is told by a classmate that he saw Bruce with it. They begin to wonder if Bruce has stolen other things.
At a school dance, there's satisfaction that the "undesirable element" is missing. Suddenly, there's shocking news: While driving to the dance, Tom and Gail skidded into a bridge, and the car caught fire. Bruce rescued them both, but was himself severely burned and taken to the hospital. Suddenly, most of the students feel sorry for Bruce, but Bill calls this hypocrisy. He goes back to the dance as others go to the hospital to see if they can help. On the way, Ed Reese admits that he had been repeatedly teasing Bruce with "that song", and was whistling it when Bruce lost his self-control and hit him. The boy who lost his sweater also admits that it had been turned into Lost and Found.
At the hospital, the students talk to themselves about their doubts concerning their past behavior and what they should do in the future. The narrator asks: "What was it that made these people do the things they did? What is a lack of understanding? Was their attitude picked up from their prejudiced parents? Or was it simply a matter of going along with the attitude of the group? What is prejudice? Why does it exist? What to you think?" Then, as is usual in films of this series, a large question mark appears over the scene.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content