A Fifth-Grader's Perspective on Peter Rabbit

I have recently seen an article about the food allergy scene in the movie Peter Rabbit. In the movie, Peter Rabbit and his gang have an enemy who is allergic to blackberries. In an effort to harm him, they attack him by throwing blackberries at him. The enemy starts choking and has to use an epinephrine auto-injector.

This scene is important to me because I have life-threatening food allergies to eggs, all nuts, and all seafood. I have had two anaphylactic reactions where I was rushed to the hospital. My reactions are so severe that my organs begin to shut down. I always carry my epinephrine auto-injector with me and I never put something in my mouth unless I know the exact ingredients.

The movie, Peter Rabbit, shows food allergy bullying as funny and successful. This scene is put into a fiction movie that portrays other wild scenes that will never happen. Therefore, the viewers think that the blackberry allergy scene is equally unrealistic and wild. But in actuality, this kind of bullying really does happen and is mean and scary. According to foodallergy.org, 15 million people have food allergies in the United States. One-third of all kids with food allergies are bullied because of their allergies.

I am very upset at the way Peter Rabbit makes fun of allergy bullying. This movie is being shown all around the U.S. and is demonstrating to little kids that this type of bullying is okay. Treating any person in this way is not okay for anyone to do. In some movie theaters, people with food allergies will be watching this and everyone around them will be laughing. This will make them feel very sad that their friends are not thinking about the pain that this is actually creating. This movie portrays a horrible act of violence. I hope that this is recognized and that people take action against it. Many people have raised the idea that Sony should remove the allergy scene from the movie. I completely agree. My family has chosen not to see the movie. I am greatly disappointed with some of the responses people have written that show no awareness for what people with allergies are going through. I hope people will understand the severity of this scene and that they will take action against it as well.