Not Like Everyone Else/Analysis
An old Aesop is proved useful : Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover gets extended to And Knowing Is Half the Battle
The usual deconstruction of this trope, "sometimes, the appearances / first impressions are useful to get who is dangerous and what is dangerous", is used against Brandi, the ultimate Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold, on full force.... completely forgetting that what put people in real danger is a complete disregard for what lies beneath the appearances. As pointed out during the movie, the people like Brandi are the least dangerous category of tweens ... We are reminded, however, that some real shooters were apparently harmless ... Some people were everything people do not fear, "parts of christian gatherings", just like the hypocritical self-serving students who prompt a witch hunt, "appreciated by both pupils and adults", like the same very dangerous students are liked by the very confused Casey ( a pupil who ends up recognizing that she was wrong, both about her personality and their feelings towards her ), and a principal who compliments one of the hypocritical, dishonest shmoozers, by thanking her for denouncing the innocent Brandi and praising her for having such "honesty and bravour". If we are to judge them by christian values, Brandi turns the other cheek more than once, at least, she hardly ever hurts someone and thinks of the others's feelings, except when she thinks she has to remind them of their unfairness, while the other characters, and particularly, the apparently harmless Kimberly exhibits Pride, hipocrisy, and an uneasy fascination for hurting people.