It's not as openly expressed as in movies, but unfortunately yes. Bullying is a huge problem. Most schools "anti-bullying programs" are some posters and maybe a talk about how bullying is bad every month or so. I remember in seventh grade I was just the kid everyone hated for no reason. It got pretty bad and I was already dealing with some stuff that comes with growing up, but I know the bullying was a huge part of it. I know of lots of other kids who have had to deal with bullying too. It's really sad, but the whole social cliques and bullying thing is very real.

If you believe t.v. English boarding schools are even worse and it's taken for granted.

It used to be that way, but luckily nowadays our social tiers are topped SJWs and LGBTQIA activists. Strangely enough, the switch from physical bullying to psychological bullying has not really reduced the number of suicides or school shootings. That said, when I was a youth long ago, bullies of all types were soon ganged up on by people who refused to take the abuse anymore, and quite often by brave individuals who stood up for themselves.

It's a movie thing. Bullying exists somewhat but most groups leave each other alone. My kids just finished high school, and similar to when I was in school, you didn't really interact with popular kids unless you were in their group, and they didn't pay attention to non popular kids.

Are you implying that this is just an American thing? That's just nonsense, humans are the same everywhere and bullying is universal.