SlowBurn68 Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 I know we here in Chicago are fairly liberal and open-minded, but what the hell are we doing showing Brokeback Mountain to a class of 12 year-olds? I don't blame the family for suing the Chicago Board of Education. My God! http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/383...broke13.article Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bjorn_skurj Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 I heard this wasn't the greatest movie, but emotional distress? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
viatroy Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 Jessica needs to get over herself. I sure hope for her sake her parents don't have cable. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SlowBurn68 Posted May 13, 2007 Author Share Posted May 13, 2007 Really? You don't think it's kind of a big deal to show the movie to 12 year-olds? I guess I may have a conservative side... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
virtualreason Posted May 13, 2007 Share Posted May 13, 2007 I thought the movie sucked. I couldn't connect to any of the characters. It is, however, visually stunning. And the sex wasn't all that hot either. But I think this suit will have some heft just because a) it's a substitute teacher and the way she prefaced herself before showing the movie. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bjorn_skurj Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 Really? You don't think it's kind of a big deal to show the movie to 12 year-olds? I guess I may have a conservative side...Well, it was a bad judgment call, but I think the substitute teacher who played it for them has a mental illness. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
brokendowntele Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 Forget what movie it was, showing a R rated film to 12 year old students is beyond poor judgment. We had a teacher get in trouble for showing Mel Gibson's "Patriot", and that's for violence. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bjorn_skurj Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 In 12th-grade French, our teacher showed us "Cousin, Cousine," which had boobies in it. My friend Kevin, who would go on to become president of the school board, was assigned to play lookout. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tapmyglass Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 In 12th-grade French, our teacher showed us "Cousin, Cousine," which had boobies in it. My friend Kevin, who would go on to become president of the school board, was assigned to play lookout. I was shown this in eigth grade french, my teacher just put a piece of paper in front of the screen during the offending scene. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bjorn_skurj Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 My 12th-grade French teacher was one of the best teachers I ever had. Marie Oettinger, je vous aime. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bobbob1313 Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 Brokeback Mountain was not a good movie. They should be more offended that it got nominated for every single fucking award in the universe. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beltmann Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 I think Brokeback is a fine movie, but for what possible purpose would it be shown to a class of 12-year-olds? As a parent, I'd be ticked if my 12-year-old kid came home with this story. I teach film and have often shown R-rated clips (from Spike Lee to Martin Scorsese) and occasionally even entire movies (such as Rushmore and Run Lola Run). But the class is reserved for high school upperclassmen; each piece gets prior administrative approval based on educational justification; parent permisson slips are obtained; and kids are told in advance that they can opt out no questions asked. I had to laugh about the kid being appointed "lookout," though. Last year I projected Bunuel's Un Chien Andalou on the wall, so the famous eyeball-slitting and bosom-groping were larger-than-life. I had my bases covered, but I still stood "lookout" near the door, and made sure to cover the windows during the nastier images... I didn't want to traumatize some unsuspecting kid (or, more likely, some unsuspecting teacher) if one happened to amble past the room! I was shown this in eigth grade french, my teacher just put a piece of paper in front of the screen during the offending scene.I've done that, too. I remember showing The Crucible one year, and during the opening scene there's a brief shot of an unclothed woman. I just stood next to the TV and hoisted some posterboard over the screen during the offending seconds--of course, I pulled back a corner and let myself peek, with a raised eyebrow and a tiny grin. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zebra Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 Can Ms. Buford say, "Would you like fries with that?" Also, why is there a need for psychological treatment and counseling? Oh yeah, I can think of 400,000 reasons for it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mountain bed Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 Brokeback Mountain was not a good movie.Not nearly as good as this one, eh? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SlowBurn68 Posted May 14, 2007 Author Share Posted May 14, 2007 LOL@mountain bed Quote Link to post Share on other sites
oatmealblizzard Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 Yeah...showing Brokeback in class (especially if she didn't have permission slips signed, etc.) was probably a bad decision. But suing over it is a little ridiculous and just another example of the litiginous society we are living in these days. By the way ... my 11th grade latin teacher showed us Caligula back in the day, which was pretty hardcore - more so than Brokeback Mountain, I think. We had permission slips signed and all that, and I do think a few scenes were skipped over, but we still got our fair share of nudity and adult oriented scenes. I still am not entirely sure what the hell it had to do with anything we were studying, but ... oh well. I didn't care. But let me just add that it was a pretty awful movie overall. Not recommended, unless it's a choice between that film and conjugating latin verbs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Calexico Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 I quite liked the movie myself but that teacher has teached her last teach. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SarahC Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 yikes. that wasn't really a smart move. if it were high school aged kids i could see where it might be ok if it was like a senior class, but 12 year olds...not cool. although, big brain farts happen... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
owl Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 Personally, I think that many, many R-rated movies are inappropriate for 12-year-olds. What would motivate a teacher to show an R-rated movie to a 12-year old? I don't know. What would motivate the teacher to show Brokeback Mountain? I'm even more baffled. I guess the real question, though, lies in whether the parents have allowed the girl to see R-rated movies before. I'd guess that this is: 60% parents found a great opportunity to sue35% teacher's bad judgment5% girl's mental scarring Quote Link to post Share on other sites
owl Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 Forget what movie it was, showing a R rated film to 12 year old students is beyond poor judgment. We had a teacher get in trouble for showing Mel Gibson's "Patriot", and that's for violence. Now there is an awful movie. What kind of educational value does Patriot have? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
caliber66 Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 I had the pleasure of seeing Olivia Hussey's boobs in Franco Zefirelli's Romeo & Juliet in class at least twice by the end of my sophomore year, thanks to R&J being part of freshman English in Texas and sophomore English in Virginia. I don't think anyone minded, but I'm pretty sure we had to sign permission slips both times. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Spawn's dad Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 Personally, I think that many, many R-rated movies are inappropriate for 12-year-olds. the guideline is children under 17 not permitted without a parent. you're applying a PG-13 guideline to an R movie shown with out any permission. it's wildly inappropriate. and frankly if it were my child I'd want some ass . our society is structured in a way that when approaching bureaucracies and powerful corporations the best way to insure that action is taken is by suing. a lawsuit brought against the school will put in place systems of guidance so that this kind of thing doesn't happen again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lammycat Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 I should probably hold off on my plans to show Pulp Fiction to my fifth graders today. Amazingly poor and stupid judgement on the sub's part. Even moreso though, is the stupidity of the principal. I cannot imagine a sane principal okaying an R-rated flick for kids this age. Overreaction on the girl's part and her family, perhaps, but I'd imagine they've got a pretty decent case. Why would a school think it's okay to show an R-rated flick to people that technically/legally cannot watch one at a public theater? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
quarter23cd Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 I can recall watching a few movies in school that, nowadays, would probably be lawsuit-bait (Apocalypse Now, A Clockwork Orange, and Roman Polanski's version of Macbeth come to mind), but those were all in high school and were shown in classes where they weren't out of context or anything.(English/film/drama classes) Regardless of content, showing an R rated movie to 12 year olds, especially without really providing any context to why you are watching it, and doubly-especially when you preface it with comments like "What happens here, stays here"...yeah, that's just asking for a heap of trouble. Edit:I had the pleasure of seeing Olivia Hussey's boobs in Franco Zefirelli's Romeo & Juliet in class at least twice by the end of my sophomore yearOoh, yeah, I forgot about that one. And my parents wondered how I ended up as an English major in college. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WilcoFan Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 I teach film and have often shown R-rated clips (from Spike Lee to Martin Scorsese) Not picking on you but I thought it was funny when I read this line since they are both from NYC and are both controversial. It's sort of like saying, "I play all kinds of music, country and western." Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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