Our BetterMost Community > Chez Tremblay
Lawsuit over Brokeback Mountain in class
Shakesthecoffecan:
I just read this article:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,271935,00.html
now granted this Fox news, so there is a conservative bias going on. I think 12 is too early to see Brokeback, if they were 15 it would be more acceptable but still if you are going to show R rated material permission should be given. It is interesting to read in this article that the substitute teacher is alledged to have said: "What happens in Ms. Buford's class stays in Ms. Buford's class". (a take off on the plug for Las Vegas) It seems to me like they are trying to tie the showing to a general decline in morals in the U.S. If this statement is true it represents an agenda I cannot endorse.
I think the student may need counselling for a variety of reasons, including how her guardians relate to the larger society. I would also love to find out how this class of students turns out over the years.
I can relate to Edenbarby's husbands reaction. When I was 8 my sister took me to see Nicholas and Alexandra, and of course they were all brutally murdered at then end. The murder of Rasputin was hardly a blip on the radar, but the murders of the Romanovs really left me fearful.
ednbarby:
I agree totally with you, Shakes - this girl needs counseling not because she saw a sexually explicit movie but because her guardians are a couple of intolerant, insensitive, ignorant nimrods. They are inflicting way more damage than any movie ever could.
Mikaela:
--- Quote from: ednbarby on May 13, 2007, 09:53:06 pm ---
While I agree that a teacher is ill-advised to show any R-rated film to a class of 12-year-olds, I can't help but think that this girl and her family need to get a frigging clue.
--- End quote ---
I'm quoting this as one of a number of posts along the same lines, and musing a bit. Are Scandinavian kids that different from Americans? Are they tougher? I think not. If anything, I think many US kids have seen quite a lot more of graphic violence depicted on screen, for instance, and are far more used to guns around the house in RL, and so in some ways at least have become desensitized to what kids (and parents) over here would probably react quite strongly to. On the other hand, any allusion to or depiction (however relevant to the story) related to nudity or sex, and in particular gay sex, is obviously a huge no-no in the US. But if not for that cultural trait which originates with grown-ups like the grandparents of the alledged traumatized 12-year old, I bet 12-year olds on both sides of the Atlantic could handle the scenes and themes of BBM just fine.
Here, Brokeback had a rating in the cinemas allowing kids down to 11 years old to watch it alone, and down to 7 year-olds could see it if accompagnied by an adult. The rating was explained by the rating board as being due to the violence that the film contains, while the sexuality (as not seen as exploitative or gratuituous) played no part in the rating comments. So I doubt that schools could get in any sort of formal legal trouble for showing the film to 12-year olds, in a group and with a teacher present. At that age the kids have had their first education on sexuality too. Then again, I agree a school might nevertheless be seen as somewhat ill-advised in showing BBM simply because the film IMO requires a more mature mind and more life experience than that of many a 12-year old in order to comprehend the story and characters.
Oh, there are may things over here that annoy the heck out of me, and things of which I'm not very proud. But when it comes to movie ratings and what kind of scenes we deem hurtful to kids and youths I think we're getting it right. BBM had an 11-year age limit for viewing.... while Mel Gibson's latest Mayan graphic violence orgy got our equivalent of a NC-17 rating; you had to be 18 or older to get to watch it in the cinema. I'm still delighted about that. ;D
serious crayons:
I invited both of my sons, ages 11 and 12, to watch BBM with me. I would have fast-forwarded through the sex scenes (all of them). No sense making it the experience unnecessarily jarring. But my sons are perceptive movie-viewers, and I would have liked them to absorb the message -- and to base their attitudes toward the movie on the movie itself rather than on all the jokes, etc., they've heard elsewhere. Both declined the offer, which tells me that the jokes have already had their damaging effect.
But a teacher showing it to a class is just being silly. Obviously there are going to be parents up in arms. The lawsuit and claim that the girl was traumatized are ridiculous, but how dense do you have to be to not realize that showing an R-rated movie of any sort to 12-year-olds is going to upset some parents? Throw in homosexuality and, fair or not, some parents are going to be even more outraged. By giving homophobes a reasonable basis for complaint and presenting a valuable lesson in an inappropriate context, the teacher did more harm than good.
Not only that, but how many 12-year-olds are even going to fully understand the message, anyway? A glance over at imdb will quickly demonstrate that plenty of adults don't get the movie, whose attitudes are just as obnoxious after they see it. BBM is not guaranteed to enlighten everybody.
It would make much more sense to find other ways to teach the same lesson. A teacher who used books, non-R-rated movies, or in-class discussions to promote healthy attitudes toward homosexuality might still generate rage among homophobic parents. But then the approach would be defensible, and the homophobia would stand out for the prejudice it is.
HerrKaiser:
--- Quote from: ednbarby on May 13, 2007, 09:53:06 pm ---
God, I hate what Bush has done to this country. So to speak. I also can't help but think that this kind of crap would not fly at all if we had a social liberal in the White House. Nor should it. Ever.
--- End quote ---
the movie ratings guides have been in place for decades; Bush had nothing to do with them. Gore's wife was the highest "ranking" poliitico to attempt sensorship of lyrics and images in songs/movies; remember?
Once again, anything even slightly conservative wherever it occurs is "Bush's fault". To claim that R rated movies (in particular BBM) would be heralded for classrooms of 12 year olds and the opposition to such (as it being shown as noted HERE on this thread) would NOT be in play had Kerry won the election is such a missunderstanding of the public and parents it boggles my mind.
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