Author Topic: 'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water  (Read 5130 times)

slayers_creek_oth

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'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water
« on: April 08, 2006, 10:57:48 pm »
This may have already been posted so sorry if it has...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/08/prison.brokeback.reut/index.html?section=cnn_latest

BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- A Massachusetts correctional officer is being disciplined for showing the gay cowboy movie "Brokeback Mountain" to inmates at the state's largest prison because his boss determined that the film includes content inappropriate for a prison setting.

Massachusetts Department of Correction spokeswoman Diane Wiffin said Saturday that the action was not related to the critically acclaimed film's plot involving a gay love affair.

"It was not the subject matter. It was the graphic nature of sexually explicit scenes," Wiffin said.

She said the officer, whom she declined to identify, failed to follow prison guidelines that require staff who schedule films to review them in advance for excessive violence, nudity or sex, as well as scenes involving assaults on correctional staff.

The officer showed the film Thursday afternoon, two days after its American release on DVD, to inmates at a prison in Norfolk, Massachusetts, about 25 miles southwest of Boston.

Wiffin declined to discuss his punishment.

Based on Annie Proulx's short story, "Brokeback Mountain" is about two men who meet and fall in love while wrangling sheep in Wyoming in 1963. It won raves from critics and garnered three Oscars last month, including one for director Ang Lee.


Offline Nicole

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Re: 'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water
« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2006, 11:07:50 pm »
She said the officer, whom she declined to identify, failed to follow prison guidelines that require staff who schedule films to review them in advance for excessive violence, nudity or sex, as well as scenes involving assaults on correctional staff.

Lol - that makes me laugh, imagining prison staff removing any films that show inmates abusing the staff.  I guess Natural Born Killers doesn't get shown in a lot of prisons, lol.

I can't imagine that the sex in the movie was any more graphic than other movies that they show.  If it was b/w a man and woman nobody would have blinked an eye.   ::)
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vkm91941

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Re: 'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2006, 12:35:10 am »
These are murderers, rapists, pediophiles, theives and villians of every description some of whom sodomise other prisoners on a regular basis and the "Officials" think Brokeback Mountain is not "appropriate" for their viewing....SHeesh...what do they show these guys Disney Films, Harry Potter, Wallace and Gromit. Is that supposed to part of the rehabilitation process.  They allow playboy magazines, pin-ups and other such "contraban" to exist.  The Stupidity of some people in authority astounds me.

Offline henrypie

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Re: 'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2006, 12:48:42 am »
Hypocrisy as Usual.

Very, very frustrating.

TheStudDuck

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Re: 'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2006, 05:19:34 am »
SHeesh...what do they show these guys Disney Films, Harry Potter, Wallace and Gromit. Is that supposed to part of the rehabilitation process.

Hahahahaha... that makes me think of that scene from Addams Family Values where Wednesday and Pugsley (and that other kid) are locked in that cabin in the woods and forced to watch movies like Bambi and The Sound of Music as their punishment!

Yes, it doesn't make any sense... seeing as how the sex is in no way graphic at all.

I know this goes against my bleeding-heart liberal self, but they should have denied it on the grounds that those men are being punished and that they don't deserve to see the greatest film ever made in the history of cinema!

Offline Kelda

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Re: 'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2006, 05:28:01 am »
how entirely odd.
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vkm91941

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Re: 'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water
« Reply #6 on: April 09, 2006, 05:52:56 am »
Quote
Posted by: TheStudDuck ...I know this goes against my bleeding-heart liberal self, but they should have denied it on the grounds that those men are being punished and that they don't deserve to see the greatest film ever made in the history of cinema!

Now see David Thomas..THAT I would have understood!

Offline ednbarby

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Re: 'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water
« Reply #7 on: April 09, 2006, 07:26:53 am »
I know this goes against my bleeding-heart liberal self, but they should have denied it on the grounds that those men are being punished and that they don't deserve to see the greatest film ever made in the history of cinema!

I love you, David.  Of course, what's most exasperating about this is you *know* those dumbass mules (my new favorite description of them) haven't even seen it, so they're only assuming it's graphic.  Having seen it, the only sex you could call overly graphic is that between Ennis and ALMA.   ::)
« Last Edit: April 09, 2006, 09:13:40 am by ednbarby »
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Offline opinionista

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Re: 'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water
« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2006, 08:54:10 am »
Quote
It was not the subject matter. It was the graphic nature of sexually explicit scenes," Wiffin said.

I personally don't think there are sexually explicit scenes in Brokeback Mountain. Not even when both Ennis and Jack have sex with their respectives wives. The first tent scene is probably the most graphic sex scene in the entire movie and Jake is fully clothed.

Perhaps I'm too used to see European movies. Almodovar shows a lot more in his movies and so does Vicente Aranda. Almodovar's The Bad Education, La ley del deseo (Law of desire), and Kika; and Aranda's Tirant Lo Blanc or Carmen are a few examples of movies with truly graphic sex scenes.
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Offline ednbarby

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Re: 'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water
« Reply #9 on: April 09, 2006, 09:10:09 am »
I'm with you, Opinionista.  I don't really think any of the sex scenes are that graphic at all.  It's all almost entirely implied.  The only difference between the sex between the men and that between the men and the women is that the women are topless, whereas we really don't see any private parts of the men.

Again, I think this is a crock of shite.  No way did these guys even see the movie - if they did, they'd know that was a bogus excuse.
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Offline Becky

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Re: 'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water
« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2006, 10:27:29 am »
"It was not the subject matter. It was the graphic nature of sexually explicit scenes," Wiffin said.

If it is alright for a 15 year old to see, why is it not fine for a buch of adults to see? ???
"Look too often at those hills, lie too long beside those rippling rivers, and you may think you are hearing a love song, when actually it is a death song." Larry McMurtry, Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay.

Offline SFEnnisSF

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Re: 'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water
« Reply #11 on: April 09, 2006, 01:24:03 pm »
What I want to know is how the audience reacted...

EnnisDelMar

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Re: 'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water
« Reply #12 on: April 09, 2006, 01:25:30 pm »
Strange...that's all I'm gonna say

Offline JCinNYC2006

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Re: 'Brokeback' screening lands prison officer in hot water
« Reply #13 on: April 09, 2006, 07:16:19 pm »
I think it's understandable, given the restrictions that go on in prison.  Any movie that depicts sexuality is a hard sell.  Even if there's different opinions on how graphic it is, there is sex in the movie and they tend to not want to show it to inmates.  I'm not an expert and I don't work in the prison system, but I know people who have been in jail and it's pretty strict to dumb comedies or very mainstream, non-offensive stuff.

I don't agree with the thinking because it treats all inmates as though they couldn't handle depictions of sex, but that's my understanding of why they wouldn't show BBM.

Juan
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