'Brokeback' school screening spurs 12 year old into legal action
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By Stone Martindale May 14, 2007, 0:57 GMT
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wow america's lawsuit situation is so pathetic... shove that psychological distress somewhere else, GET OVER IT. if you have nothing to do at school and watch a movie, be glad for a little break, dont whine about morals or how it's ruining your mind. If you don't like a movie, GET THE @#$% out of the room.
I would be very upset if my 12 year old was shown Brokeback Mountain by a school employee. The family has every right to sue the school. Hopefully, no other adult will exercise such poor judgement in the future.
How would people react if 'Passion of the Christ' (or some other equally controversial Christian movie) were shown to students without any parental permission or way to be excused? I think that all material meant for 18 year olds and older should be watched ONLY with parent or guardian permission. This substitute and principal were not being responsible and not respecting families decisions and rights by showing this movie. And what child is going to get up and leave a movie and be ridiculed by her classmates and maybe even the teacher? The teacher is the adult and should be making ALL students feel safe and secure. This was a stupid mistake and someone needs to pay so that others will not make it.
I'm glad that they are suing. What gives a substitute teacher, a complete stranger, no less, the right to show an R rated movie to a 12 year old? When did parents lose the right to judge what is acceptable and appropriate for their own child? I'm totally on board with showing a movie once in a while, but for goodness sake ... Brokeback Mountain? For a country that complains so much about the education (or lack of it) of our children, why on earth wouldn't you require a substitute to actually teach something? I would be extremely upset if I was forced to watch a sexually explicit movie and I'm 44 years old! This is outrageous.
The teacher should be disciplined. I understand why the parents are suing.
Even if it were a sexual encounter between a man and a woman in film, that would be inappropriate to view for a 12 year old. An Homosexual encounter is worse and isn't normal. I know that this will anger some, but I don't care.
She's 12 of course she's going to be tramatized by seeing graphic sex, whether it's between a woman and a man, two men or even two women!! Both the principal and the teacher should be fired. I have a hard time just believing that it happened, I'm in high school and we have to get permission from our parents to watch a PG-13 movie where all they do is cuss. What were they thinking??
I think this 'teacher' should be fired. Its just plain wrong to show R rated movies to 12 yr olds in school. To 'Sue This' clearly you are not a parent or you would understand that its hard to keep your children safe from the sick stuff that the world has come to accept. Adults have options, if it were me Id leave, but 12 yr olds don't have that option.
cmon people, i agree with your points about parental consent and suchlike, but does anyone really believe the 12 yr old is traumatised and undergoing real counselling ? wake up and smell the coffee as there is a good chance the girl is sexually experienced anyway, and even if that's not the case she sure as hell should be educated enought at 12 yrs old NOT to be traumatised by this. Congratulations on the most litigious society on earth.
Yet another teacher without a trace of comon sense. Rated R means no one under 18 without a parent present. While not as bad as the NJ history teacher preaching this comes in a very close second. While I don't think this should be good for $400K I do think it should cost the sub her teaching credential.
Maybe people should stop suing for something as innocous as movie. Yeah ok the teacher went a bit far, but I was shown Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet, which has full frontal nudity, I was 14. Do get so high and mighty because of a movie, it doesn't befit anyone. Senseless suing helps no one in the long run.
Graphic sex?!!!! Are we talking about the same movie?
By the way, it seems you, stupid American GOPs, are always very concerned about sex, but not at all about guns. It seems you did adopt the ideas of those you hate, the Muslims, you love death, instead of life. Don't remember anyone in the brave conservative America suing because there are kids with guns in their schools. But speak about evolution, speak about sex, speak about not believing in your God, and wow, here cames the lawsuits and the scandalized stupid Americans.
People suing is why I have no faith in the human race. We are all doomed, because everyone is so pent up in being out for themselves.
Stuff like this is why I send my kid to a private school. The substitute teacher should be fired for showing an R-rated movie to minors (or any Hollywood film in an educational setting, for that matter) and the school should be sued for allowing it to happen. Regardless of the content, the movie was not fit to be shown to children, let alone in a setting where they faced punishment for getting up and leaving the room. What school allows students to just get up and walk out of class 'at will'? (...Anyone? I didn't think so.) To suggest that a student is able to simply get up and leave the *bleeping* room is on the same level of 'dumbass' as showing an R-rated movie to minors. Which brings up another point, that movie movie was a huge disappointment. It was just plain bad. Cowboys don't say the sappy crap they did, and cowboys don't cry over a broken heart (not even gay cowboys and yes I've known a few).
two points i'd like to make:
1. let's just run to the lawyer straight off the bat. what does this teach kids about solving problems? how about asking for ameeting with the teacher and principal, and discussing what happened and your concerns? let the kid in on it too, so she can attest to her own anguish if any, not that conferred by the adults in her life. let's teach our kids that talking things through is the FIRST step in addressing our problems.
2. i don't care about the subject matter of the film; i find it difficult to believe that this 12 year wasn't at least peripherally aware of this film and its content: i was well aware of Rosemary's Baby when i was that age, but i wasn't allowed to see it. she knows what Brokeback Mountain was about. could she have not turned her desk around, or put her head down on her desk and not watched? i agree that force should not have been an issue; there are plenty of instances of poor judgment here, but the kid had a few options.
what does irk me about the situation is that they're showing ANY movie in school! do our kids really need 1.5-2 hours of learning time sucked up by something we can offer them outside of the classroom? there's absolutely no need to should a feature-length film od ANY subject in school.
Oh SPARE me. I am sick and tired of everone's shenanigans. You know we are going to lose our freedom if you people don't stop making people censor everything and have a little hissy over a movie forcing our small freedoms to end.
When I was in 7th grade my teacher showed us animal mating. I also got to see the Romeo Juliet full frontal. In health class when I was 14 or so we had the pleasure of learning all about sex.
While the movie was tastefully done it was still rated R and the teacher should have had permission to show it - I think it should be more of a discipline thing not a get rich quick thing.
It sounds like this family doesn't have enough 'real trauma' in their lives and are fabricating some.
While Brokeback Mountain might not be an appropriate choice, it bothers me that so many parents are willing to exploit their children in order to get their fifteen minutes of fame. 'MY CHILD is more important than anybody. Little Susie was SO upset that she ended up getting interviewed on the TODAY show...'
Yes, honey, and Little Susie is the most important child in the world. Give me a break!!!
My only objection would be - as was stated by an earlier poster - that a rated R movie, regardless of subject matter, should ONLY be shown to minors WITH parental permission. When I was in school we had to get permission slips to attend 'sex education' class. About half the parents didn't allow the kids in that class. There are certain things that still need to be left to the discretion of the parents. An R-rated movie is definitely one of them.
Too bad it was Brokeback Mountain and not some other film... unfortunately the discussion is going to get lost in 'gay' issues, when that's not even the real issue here. Whether it was 'sex' or 'violence' or whatever in a film that got it an R-rating, the school should NOT have shown it to the kids - substitute teacher or otherwise - without the permission of the parents. Period. If the teacher showed the kids Playboy Magazine - we'd be talking 'contributing to the delinquency of a minor here' and Playboy is restricted to 18-over AS is the R-rating on a film. I realize it's not 'the same thing,' but why have the R-rating to 'protect' minors if minors aren't going to be protected?
They dropped the ball on this one and the lawsuit should just be the first step. Demands for guidelines to prevent things like this from happening in the future within this school district/region (and others watching should follow suit) need to be enacted, the substitute should be disciplined (especially if the what happens in her class stays in her class thing was really said - at that age you should never encourage teens to NOT talk to their parents about things - ridiculous!) and the principal as well (if knowledge of the R-rated movie was true).
Ok, I don't agree that lawsuits should be the first action, but I do know that when I saw the Romeo & Juliet referenced above, I was required to get a parental permission slip signed. Also for every other 'R' rated movie that was shown.
When I saw 'Brokeback,' and yes, I'm an adult and had purchased it, I was distracted for a moment before the 'sex scene' and came back just in time to see the coital moment. It seemed very violent and almost rape-like from that perspective. I re-wound the movie and saw the rest of the context, which helped some, but it still seemed more violent that I would care to see in a feature film.
That's just my take, though. I can understand how, to a 12 year old, that may seem traumatic.
I don't agree that a lawsuit should have been brought, but I do agree that the teacher was wrong for showing it in that manner.
As for the 12 year old, they could have claimed a stomach ache and gone to the nurse's office for that period, if they wanted to. If the teacher wouldn't give a pass to the nurse's office, then she certainly should lose her teaching cert.
Generally, I'm not one to support lawsuits of this nature.
However, I do remember the authority that teachers represent when you're in school (all the way up until your high school graduation, in fact), and when a teacher says 'We're going to watch this movie', then that's what you do. It doesn't even occur to you to walk out of the classroom and go to the Teacher's Supervisor (the Principal) - those are the sorts of things that you learn you can do once you get out of school, and you *surely* don't realize you can do it when you're 12.
The teacher showed a class of minors an R-Rated movie. I don't care if they were First Graders, or Seniors in High School. They're minors.
I don't care if the movie was Brokeback Mountain, the Director's Cut of Amadeus, or Monty Python and the Life of Brian. They're all rated R, End of Story.
To @Tess
Gotta love the way you use a story like this to rant against the GOP, wheres the connection or dosnt it matter (so full of hate right)?
Are the parents right to sue? Probably not, however if they hadnt threatened to, then this teacher would continue to act outside the rules so its probably the only way to get this the attention it deserves. Is the kid traumatised? Of course not. Class rooms should not be used to push political or religious agendas, thats the point here. I dont want 'intelligent design', 'gay rights' or any other form of crap shoved at my kids, debate it with me I can laugh at you if I want, force it on my children and it just proves that your scumbags.
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