Posted on 05/18/2006 12:28:59 PM PDT by DBeers
CANNONSBURG, Ky. -- An English teacher at an eastern Kentucky school hampered by division over gay issues showed a short snippet of "Brokeback Mountain" to her students in a class.
About 2 1/2 minutes of the film was shown last week in a senior cinematography class at Boyd County High School, Superintendent Howard K. Osborne said Thursday.
The brief showing of the film, which centers on the sexual relationship between two male sheepherders, upset at least one parent who had a student in the class. Nothing with sexual content was shown.
Osborne said "Brokeback Mountain" won't be shown again at the school. He declined to say if any action was taken against the teacher who showed the film.
"We've had an investigative inquiry and we've taken appropriate action," Osborne said. He declined to comment further, calling it a "personnel matter."
Osborne said there have been few complaints from parents over the showing of the film, which has been noted by critics for its rich photography. Director Ang Lee won the Oscar this year for best director.
Students in Boyd County have been divided in recent years over gay issues since a group of students petitioned to form a gay awareness club at the high school in 2002. A lawsuit ensued and the school district later settled. The agreement called for anti-harassment training for all staff and students.
Kelley Smith said she was upset the film was shown at all.
"This is a really bad time for all this to have happened," said Smith, whose 17-year-old son, Chris, was in the class. "If she wanted to show it in class she should have gotten parents permission and if some students wanted to see it, it should have been their choice."
I just wish there was more context in this story. When I was in High school we watched 'The Godfather' in film study. That would probably draw complaints today.
At least they stopped calling them "cowboys".
Godfather is rated R which means no one under 17 without parent or guardian is admitted to view the film.
Were all the students 17 or more? If not were their parent or guardian informed to make the decision if they could see the film in the class?
LOL
Did you have to post that?!!
I don't believe they asked permission no. It was a unit on the 'Gangster Film'...starting with the 1930s Jimmy Cagney stuff and going forwards to The Godfather, Chinatown... It's really no more violent as a movie then a lot of Shakespeare is. Movies just don't have the same reverence in the culture that books do.
Now *that's* funny.
Ditto! True barf alert!
"Me, neither."
Context is the essence of life. If an article said that a teacher made students watch a scene 'of graphic torture where someone has their eyes gouged out' people would be appalled...until finding out that it was King Lear.
As I recall in a High School english class I took the teacher showed us Walkabout which was R rated.
Obviously I didn't mind, but really showing R-rated films in school should not take place.
In my opinion there's no reason to show any commercial films at all -- except in a film class, but there's no reason for a film class in high school either (although I took one then).
How 'bout a young woman being raped, then having her tongue cut out and hands cut off so she can't tell who did it?
Also Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus.
>>About 2 1/2 minutes of the film was shown last week in a senior cinematography class at Boyd County High School, Superintendent Howard K. Osborne said Thursday.<<
Well it was nominated for an Oscar for cinematography so the the only question is whether they are allowed to show an non-sexual portion of an R rated movie.
We just lost a brilliabnt English teacher here in Gwinnett county for showing the movie Elizabeth to a class where all the kids were old enough to see an R-rated movie without a parent's consent.
I see it a different way. Newsrooms are typically loaded with homosexuals and homosexual supporters. Protecting the homosexual agenda is more important than titillating the public with lurid details.
I would guess the clip showed the two main characters kissing. If I'm right, providing this detail would inflame the general public and that's not what the homosexual agendists want. They want to gradually and quietly push their agenda.
Th AP claims it was a "2 1/2 minute clip"............funny how our local paper here in Boyd County (The Daily Independent) had this about the "clip": "Teacher Ann Qualls showed about the first 15 to 20 minutes of the Oscar-wining movie..................".
Wonder how they got the 2 1/2 minute thing?
Oh........and the Supt. (Osborne) stated it was "15 to 20 minutes" to our local paper, but suddenly the AP has him quoted as 2 1/2.
Mmmmmmmmm.
This is the way it goes, starts with a snippet, then a stripling and then finally, the whole "sparkling bright bass."
We watched Romeo & Juliet in Jr. High....that guy was soooo HOT!
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