Monday, May 14, 2007
Film Midday cowboys
Posted by J.R. Jones on Mon, May 14, 2007 at 10:20 AM
The Chicago Board of Education is being sued by a 12-year-old girl and her grandparents because a classroom viewing of Brokeback Mountain caused the girl "psychological distress." The alleged incident took place last year at Ashburn Community Elementary School, at 8300 S. Saint Louis. According to the wires a substitute teacher identified only as "Ms. Buford" closed the door to her classroom and cranked up the movie after telling her students, "What happens in Ms. Buford's class stays in Ms. Buford's class."
Cultural politics aside, this seems like an open-and-shut case. The movie is rated R — "under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian" — and according to the suit, the school principal permitted the viewing without consulting the child's guardians. The litigants are demanding more than $400,000, so I guess Ms. Buford has made her point—point four million.
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I saw some pretty stupid movies during school hours in grade school. I remember they once showed us "Problem Child." Obviously the fact that it was rated R does make it an open and shut case but at the same time cultural politics are always an issue and can't really be put aside. If the film was like "Pretty Woman" or even "Almost Famous" I'm pretty sure that no one would take seriously a law suit citing the "psychological distress" caused by minors viewing it.
The case isn't open and shut. Showing an R-rated film to an underage kid doesn't automatically make one civilly liable. The girl will have to prove emotional distress or false imprisonment; that will not come easy.
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