I went to the movies the other day to see “Zombieland,” starring Woody Harrelson. During the previews of the up and coming films, a trailer for the new “Saw” movie came on. At the time, I did not think anything of it, but after beginning a short story lesson with my students, I now see that the “Saw” and other gory movies really impact the way that students see the horror genre of movies. I see now that the phrase, “school appropriate,” is now being blurred by what the children are being allowed to watch.
I am not saying that I was sheltered only to G movies as a child; this is far from the truth. But, what I am saying is that the view of what is and what is not school appropriate has shifted greatly. I remember when a teacher said to write something school appropriate when I was in school, it meant to take out all of the “good” parts and don’t offend people. What I have noticed now is that students are seeing more and more gore, and do not see that this is not a good thing. The line of what should be in school and what should not be in school has been altered somewhat. I do not agree or disagree with children watching R-rated movies. I believe that it is the parents’ decision to make.
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Matt, okay I am going to show a couple of scenes from a couple of movies for a couple of my classes, and there are so many things that I didn't even think of when I was preparing for it with my co-op. The movie Frequency has to be fast forwarded in the beginning because there is beer... which is inappropriate for school. If there are swear words, you can't (shouldn't) show them. I honestly don't think anything of these things anymore b/c how long have I been exposed to them? For yearrrrssssss! I think that censoring the media from the kids we teach is going to be a big challenge. There are so many things that they already know, that they watch and read at home, that they are exposed to on a regular basis that you just are not allowed to refer to. I kind of take offense to that! I mean, if they are exposed to the movie Saw, why can't we address that in the classroom? We can talk about it, sure, but we can't show it. Well, what if it's the biggest hit of the year and EVERY 13 year old saw that movie and it's Perfect to relate to in your class as you read literature that relates to horror and Poe etc. for the Halloween theme? Well I'm sorry we'll have to relate to Frankenstein and Poltergeist, or something rated PG. I understand the logic of it all, I just think that some things need to change sometimes :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the vote of confidence for Monday by the way. I'm kind of nervous, mostly because I have so much on my mind and so many things to do that I'm not completely focused on Monday. I hate that English class too. I'm pretty sure it would be useless if you, Erika and I went up and told her how bad we were struggling though. She doesn't seem like the kind of woman who cares. You know I spent all summer doing nothing? I emailed her about a month or more in advance asking about the syllabus and the readings, and she never responded. So while I could have been reading ahead to stay on task, I'm super behind and never going to catch up. Maybe we should all compare notes and talk next weekend before the exam. It may help us out. See you Monday :)
I believe that watching Saw in school for instance definitely would not be school appropriate, but a student writing a gory story about Zombies would be fine. If a student wants to write a gory story, I don't understand how that would not be school appropriate. As long as they are not writing a gory story about killing someone they know or a teacher, I believe it doesn't matter. Maybe some students will grow up to be creative writers for horror movies. You never really know, so I don't believe we should censor them in that way.
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