Speaking of being out of touch, I found this in the news today: "Menasha Schools to Review Film Policy After Parent Complaint About Nudity"
Now, this caught my eye, not because of the word nudity (believe it or not), but because it dealt with schools and I found it by searching mythology in the news. Here is the complaint:
"Eric Hjortness told the board this week the high school’s World Mythology course requires students to watch eight films, three of which he says include inappropriate sexual and violent content."
Wait! Back that up - did it say that the parent is upset over nudity in a World Mythology class????? Obviously this parent is not in touch with what world mythology is all about. Let's face it, nudity is the rather tame part of all of this. If you are getting a story without (insert any type of socially amoral activity that I do not wish to type so that every web filter in the US will shut my site out), then you're pretty lucky. The gods will, um, "hold hands" with anyone (and anything for that matter).
Back to the story. It seems that one of the movies in question was the latest cartoon of Beowulf. Yep, a PG-13 cartoon. Now, I might would object to this one, not for the immoral nudity scenes, but for the plain inaccuracies this cartoon has.
One more article quote for you:
"They are also concerned about the social repercussions for a student whose parents refuse to give permission to watch a film in class."
Apparently we're not too concerned with the social repercussions for a student whose parent gets in the news for going to the school board to complain about watching a movie in school. I bet this kid doesn't get invited to the movies by his/her friends anymore...
Now, don't get me wrong, I do appreciate any parent's concern. If this were an English class, history class, science class - O.K. I just find it hard to believe that they didn't see this coming in a mythology class...
It didn't mention the other movies. I'm trying to think of the other two. I would say Troy, but the article seemed to imply that they were all PG-13 movies and lower. Any guesses from you guys?
Read the article at: http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20090210/APC0101/90210137/1979/APC0404
2 comments:
I wasn't allowed to bring in Classical or Renaissance images to my mythology class ... I thought it was INCREDIBLY ridiculous.
What made it worse (in my opinion) is that this didn't come from any official policy or parent, it came from a particular superior who just generally felt uncomfortable with naked breasts in art. :(
Personally, I've never had a problem with naked breasts in art... :)
I do remember having a text book in one college class that had a modern art painting called Nude Descending a Staircase. I searched all semester and I think I saw the staircase but beats me if I ever saw the nude.
Post a Comment