Parent upset after teacher shows "R" rated movie in class

Parent upset after teacher shows "R" rated movie in class
Location: 1200 N Chester Ave. , Bakersfield, CA


A Standard Middle School parent is upset that a teacher showed an "R" rated movie in her sixth-grader's class, according to BakersfieldNow.

The teacher apparently showed "Kung Fu Hustle," which contains cursing, violence and some nudity.

The school's principal said the teacher was showing the movie as a reward for academic achievement, but the principal acknowledged the showing of the film was inappropriate. The problem was being "dealt with."

http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/TheGrade/51999

Teachers aren't supposed to ever, ever, ever show "R-rated" movies to students, especially sixth graders or younger. Parental consent is supposed to be given for anything remotely considered controversial.

Permission to see such movies should be reserved for parents, unless the kid can sneak into the theater using a fake ID or some other ruse.

I remember sneaking in though the theater exit to see "What's New Pussycat," which was rated for mature audiences only in 1965, in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

Talk about the collapse of our educational system.

:rofl:

Okay, we didn't really sneak in. The ticket lady didn't give a flying fuck one way or the other. We also got to see Clockwork Orange at, erm, age 15-16, without a blink of an eye from the ticket taker. But hey, that was the 70s.

:eyes:

and typically R-rated movies aren't allowed.

... that want to avoid gratuitous violence as a form of entertainment.

The teacher displayed a lack of judgment.

Not a teacher.

Ever.

Teacher screwed the pooch on this one.

Just some cartoonish violence and a brief shot of some dude's ass. Nuthin' to get hung about.

like when the Ax Gang leader chops off the guy's foot with a thrown axe, and the guy steps down but there's nothing there to step on. That was great.

CHOP!

I really can't think of what would make that movie rated R. I don't remember much swearing and the violence was all rather slapstick and entertaining. Steven Chow is pretty damned brilliant. Shaolin Soccer was also great. I can't wait to see Kung Fu Hustle 2 coming out next year.

It's about the same logic as rating "Capitalism: A Love Story" or "Fahrenheit 9/11" R either.

I think I'd rather listen to Caribou Barbie lecture on foreign policy that watch Transformers!

... ok, maybe that is going a bit far. :rofl:

it probably wouldn't be shown at all in FL. In our county, videos must have some type of educational benefit and instrutional lesson plan, even holiday movies. Plus movies must usually be approved by a school's curriculum council. Teachers just can't decide to show any movie they wish.

I'm guessing that NO R-rated movies would qualify under these guidelines. :hi:

Teacher's judgment should, indeed, be questioned.

:rofl:

I'm sure that violated all kinds of rules, but he did it every year.

How MANY years did it take you to get out of 8th grade?
:rofl:

Only in my worst nightmares would middle school last any longer than absolutely necessary. :scared:

Wasn't that a made for TV series?

Interesting in that it depicts the same group of 'heroes' both as children and as adults - and as children they were stronger and braver, fighting evil on its own terms.

I think it was also released as a single 3-hour film.

:rofl:

The scene with the anachronism where the over-the-hill couple goes undercover at the 30's era nightclub in their 1970's leisure suits was priceless.

Also Jaws is rated PG.

surprised me, that many moons ago I saw their ratings and I did a double take. :)

Shocking. What in hell was this teacher thinking?

We all make mistakes. Mine was about ten years ago. I about died when I showed Home Alone on the last day of class prior to Winter Break because I forgot about a "damn" or "hell." The parents who were in the classroom that day with me didn't care, but I knew I'd probably messed up. I went straight to my VP and told her. She told me to relax, a little damn or hell never killed anyone, even third graders. Still, I worried my fool head off a parent would be upset, and would have every right to be so.

But Kung Hu Hustle? Seriously? That isn't just a careless error. That is just nonsensical. As a parent, I wouldn't want to get the teacher in trouble (maybe it's a teacher solidarity thing,) but I'd stick my head in the door the next day and maybe make a suggestion of films for rewards they might want to consider in the future.

And, while I am opining, why do some teachers always throw a movie in for a reward? I use to organize fun games and creative free choices for the kids when they'd earned rewards. There is more value in children actually doing something than merely being entertained. And, in my opinion, it just reinforces the concept that teachers are there for the entertainment of children each day. That is a huge pet peeve of mine!

Yeah, it was hokey but most of the kids enjoyed it. For those of us with two left feet and no rhythm, it sucked but we still had fun. but that was long ago when the world was a simpler place - the next fall was the Cuban Missile Crisis and things got kind of grim in Florida for a while.

There's just so many other positive things you can do that are more group engaging than a stupid movie. I just hate when teachers do this. IMO, it's just lazy.

the version with DeCaprio. He loved it. It got him interested in Shakespeare.

And could easily be justified as educational.

Moreover... some bits could be edited out (as for family TV) without losing the educational value.

It's unlikely that a kung fu movie could have the violence edited out.

"Johnny got his gun".

Would the ideas in movies cause more problems or
would Valerie Perrine?

Tesha

Our English teacher made it a requirement for his class.

But Middle School??

The Parent is right, it is inappropriate.

of the parents.

I was actually shocked when my now 11 yr old said that our school showed "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" to the middle schoolers a couple of years ago. So when we watched it recently he kept saying "I don't remember this part" which means he must have seen a highly edited version I guess. (No Castle Anthrax, I bet.)

No, this is an unacceptable waste of time and a break, more than likely, for the teacher, not the students.

Spoken as a former teacher.

I've shown films, but never without an academic connection and a related task for students to complete.

My favorite film shown, "Flowers for Algernon".

It was a little over their heads at first, but they connected with the intent of showing it.

:patriot:

Gawd. When I was in school I remember we were shown African Queen, Brian's Song, The Great Escape and many other great movies we never would have heard of or would never have watched if we weren't plopped down in front of them. And this teacher chose not only an R rated movie but something as stupid as "Kung Fu Hustle"... ugh.

Our lit teacher showed us, "Name of the Rose." This was the late 80s so it was on videotape so he still accidentally showed us a little bit of the sex scene while attempting to fast forward over it.

We didn't complain.

TlalocW

If you're showing Schindler's List, I can understand it, but Kung Fu Hustle?

Even so, a rated R movie should never be shown by a school to minors.

I just showed Polanski's "Macbeth" to a bunch of minors. That film was rated X in 1968. I'm not even gonna put my asbestos suit on. You can go ahead and set me on fire in the parking lot if you want to and I've already given you the matches. While I'm burning you can listen to me say that its almost impossible to find something that kids will respond to these days. The classroom is so polluted with cell phones, iPods, digital entertainment devices of all kinds that it has become nearly impossible to find a way to deliver significant content without there being some entertainment value to it. And while you've got me tied up and torched perhaps you might allow me to say that in showing such a film I am supporting the content in a way that I can (since I can't personally afford to take 160 kids to a play, and the district certainly won't spring for that type of experience, though it should), and that that content support creates an image that students may then tie their critical interpretation activities to--which is curricular. No. This was a valid and valuable exercise for me, and it worked for the students, and I won't apologize. Sure, I might have chosen a milder version (of a violent and bloody story), but this one speaks the loudest and gets the most response. If you just react to the headline "Teacher Shows Film Previously Rated X," as a passive observer of education and the criminals who call themselves teachers, then I'm a criminal. Go ahead. Set me on fire. I'm sick to death of hearing about how shitty teachers are for trying to get kids to make sense of the stuff that adults do openly in front of them every day. So tired of people proselytizing about evil teachers and bad education when they haven't been in a classroom since their own school days, or if they have, then they haven't been in an inner city classroom with students for whom academic approaches to academics simply do not work.

So tired.

Flame on!

Back in the 80's. Weren't there some old women topless in that movie?

Yeah, that wasn't really working for me.

these dickhead parents trust the judgement of some anonymous prudes they've never met to decide what is and isn't suitable for their children, but not their own teacher?

besides teachers have been known to make bad decisions. This was one of them.

I think these dickheads just wanted to be dickheads.

They've got nothing better to do with their miserable lives than be dickheads.

They had nothing better to do than to make a big deal out of an R rated movie, which is NOT recommended for children under the age of 17?

You don't think the teacher has even a smallest bit of responsibility by showing 11-year-olds a movie that they were too young to see in the first place.

I've got three kids and our youngest is 10-years-old. Even as liberal as I am, I believe in monitoring what my children watch and I DO NOT want someone showing my son a rated R movie until I had the opportunity to see for myself if it was okay for him to see it.

As a parent, that's what I do.

I think they're just pretending to.

I think the R rating system is entirely arbitrary, and a teacher is far better suited on what is appropriate for their students than any MPAA rating board.

I think anybody who gives more credit to the MPAA than the actual classroom teacher does not understand what the MPAA is and what it can and cannot do. And is a joke of a human being.

I don't want a teacher to decide that my kid can watch R rated movies. The teacher's job is NOT to show rated R movies in a classroom.

This is one time when what a parent wants supercedes the teacher. My husband and I screen rated R movies before our son gets to see them. Not the teacher.

The teacher was out of line on this. She would have done better to order a couple of pizzas.

on edit: Now if they were high school kids...then I'd say the parents were being uptight.

Same sort of dicks that burn Harry Potter novels.

I know I would not have been happy had that been my 10-year-old son and they would have known about it. I'm no prude, but my husband and I like to screen rated R movies to determine if it's appropriate for him. Seems like common sense.

The teacher took it upon herself to show a rated R movie to 11-year-olds without consulting the parents. It's not a firing offense, IMO, but she should have asked first.

Pretty shitty parents, IMO.

And they did so without your permission. It's not an R rated movie so that should be okay...right?

Or do you prefer to have some kind of say so about your child's education?

I know for my husband and I we would have confronted the school over it...just like we would have for this crappy movie they showed. No different.

You're comparing fiction with deliberate misinformation.

You fail again.

Do you think parents should just sit down and shut the fuck up when it comes to their children's education?

The problem I'm seeing here is that with every point I make, you can't even offer a reasonable counter argument.

Is it safe to say that the only argument you have is that ALL the parents who complained are "dickheads"?

Are you actually suggesting that 11 year old children won't realize that Kung Fu Hustle is fiction?

That's fucking ridiculous, and you're grasping at straws.

"Do you think parents should just sit down and shut the fuck up when it comes to their children's education?"

I'm sorry, I didn't think I was being unclear. I think these dickhead parents should sit down and shut up, and god help us all if their kids grow up like them.

broken bones and concussions was what we saw. Fortunately for them they walked away. Some didn't.

So, yes...you think parents should shut the fuck up if they should have the audacity to be concerned about their children at school. Gotcha. :eyes:

:rofl:

"So, yes...you think parents should shut the fuck up if they should have the audacity to be concerned about their children at school. "

Again, these dicks don't care about their child's education.

You're making a complete ass out of yourself by assuming what's in their heads because they are objecting to their kids being shown a rated R movie. The parents didn't like it and took their concerns to the school...as what ALL parents do when it comes to their children. It's the normal and reasonable thing to do.

The teacher wasn't fired and the matter was handled. Problem over.

You just want parents to shut the fuck up. :eyes:

It ain't complicated.

"You're making a complete ass out of yourself "

Again, I not at all concerned with your opinion. As far as third persons are concerned, between you and me I don't think I'm the one to be worried about what they think.

"You just want parents to shut the fuck up."

As a parent, I think these parents should shut the fuck up, yes. I'm not sure why you're having so much trouble grasping that.

:eyes:

I don't even want to know how much farther out of the realm of reality you're going to go so I'll save you even further embarrassment by leaving the discussion. Ta ta.

They mindlessly appeal to authority and object to "degenerate" art.

I've seen Road Runner cartoons with more realistic violence.

The ONLY reason it got an R rating was because of the excessive gore - a LOT of blood. Other than that, it is much like 'Shaolin Soccer' (which would be a great one to show in school).

let the kids watch it a few years ago (they were maybe 7 and 9, I guess) because of the swearing.

So I can see how some parents would have been bothered by that, or how others might have been bothered by the violence. That doesn't make them bad parents. It just means they have a certain idea for how they intend to raise their kids and would like the school to respect that. It's not all that unreasonable, really.

I thought a teachers job was to teach. But hey, education is dead in America.

But as a former teacher I wouldn't have showed that film to that age class.

A lot of them are rated G or PG. Disney can put pretty much whatever they want in a flick and be assured it will get a G or PG rating. Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of them are good, just not appropriately rated. I loved the movie Ratatouille, but was pretty amazed that it got a G rating. It's got a crazy old lady with a shotgun shooting recklessly at anthropomorphic rats as they run away in terror. Not sure if that constitutes a G rating, IMO. Also, movies like The Lion King, also rated G showing the bloody killings of multiple animals that children identify with. I'm amazed at what they can get away with. Kung Fu Hustle, on the other hand, has pretty much only slapstick violence (incredibly well choreographed) and I really don't remember much swearing. I'd have no problem showing it to my daughter when she gets a bit older (she's only 3 now).

:evilgrin:

Great R-Rated Films - http://www.amazon.com/Great-R-Rated-Films/lm/R153TOEVNDYRXN

The Best R-Rated Christmas Movies - http://www.cinematical.com/2007/12/20/cinematical-seven-the-best-r-rated-christmas-movies/


8 R-Rated Movies as Kids Books - http://www.screenjunkies.com/movienews/8-r-rated-movies-kids-books

More clever and funny than most on your list.

If I respected your opinion maybe I would, but I didn't.

wherever they felt like whether one was asking for an opinion or not.

Last I checked that's what we were doing here...discussing. Sorry, you are taking this so personally.

Kungfu Hustle is a great film that brilliantly satires the entire kungfu genre.

Second of all, stop arguing with HFPornSyrup. It's like talking to a wall, only less satisfying.

Not only was it smart and funny, but it was awe-inspiring to watch at times. Steven Chow is a brilliant physical and intellectual comedian and he's a great martial artist as well. Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer are two of my favorite movies.

Tagged for future reference.

i am curious what you mean, bourgeios underground.

than a reward! Poor kids.

The same guy who did ShaoLin Soccer. Absolutely hilarious and fairly heart warming in the end.

You wanna tell this lady her movie isn't funny?

It's old school physical comedy. Kung Fu hustle is as much about kung fu as an Elmer Fudd cartoon is about hunting.


Please note: Stated in the form of an SAT question.

Kung Fu Hustle rocks my socks.

are in front of screens (TV and computer) for HOURS a day. I hate the fact that a movie is still considered a reward or is used for "inside recess." Freaking hate it. GAH.

....Romeo and Juliette! The 1960's (1968) version with a whiff of boob. Believe it or not a few people got torqued over this. There was just a flash of 1960's black and white boobies too.

Fucking prudes.

It was a decent recreation of a goofy but classic and fairly well written story. No need to burn piles of videos or books then or now.

I should add that Kung Fu Hustle sucks and it was a stupid choice by the teacher. I just wanted to relive Olivia Hussey's boob. Yes one, not two, it wasn't porn dammit. She was awesome!

and would toss the teacher screening it into jail.

Olivia Hussey was 15 when it was filmed.

For stupidity and laziness.

While I highly doubt that Stephen Chow has ever been particularly insecure about what non-martial arts fans think of the genre, Kung Fu Hustle is about as good an answer to doubters as you’re going to find. Colourful, fantastical and hilarious, this is a movie that makes a rather convincing case for stylized violence as an art form – and as something entirely distinct from the sorts of violence that are decried as being socially pernicious.

Chow has produced, directed, co-written and co-stars in this martial arts spectacular that takes the cartoon aspect of all martial arts films and plays them up to the hilt. It’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets The Three Stooges as an evil crime gang meets up against an unexpectedly tough opponent – residents of Pig Sty Alley, a slum so impoverished that criminals haven’t bothered with it before.

This series of set-piece fights is a large serving of choreography, with a dollop of slapstick comedy on top. And to keep things interesting, it takes almost the whole movie for us to realize who the ultimate good guy is going to be.

http://www.apolloguide.com/mov_fullrev.asp?CID=5579

if my parents had to consent to it or not, but I can't imagine many schools would play it now.

Funny and more creative than 99 out of every 100 movies Hollywood churns out.

This is something that should be written up. Teachers showing movies is just irresponsible. Period.

My husband is a projectionist and he always amazes me when he tells me how many field trips he has going to see Harry Potter or something like that. I never got to see a movie during class time that was rated any higher on the entertainment scale than "Sister Wendy". We *never* got to go to a movie for a field trip.


Although I *do* like Sister Wendy.