Monday, May 14, 2007

"Brokeback Mountain" Lawsuit Issued Against School Board

'Brokeback Mountain' Lawsuit Issued Against School Board
A lawsuit has been launched against a school teacher who showed Brokeback Mountain to a class of young students. Twelve-year-old Jessica Turner and her grandparents, Kenneth and LaVerne Richardson, are seeking $500,000 against the Chicago Board of Education after the movie was shown at Ashburn Community Elementary School. The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court on Friday claims Turner "suffered psychological distress" after viewing the R-rated film, which was viewed by the class without permission from the student's parents or legal guardians. Turner's grandfather Kenneth Richardson, who complained to school heads in 2005 over profanities in educational reading literature, says, "The teacher knew she was not supposed to do this. It is very important to me that my children not be exposed to this. This was the last straw. I feel the lawsuit was necessary because of the warning I had already given them on the literature they were giving out to children to read. I told them it was against our faith." R-ratings denote the film in question contains one or more adult themes - adult language, strong sexuality, nudity, violence or drug use.

Courtesy of IMDB

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It's pretty safe to assume that the lawsuit is due to the film's content, not necessairly that it's rated R. With that being said, if I was a parent, I'd do the exact same thing as that girl's grandparents did. But it wouldn't be based on the content of the film, it would be based on my personal opinion that this movie can literally bore people to death. "Brokeback Mountain" has to be one of the most overrated, pretentious, artsy pieces of shit I've ever seen. After all the hype and acclaim, I couldn't even make a half hour before I turned it off, and I'm no stranger to indies or arthouse films. If this film can induce rampant boredom in me, a nearly 30 year old man, imagine what horrors it can inflict on grade-schoolers.

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