# College student objects to films shown in class **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 24, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600 "2011-04-24T23:59:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/181 "2011-05-03T01:31:56Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > I watched **Inglorious Basterds** and enjoyed it, but it doesn’t strike me as an example of good writing. I watched it for a composition class and I thought it was an example of good writing in that it subverts your expectations left and right. To be surprised by a WWII movie after the topic has been done over and over can show how you can make old things fresh. I remember once years ago we had a group project due in my women’s studies class and we showed some clips of lesbian kissing and I think some sex. The class was HORRIFIED at us and complained viciously to the professor about how we should have warned them that they would have to see something so gross. Which was kind of the point of our presentation. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/182 "2011-05-03T01:54:26Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Now I’m wondering if these students are examples of the “customer is always right and students are customers” mentality that is so pervasive. Perhaps they think that they have the right to customize the menu/syllabus/rules wherever they go and to re-negotiate everything. There seems to be a lot of that. There’s also how the larger society has turned the BA into a mere ticket-punch check-the-box requirement for decent employment, rather than a sign of actual higher learning, so it’s somehow “unfair” to hinder or burden the attainment thereof by causing discomfort. Also consider that in some cases students going up through the public K-12 system may be from a location where there’s an elected School Board that will cave before any hint of pressure and seek to make it so anything anyone finds objectionable or controversial is minimized. They can become accustomed to the idea that indeed there IS a right to sit out and do a reading project rather than sit through the lesson mom doesn’t like. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/183 "2011-05-03T01:56:32Z")
> [@Ruby Sees](#): > > I watched it for a composition class and I thought it was an example of good writing in that it subverts your expectations left and right. To be surprised by a WWII movie after the topic has been done over and over can show how you can make old things fresh. > > I remember once years ago we had a group project due in my women’s studies class and we showed some clips of lesbian kissing and I think some sex. The class was HORRIFIED at us and complained viciously to the professor about how we should have warned them that they would have to see something so gross. > > Which was kind of the point of our presentation. > > Good times. The porn I saw in film school was a co-offered Women’s Studies course. Graduate level. I agree with Cartooniverse that context and permission are important, but I do think an academic study of porn should not be forbidden. Probably NOT in a freshman course without warning though. Its one of those things you want to make sure is on the syllabus on the first day of class - or even emailed out prior to the first day of class (not that that was an option back then, I’m too old). ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/184 "2011-05-03T02:30:19Z")
> [@Ruby Sees](#): > > I watched it for a composition class and I thought it was an example of good writing in that it subverts your expectations left and right. To be surprised by a WWII movie after the topic has been done over and over can show how you can make old things fresh. > > I remember once years ago we had a group project due in my women’s studies class and we showed some clips of lesbian kissing and I think some sex. The class was HORRIFIED at us and complained viciously to the professor about how we should have warned them that they would have to see something so gross. > > Which was kind of the point of our presentation. > > Good times. A colleague showed **The Silence of the Lambs** in either his Fresh. Comp. or Critical Thinking class and mentioned something to me about gender issues, the treatment of Foster’s character in the film, etc. That’s what the discussion centered around, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/185 "2011-05-03T02:32:05Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Yes the article agrees with what you said. I apologize for what I said about urban legends. > > I think I will stand by my babysitting comment. I looked up the course name and it is called **ENGL 67 Writing Fundamentals**. > [http://www.mtsac.edu/instruction/humanities/english/courses.html](http://www.mtsac.edu/instruction/humanities/english/courses.html) > Having 5 movies in a writing course seems excessive and having **Inglorious Basterds** as one of them seems bizarre. I noticed that the article mentions that the professor is a SAG member. > > I watched **Inglorious Basterds** and enjoyed it, but it doesn’t strike me as an example of good writing. > > ENGL 67 doesn’t appear to be required course, so I suspect the woman was only taking it because it was known as a gut course. ENGL 67 is a couple levels below Fresh. Comp., and the student might have taken it on her way to that class. However, if she can pass another placement test and get into 68, maybe she could bypass 67. But…that doesn’t mean her 68 or comp. instructors won’t be showing R-rated films. They might or might not. It could happen. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/186 "2011-05-03T02:41:39Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > There seems to be a lot of that. There’s also how the larger society has turned the BA into a mere ticket-punch check-the-box requirement for decent employment, rather than a sign of actual higher learning, so it’s somehow “unfair” to hinder or burden the attainment thereof by causing discomfort. > > Also consider that in some cases students going up through the public K-12 system may be from a location where there’s an elected School Board that will cave before any hint of pressure and seek to make it so anything anyone finds objectionable or controversial is minimized. They can become accustomed to the idea that indeed there IS a right to sit out and do a reading project rather than sit through the lesson mom doesn’t like. I’ve never heard of any student in college objecting to reading material, but I’m sure it happens. Ah, but the MPAA does not rate books, does it? ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/187 "2011-05-03T03:00:08Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > I’ve never heard of any student in college objecting to reading material, but I’m sure it happens. Ah, but the MPAA does not rate books, does it? You just don’t make them read Lolita. I’ll also suggest The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon. Those two should get you a few complaints. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/188 "2011-05-03T03:14:10Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > There seems to be a lot of that. There’s also how the larger society has turned the BA into a mere ticket-punch check-the-box requirement for decent employment, rather than a sign of actual higher learning, so it’s somehow “unfair” to hinder or burden the attainment thereof by causing discomfort. > > Also consider that in some cases students going up through the public K-12 system may be from a location where there’s an elected School Board that will cave before any hint of pressure and seek to make it so anything anyone finds objectionable or controversial is minimized. They can become accustomed to the idea that indeed there IS a right to sit out and do a reading project rather than sit through the lesson mom doesn’t like. Never thought of that, but you’re probably on to something. ---
**Author:** ![Old\_Eel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/977dab/32.png) [@Old\_Eel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Old_Eel)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/189 "2011-05-03T04:30:31Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > I’ve never heard of any student in college objecting to reading material, but I’m sure it happens. Ah, but the MPAA does not rate books, does it? Like I said, “Also, a professor friend was being threatened with a grievance because he had a required book about transsexuals and a student complained it was against her religion.” ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/190 "2011-05-03T04:43:38Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Yes the article agrees with what you said. I apologize for what I said about urban legends. > . No hard feelings. I should have tried harder to find the link earlier. As it turns out, the only way it came up on Google was when I typed the entire title of the article into the search box and put it in " ". It was quite hard to find otherwise, and their regular website is still not working. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/191 "2011-05-03T04:45:08Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > You just don’t make them read Lolita. I’ll also suggest The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon. Those two should get you a few complaints. Thank you for the suggestions. 😉 I had not heard of the second one, but I will check it out. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/192 "2011-05-03T06:32:17Z")
> [@ugly ripe tomato](#): > > I went to a Catholic college, where I majored in biology. We had to take 2 religion classes for core requirements, so I put those off until the spring semester of my senior year. One of the classes was New Testament Studies; I and another senior bio major were the only two upperclassmen in the class. > > The first day of the class the teacher walked in, stood at the podium, leaned over it, looked us all in the eye, and asked, dead serious, “Do you think Jesus was a bastard?” > > The other bio major and I just cracked up laughing, but some of the gasps that comment got just about sucked the paint off the walls. It was awesome. 😃 😃 😃 I wish I’d been there. When I was young, and still Christian, I used to wonder how Mary had managed to convince Joseph that she hadn’t had sex, but was pregnant anyway…unless she’d had sex with Joseph. But then, I wondered about a lot of things. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/193 "2011-05-03T09:26:19Z")
I have people question topics and videos I show in class all the time, its easy to judge when you arent in the room as a student or a teacher. I have a few things I use that have little to do with the subject matter directly but segue into it from a perspective that I am trying to get students to understand. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/194 "2011-05-03T12:00:02Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Thank you for the suggestions. 😉 I had not heard of the second one, but I will check it out. It is one of the best, most disturbing books, I’ve ever read. (Which is different than Twilight, which was the worst book I couldn’t put down. Like slightly stale off brand potato chips.) ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/195 "2011-05-03T14:03:17Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > (Which is different than Twilight, which was the worst book I couldn’t put down. Like slightly stale off brand potato chips.) I just want to thank you for the best comparison ever. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/196 "2011-05-03T18:42:22Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > I have people question topics and videos I show in class all the time, its easy to judge when you arent in the room as a student or a teacher. I have a few things I use that have little to do with the subject matter directly but segue into it from a perspective that I am trying to get students to understand. I use movies to generate discussion topics and essay ideas so the students can practice analyzing, deciding which rhetorical patterns to use, choosing which quotes to use, and to discuss bigger issues featured or implied in the film. I’ve heard of people in departments like Nursing or Nutrition showing **Supersize Me** in class–not to entertain but to get a discussion going about food, junk food, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/197 "2011-05-03T18:53:51Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Thanx **Cherry**! I see what you did there. What’s the point in taking the word “thanks” and putting an “x” in place of the “ks”? It’s still the same word. But you have to go and cheapen it by giving it an “x” rating. ---
**Author:** ![Marc\_Xenos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Marc\_Xenos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marc_Xenos)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/198 "2011-05-04T01:25:40Z")
> [@the lone cashew](#): > > I see what you did there. What’s the point in taking the word “thanks” and putting an “x” in place of the “ks”? > It’s still the same word. But you have to go and cheapen it by giving it an “x” rating. Good freaking God, everybody takes offense at every little thing. We had one black woman get all upset about a word, NIGYSOB, which is an abbreviation for “Now I’ve Got You, you Son Of a Bitch!” She swore it was a pejorative comment about her race, since it sounded so close to a racial slur. Even explaining that it had nothing to do with race didn’t placate her. She insisted that we should all refrain from ever using it, just because of the POSSIBLE implication, however misunderstood. Thanx is an friendly, informal, light-hearted, no harm done, type of sign-off of appreciation. If someone takes that as cheapening the expression, or some kind of backhanded slight, then I repeat that the offended bears the responsibility for how one CHOOSES to be offended. An appropriate film for this discussion would be Groucho Marx’ “Duck Soup” in which he wonders if his peace offer will be rejected, and then reacts in outrage that he would be treated so poorly, and goes on to declare war. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/199 "2011-05-04T01:33:00Z")
> [@Marc\_Xenos](#): > > Good freaking God, everybody takes offense at every little thing. > We had one black woman get all upset about a word, NIGYSOB, which is an abbreviation for “Now I’ve Got You, you Son Of a Bitch!” She swore it was a pejorative comment about her race, since it sounded so close to a racial slur. Even explaining that it had nothing to do with race didn’t placate her. She insisted that we should all refrain from ever using it, just because of the POSSIBLE implication, however misunderstood. > > Thanx is an friendly, informal, light-hearted, no harm done, type of sign-off of appreciation. If someone takes that as cheapening the expression, or some kind of backhanded slight, then I repeat that the offended bears the responsibility for how one CHOOSES to be offended. > > An appropriate film for this discussion would be Groucho Marx’ “Duck Soup” in which he wonders if his peace offer will be rejected, and then reacts in outrage that he would be treated so poorly, and goes on to declare war. Gigantic woosh right over your head. ---
**Author:** ![Marc\_Xenos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Marc\_Xenos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marc_Xenos)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600/200 "2011-05-04T22:16:08Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Gigantic woosh right over your head. Good point, and re-reading it, a funny remark. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-student-objects-to-films-shown-in-class/579600.md?page=11)