I think it makes sense to restrict NC-17 films or films that push the limits of R to upper levels, bu to exclude R-rated films entirely is extreme overkill. I felt the same way as many of these students when I first began in college. The only R-rated films I had seen at the time were _Glory_ and _Schindler's List_. If the students aren't exposed to these films, they'll be too ignorant of the field to have learned anything. Another film my intro professor finally decided to exclude was John Woo's _The Killer_, which I've still never seen. He replaced it with _My Neighbor Totoro_, because this class period was to study sound. Scott Thomas Morsch wrote: > Dear all, > > as a teacher at a german university, it is interesting for me to follow > this discussion and to learn about the differences concerning teaching. > Actually, I was surprised by the fact, that american teachers have to > take such issues into consideration while planning a course. > Concerning this issue I would take a strong stand for academic freedom. > No one is forced to join my courses and all students ar grown-ups - so I > see no reason to restrict my choice of films to PG-rated movies. > Especially, this would make impossible to teach anything about > pornography, horror or similar genres. And it would also exclude films by > Carolee Schneeman, Kenneth Anger, Nagisa Oshima, etc. > > Actually, a student who complains about including films into a course > that display graphic violence, nudity or that contain explicit language > (the majority of movies beloning to one category or the other) seems to > be the equivalent to a medical student who refuses to treat burnt > victims, because it is "too gross". This would be ridiculous. > > This may sound a bit naive and it certainly shows that, up to now, I have > been largely unconcerned with this issue. But I would like to hear other > opinions advocating a greater sensibility concerning these issues. > > Thomas Morsch > Film Dept. > Freie Universitaet Berlin > Germany > > ---- > Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the > University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html