regarding your first snippet ... could you please explain why it is such a bad thing when parents take their responsibilities seriously? Why is seeking parental permission a call to "get over ourselves"? And why not select a clip from a different movie - certainly there are many more examples of fine cinematography. It's Kentucky! - such a reaction should have been anticipated.

The bigger picture: it's 2006...Kentuckians, and people all over need to get over themselves.

Why single out Brokeback Mountain based on the cinematography, instead of another film? Because it's a beautifully filmed movie, and it should be used in all film classes to demonstrate the use of scene and setting as a monumental backdrop to a film. Regardless of ones views on the gay-content, the setting played an important role in the film, and was, in many ways, one of the dominant characters throughout the film.

Thank you, Chantal. Hmph.

Chris' originally posits that "he is lost" as to why parents of minors (this was in high school) should take their responsibilities as parents seriously. I ask again - why is that such a bad thing? What undue burden would it have been to have made the parents aware ahead of time and let them decide? I can't imagine that you would advocate parents abrogating their duties - would you?
Yet again, there are many movies that have spectacular cinematography. Setting, lighting, placement of actors against backdrops in the frame can all be studied quite effectively with a wide variety of films.

This e-mail is concerning 7th Heaven. I am so happy to see that it is going to continue. It was absolutely depressing when I thought it was gone. This is the only television show I watch. I need a show that is uplifting and full of family values which this one is. Most of what's on TV today is junk. And I am being nice. Please keep it going and please find more shows like it in the future. Thank you. Peggy Knowles - Clinton, Utah

Because my whole question is--what makes any other random movie more appropriate for a high school cinematography class than Brokeback Mountain?

It's not about questioning parental duties.

I read a review of Brokeback Mountain which specifically criticized the morality of the cinematography. Traditional Christian morality depicts homosexuality as unnatural, heterosexuality as natural. Brokeback Mountain uses the visuals of the outdoors to express that the gay relationship is natural, compared to the unnatural home life of the characters.

(Did I see the movie? No. Am I claiming to have seen the movie? No.)

Apparently, it's not enough to cancel Seventh Heaven. We must kill it, then salt the earth to make sure that nothing ever grows there again.

For current talking points posted yesterday and 3 days ago concerning Brokeback Mountain simply click here

the movie is a ripoff. it promises cowboys, you hear all this hype about cowboys. but they're really sheepboys. don't get fooled.

Two points James because you obviously didn't see the movie or you'd know...

1. They herded sheep through only the first third of the movie, then went back to cowboy-ranching and tending cattle cowboy-rodeo bull riding, and Ennis was forever out on rodeos rounding up horses for one ranch or another which is why they broke up near the end of the movie because Ennis was too busy being a cowboy to spend much time with Jack.

Sorry none had time to strum a guitar on horseback for you, but Jack did play the harmonica a few times.

2. The media branded it the "Gay Cowboy" movie, not the producers or publicists of the film.

I'm the teacher who taught the class. Since I've refused to talk to the newspaper that ran the over-the-top inaccurate story, and since there has been so much misinformation about what happened in my classroom, I'm loath to discuss it. But since I'm here . . . the clip shown (a little under seven minutes) was part of an Introduction to Film Studies unit in an advanced senior English class. I used the clip to illustrate film shots and the choices of directors and editors. The class had read other short stories that became films (The Man Who Would Be King, Where are You Going, Where Have you Been?). For Brokeback we read only the first few pages, as well as the opening pages of the script, and then watched how Ang Lee chose to open the film. If it hadn't been for all the hoopla in the school system over the Gay-Straight Alliance club, I would have shown the entire film.

What I'd like for everyone to know is that I taught college English for ten years before transitioning to high school, and was hoping to learn why more and more students were coming to college less and less prepared for it. Believe me, I've found out. The primary reason is that students aren't taught or allowed to think, read, or act critically. They can't analyze their way out of a paper bag, in large part because teachers whose hands were already tied behind their backs are now completely ill-routed because of W's No Child Left Behind Act. Which has left all children behind, particularly those who are from lower income homes. But more to the point, the act doesn't address parental or student accountability. In my mind, any parent who doesn't insure his / her child's best educational capability is an abusive parent.

Only one of my 60 seniors was interviewed for the first newspaper bit. The other 59 would have told a more accurate story. That I was doing my job--trying to prepare my students for the critical thinking required to be successful in college--for that matter, in life.

The rest is backdrop.

umm, yea molly. but are you are lesbian or not? be honest. out of ALLLL THE MOVIES EVER, YOU CHOOSE BB. COME ON!!!!!


HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Molly, disregard Nugget. His mommy still cuts the crust off his PB & Js.

whatchoo talkin bout chris? I love the crust!

HAHAHAHAHAHA.,

LESBIANS.

yo Jet in Columbus -- was your sense of humor surgically removed, or did it just never develop?

i did indeed see this fine cinematic work. you remember lots more cows than i do.

this long since release, there are media articles about a shift in promotional focus. Ads for BB are devoid of messages suggesting a homosexual theme, and show traditional romantic images of hetero couples.

forgive my making a little joke. the humor isn't in the deadly somber movie itself, but there's a lot of humor in the shock BB was to American pop culture and politics. Films with homosexual themes long ago hit the mall and mainstream, but almost always either as light romantic comedies or as unsympathetic portrayals of gays and lesbians as "the heavy" (e.g., "Cruising). BB was a shock to most Americans for portraying gay love in a positive and serious way.

And I think it's funny that in 2006, Americans seem to have been shocked at that, and got all defensive and politically freaked out.

Stop me before I try to tell another joke on *this* list.