School showed 13 yr olds a 15 horror film. im i making to much of it ?

[melandtony]

I had a letter home to ask me to sign to say i had to sign to say my dd could watch a 15c horror film in school for media studys. my dd isnt the kind of child to enjoy or even want to watch a horror film so from the start i wasnt happy. my dd left giving me the letter to the night before the lesseon. i said i will think about it. in the evening she said she didnt want to go to school tomorrow. i said right thats it im not signing it coz its clear you dont want to watch it. world war three broke out and she got upset. i then said i would sign it but im adding a letter and if they say you dont have to sit in there then i want you to leave. she got uoset coz she said if i said no and she was the only one she would look like a baby and she said that the teacher had said he wanted them all signed or he would have to miss out on the film. so the poor kid had pressure from all sides.

this was my letter -

I have returned the form but not entirely happy with Evangeline watching a horror film. Not informing the parents of the films title also makes it hard to judge. Evangeline does not like to watch this type of film and it tends to play on her mind if she does. Evangeline feels under pressure from the teachers to have the form signed and join the class but also has the peer pressure if she is the only child not being granted permission or wanting to take part. If she is not the only one with reservations or I am not the only parent then I would like you to give her the option of not having to watch. If there is something I can do at home with Evangeline in order for her to have an understanding of the film or I can show her something and discuss at home then I am happy to do so. Evangeline has discussed this with me and has said that she is not the only one looking forward to this. In future I feel it would be better to inform the parents of the film title so at least I could have looked into it before hand with her or made a better judgement on this.


when my dd got home she said she said she didnt want to watch it to a couple of friends and they felt the same. luckly my dd said she could not watch it and the other 3 girls screwed up there slips and said there mums said no to watching it.

the film turned out to be "drag me to hell". i have watched the trailer and even i would not watch it. am i being over the top with this. i really cant understand why they would need to watch the whole film to understand how a film in narraded / cut / edited.

am i being ott ?

[OliPolly]

I have watched 'Drag me to hell'. It is a scary film but then again I don't like horror films.

I however think you were OTT. I think your daughter should have at least given the film a chance with the option to leave if she found it too much.

I would be interested to know what your DD and the other girls were doing when the rest of the class where watching the film?

[DrNortherner]

No YANBU. I'm with you all the way.

[Sportsmum]

In the first instance, the school should have told parents the title of the film they were due to watch so that they could make a more informed decision. I don't believe you were OTT and it is nice to see that a 13 year old child was able to make up her mind about whether or not she in fact wished to see the film.

Some 13 year olds aren't mature enough or interested in seeing 15c films of certain genres. Good for her having the courage of her own convictions. It's good when they can blame Mums in order to keep their street cred in tact!

[Rycie]

I couldn't agree with you more. but then again I have incredibly strong views that violence shouldn't be used as entertainment.

[AlmightyCitrus]

I think the school should of put the title of the film in the letter, so you could make a properly informed decision.
IMDB has a parents guide for each film, and you can see the different ratings in different countries. In the USA it's a PG13, in France 12 and in some countries 18. IMDB Parents Guide

I'm not overly fond of horror films myself. I remember going to a General Studies lesson and being sat in front of a video which I found incredibly upsetting and disturbing, and I got up and walked out. It affected me a great deal mentally. I was about 15 at the time.

If she doesn't want to watch it she should be allowed to go and either sit in another class or school library, with no pressure from other children, and especially not from the teacher.

[mummytime]

Personally I would be complaining to the head teacher. If it has a 15 certificate it should not be shown to under 15s. Now if it was just carefully choosen segments, that is very different.

[Ormirian]

It really depends on what it was TBH. In yr 6 we were asked for permission to let them watch War of the Worlds because they were reading it and doing associated projects in school that term. That is quite a disturbing film but was relevant. I beleive it was a 12.

[OliPolly]

Am i the only one who thinks that perhaps her DD should have tried to watch the film and leave if she didn't like it?

She is in secondary school after all where independence (with some guidance yes) should be encouraged.

[wahwahwah]

Eh? I did media studies at uni and never had to watch a horrow film! I did have to watch The French Lieutenant's Woman (and compare/contrast with the book) which was oprobably as traumatic. Why aren't they watching Orson Wells or Platoon/Hamburger Hill...

Oh no - we did watch The Shining.

[jeee]

Given that her DD would not have been able to watch the film at the cinema/buy the film herself, I am shocked that her teacher even suggested this. I actually think this is a time for going over the top of your DD's teacher, and speaking to the headteacher.

[Chandon]

I think you and your DD dealt with it well!

I would not be happy for my DC to see a film like that at school!

media studies B$llocks, FFS.

I'd be a lot less restrained than you!

I saw a horror film when I was 13 and it really upset me.

[Chandon]

I second speaking to the head.

Smacks of young teacher trying to be "cool"

[wahwahwah]

I wouldn't watch a horror film now. They give me the willies and I am 40!

[overmydeadbody]

I would go and speak to the head. There is no way the children had to watch that film in rder to cover the media studies syllabus.


Olipolly her DD didn't want to watch the film. Why should she have had to sit through some of it in order to decide she didn't want to watch it?


I don't like horror films, never have. If I'd been made to watch the begning of one at 13, ir order to decide, I would have been very upset.

[Drizzela]

First of all - I have watched Drag Me To Hell and it is a shit film. Why would they even want to study it? It wasn't cleverly made in the slightest, the story was ribbish and the acting worse. Secondly, what is the point is asking your permission but not telling you what the film was??? 15 certificates range massively in content and it could be that a specific subject would be particularly horrible for a particular child. I'd be really annoyed about this.

[empirestateofmind]

Totally off the point (as I have nothing to add to the excellent posts):

Looking at the film classifications on AlmightyCitrus' rather good link I see Drag me to Hell is a PG here in Singapore.

However Pride and Prejudice (2005) is an M18 .

[peeriebear]

I watched Nightmare on Elm Street at 13 and was terrified! (my first horror film really!) I don't see why they would pick a 15 for a class of 13 yr olds in the first place, let alone a horror which may well be disturbing. I'm sure there are a great many 15 cert films which are dull and worthy enough to show at school :)

[CamperFan]

No, YANBU. I did media studies and you don't need to watch a horror film to understand film narrative - any regular film will do, the concepts are the same. My children are still v little, so I don't have experience of teens, but I am shocked that a school would show a 15 cert to 13 year olds, with or without parental consent ie. Without the title of the film then how can you judge if your DC is OK to watch it and the guidelines are there for a reason. How do you know if your DD wants those images in her head?

Personally I think you should complain further.

[Eglu]

The school should not have put your DD in that position in the forst place. They should never have asked if an underage child could watch the film.

I'm not militant about these things and my DC have watched films they are not old enough to watch, but it is my choice and I've viewed them first.

[Miggsie]

I think you are being quite restrained...I'd have gone ballistic.

The film is a 15, so why is the school presenting it to 13 year olds, knowing it has only been passed for 15 years olds.

The content is dubious and could be offensive and upsetting, if there were sexual content I would not want my DD watching it with a mixed sex class as boys can be a right load of sods about this kind of thing

The film is crap, if they need to watch a film in order to crit it, there are about 5000 better films worth considering.

My DD is so over sensitive to noise/background music that I have asked her school never to show her DVDs or films of any kind as it sends her batty. But this over sensitivity to noise aside, why is there any need to watch this film?

I'd go to the head and ask them to bring the teacher in to justify why this particular film is beign studied and why it couldn't be another film.

Oh, and media studies is a pile of crap anyway so missing this film is minor. I'd ask for her not to watch the film on the grounds it is pointless.

[StealthPolarBear]

"OliPolly Tue 29-Mar-11 12:03:11
Am i the only one who thinks that perhaps her DD should have tried to watch the film and leave if she didn't like it? "

I'm afraid so. If the film is a 15 - i.e. not suitable for under 15s, why should a school be expecting (hassling) 13 year olds to watch it?