Psycho film being shown to 14 year old in English class

[Emydan83]

I’d like some opinion or advice for this situation I find myself, my partner and my 14 year old daughter in. In a council school in Scotland my daughter, who is 14 and in 3rd year , the English class were shown the film “Psycho” from the 70’s, then asked to write a critical essay from the view point of either the murderer or the victim. No parental consent was asked before they began this topic , now roughly 2 weeks later we have contacted school to make a complaint after realising the full scope of this topic. Not only is this film rated a 15 in the uk, no authority seems to have been given from any senior member of the school or any parents contacted. I truly believe a 14 year old child should not be subjected to this emotional torment to imagine themselves either committing murder or being murdered in the name of learning English.
I would be grateful for any feedback, thank you.

I'd be delighted if mine were shown Psycho. It's an absolute masterclass of film making.

Is S3 equivalent to year 10 ?

@SirVixofVixHall We use Common sense media as a rough guide.

Do you not find that one a bit strange, though? I've sometimes looked up films and been gobsmacked. For instance, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure - common sense media rates it 3/5 for "violence and scariness". Seriously?!

I've also read comments on there by parents who seem to be coming from a US Christian standpoint - objecting to positive depictions of homosexuality and so on. Of course it's easy to ignore them, but it makes me question whether the website as a whole has more conservative values than mine. Just an observation.

It's tame compared to todays films. If re classified it may get a 12. I certainly saw it younger than 15

No it's the 3rd year of high school. Is that not year 9? They will all have turned 14 now though and starting to turn 15 (cut off is February rather than august)

My school did this, no one cried in class or needed therapy afterwards, most of us turned out relatively normal. A lot of 14 year olds and even younger children have seen much worse, Psycho is pretty mild by todays standard

i've never watched that movie and don't want to. Despite being 40+, I avoid watching horror movies especially those with psychopathic killers. It is not the blood and gore that I dislike, it is the coldhearted evil implied in the movies. I know that exists in the world but I really don't need to see it for entertainment.

There are some 15+ and 18+ movies that I will happily watch and others I don't - it is my choice as an adult.

some people really don't like horror movies, and if you are that kind of person, you should not be forced to watch a movie for a school class.

@Emydan83 if your DD found Psycho upsetting (please forgive me, I have not seen that film), bear in mind she will likely be watching The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas very soon for History.

My DD has ADHD, and as a result, visual things can be a) more distressing and b) replay in her head for a long time afterward. I have the same problem, so have to be careful what I watch and read.

I would have been v.unhappy if school hadn't pre-warned parents about the age rating. Having said that, by today's standards, this film would likely be a 12A - those who have watched the film will be better informed on that. Most children in your DD'S year will have been watching far worse. Sadly, many of the children I work with in a primary school, are routinely watching 18 rated movies and playing 18 rated games. We flag this up to safeguarding each time, but it still continues. This desensitising to often extreme violence does worry me, especially as children cannot discern between behavioural norms of reality/fiction as well as adults.

I am NOT suggesting your DD has ADHD. Just that mine is oversensitive and had day and night terrors for weeks afterwards. Her teacher was sympathetic, but couldn't do much to help.

If watching TBITSP for History, it might be worth you watching it first, then with her and talking it through to help her manage her feelings.

I don't have enough eyes to roll at this post.🙄

Not sure there’s an obligation on the school to ask parental permission to teach your kids the curriculum on the basis that there’s stuff you might not want them to see or know. After all, where would the line be?

Also in Scotland and I’ve never been asked for AV consent since DS left primary. My DS is also in third year, he’s been 14 for two months, and is one of the youngest kids in his year. Some of his friends are already 15/soon will be.

In English and Media Studies they’re often shown 15 films, and recommended to watch films at home to expand their cinematic horizons. These are often 15, and occasionally 18 - in those circs the teacher uses the caveat ‘if you’re allowed by your parents.’

In History they use 15 cert sources from 3rd year onwards (pictorial resources/ documentaries). We recently visited a concentration camp and there were no under 14s permitted. Presumably educationalists have also looked into age appropriateness and susceptibility when constructing the current curriculum.

As other PPs have said, Psycho has been taught for years. Other texts set by schools for decades contain subjects which are more morally opaque but equally as upsetting as Psycho; there’s infanticide, suicide and murder galore in Shakespeare’s tragedies. Brighton Rock is about murder and coercive abuse - we read it in 4th year (I was 14 for six months of 4th year) To Kill a Mocking Bird has a rape, implications of child abuse/abduction and an attempted racist lynching. The reason these books/films are used is because they are well-written and created by masters of their art, but which come from an era where difficult subjects were handled without going into graphic detail.

It’s a shame Psycho upset your daughter, assuming that’s why you’ve complained. If it’s not her upset but your displeasure that’s prompted the complaint, I wonder if it’s because it’s a film about a murder?

If you deconstruct the Psycho murder scene film frame by frame (as DS has recently done for a film-making project) it’s actually very cleverly done; there’s no nudity and no injury shown, because the naked female form and wounding wouldn’t have got past the censors, so everything is implied. There’s also a strong moral message to the film (ie. theft is bad, no matter why you do it, murder is evil, the murderer is brought to justice and is not implied to be any sort anti-villain, as is often the case with modern murder literature (think Ripley, Hannibal). Thats not true of a lot of things teens watch/play/listen to.

No wonder kids need safe spaces now. They are so molly coddled

Hi everyone, thank you all for your comments. My daughter has never liked horror movies, This is not a media class it’s English, in the last 2 years she’s studied bigotry, knife stabbings ,Bullying and ADHD. Now we’re onto the psycho movie about a real life serial killer. All dark negative topics. I understand that we don’t live in a perfect world, but we’re there’s dark there is also light and that’s where we would like to focus our energy for our daughter. Thank you again for every comment.

It's not a horror movie.
As far as plot goes, it's a run of the mill murder story.
The cinematography is what has put it for the last 40 years on the English syllabus.

So you aren't talking about Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho?
What is the actual film then?

YANBU I do not see how the school can get away with not respecting the film's certification. Safeguarding really has gone out of the window in all areas.

Because - as I have said - film certificates do not apply in schools. Schools are expected to use their professional judgement.

Not a justification but, chances are a quite a few students will already be skilled at grand theft auto games, then call of duty series, seen many films or TV shows with various levels of violence etc,

I know in some situations a few may have been shielded from reality, in regards to these mediums and types but overall it's the way society is.

BBFC certification doesn’t apply in schools. It is good practice to consult with parents before showing a higher certificate film but by no means obligatory. It certainly isn’t “a massive no-no” to show higher certificate films at all - it’s left to the teacher’s discretion. I regularly show 18 certificate films to 16/17 year olds as they’re part of the Film Studies A-level syllabus and this will be the case in classrooms up and down the country!

But in order to keep her save in the light, they have to be knowledgeable about the dark, it's like in Harry Potter when umbridge was trying to teach protection from the dark arts just by reading textbooks, rather than Harrys group that was having practical knowledge of defense.

Was this the classic psycho film then ?

I think Pyscho is very old hat and quite tame when compared to slasher movies that are around now, but I think if movies have an age certification the school should abide by it, or ask permission from the parents.

@Liorae I don't understand your eyeroll at my post.

I do understand it is unlikely to be your experience, but that of me and mine is not invalidated by that. Flashbacks and nightmares were what happened and due to DD's ADHD, according to the specialist nurse.

Having said that, I know many neurodiverse people who could watch it with no issue.

That's the same age as Y10.

Anyway, as a lot of others have said, schools do not have to follow age ratings, and can show films of a higher rating to students, particularly if it's on their syllabus.

The school does not set the exam syllabus (although may have some choice of "texts") so has limited control over the topics they teach.

Yes it is very American , so they get more bothered about things like swearing and alcohol etc, than a UK audience would. It can be helpful as to why content might be considered unsuitable though. I do look at it with the different perspective in mind.
I am not bothered about swearing, at least not once they are in secondary, or people drinking alcohol, but I think what is considered suitable to teenagers has really shifted since I was a teenager. Stuff I saw as a teen that was 15 rated would be a 12 now. So that then becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. I saw Suffragette, and almost took my then 12 year old as it was rated 12, but I was glad I hadn’t as the scenes of force feeding and sexual abuse would have been too much. More of a 15 film I think.

It’s an absolute classic and I can’t imagine many 14 year olds would find it traumatic these days! I think my parents let me watch most of the classic Hitchcock films around that age.

I was much more effected by some of the things I read at a similar age. There wasn’t the range of Yong adult fiction on the 90s as there is now and I read a lot of dystopian classics like Brave New World.