Schools

R-Rated Movies in School: What's Showing at Hinsdale Central?

The Victor Casini curriculum objection over "American Beauty" and "Brokeback Mountain" being shown at Hinsdale South is nearly a year old, and now parents can see online what R-rated movies their students might see.

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Things have changed since the 2012 Hinsdale South curriculum objection filed by Victor Casini over the showing of American Beauty and Brokeback Mountain in his son's Film as Literature class.

Casini is a member of the District 86 Board of Education, and Nick Wahl, who as District 86 superintendent overruled the objection, has resigned and moved on to Indiana.

But perhaps the most notable change concerning that highly contentious public discussion is that the Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South websites now contain full lists of the R-rated films they will show, or at least might show, in class.

Hinsdale Central's list is quite long, and it is accompanied by the following message to parents:

The following list is a compilation of all the R-rated films that a teacher may choose to show in the listed courses at Hinsdale Central High School for the upcoming (2013-2014) academic year. During the first week of the semester in September and January, parents will be asked to sign a permission form for the films studied in their child’s course; these films will be a subset of the larger list published below. If you have a question regarding the movie or the associated curriculum please contact the department chair.

Below is the list of movies and the classes they might be shown in.

See the Hinsdale South list here.

Business


  • Accounting, Accounting Honors: Enron 
  • Business Law: A Few Good Men, Erin Brokovich 
  • Sports Marketing: Jerry McGuire 

English


  • AP Lang & Comp: Apocalypse Now, Bowling for Columbine, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, Othello, Shut Up and Sing (Dixie Chicks documentary)
  • AP Lit & Comp: A Portrait of the Artist (not yet rated), American Beauty (re: Gatsby, clips only), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, O (clips only), The Constant Gardener, The Shawshank Redemption (clips only), The Usual Suspects (clips only)
  • Brit Lit 1: Othello, Bloody Sunday, In the Name of the Father, Michael Collins, The Boxer
  • Distopian Lit: 1984 (clips only), A Handmaid's Tale (clips only), Blade Runner, Blindness, Children of Men, Idiocracy, Looper, Never Let Me Go, The Matrix, Twelve Monkeys
  • English 1, English 1 Honors: Little Miss Sunshine, Ordinary People, Stand by Me, Into the Wild (skip nude scenes) 
  • English 2 Honors: A Simple Plan (Macbeth), Argo, Brazil, Minority Report (re: Brave New World), Scotland, PA
  • English 3: Good Will Hunting, In America, Into the Wild (clips only, skip nude scenes), Platoon, Transcendentalism 
  • Film Studies: Amores Perros (clips only), Blue Velvet (clips only), Bonnie and Clyde (clips only), Brick (clips only), Children of Men (clips only), Do The Right Thing (clips only), Drive (clips only), Easy Rider (clips only), Goodfellas (clips only), Memento (clips only), No Country for Old Men (clips only), Reservoir Dogs (clips only), Taxi Driver (clips only), The Departed (clips only), The Godfather (clips only), The Hurt Locker (clips only), The Matrix (clips only), Waking Life (clips only)
  • Journalism: Page One: Inside the New York Times
  • Rhetoric: American Rhetoric website (clips only), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Grizzly Man (clips only), Roger and Me, Thank You for Smoking, V for Vendetta
  • World Lit: Charlie Wilson's War (skipping first five minutes)

Mathematics


  • Geometry: Zoolander (clips only)

P.E.


  • Health: Outbreak

Science


  • Traditional Chemistry, Themed Chemistry: Friday the 13th (edited clip)
  • Physics Honors: Speed (edited clip)

Social Studies


  • AP European History: Enemy at the Gates, Return of Martin Guerre, Schindler’s List
  • AP Psychology: The Royal Tenenbaums
  • Constitutional Law: Murderball (clip)
  • Philosophy Honors: About Schmidt, Memento, Schindler’s List (clips only), Waking Life
  • Psychology: Good Will Hunting
  • Russian Studies: The Untouchables (clips only)
  • Sociology: Crash, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Return to Paradise
  • United States History: Bowling for Columbine, Europa Europa, Glory, Heat of the Night, Last of the Mohicans, Saving Private Ryan, The Patriot, The Untouchables
  • Western Civilization: Band of Brothers (clips only), Gladiator (clips only), Kingdom of Heaven (clips only), Robin Hood (clips only), Schindler’s List (clips only), The King’s Speech (clips only), Troy (edited version from Cleanflicks website)

Special Education


  • ES World Cultures: Glory, Mississippi Burning, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, The Right Stuff

World Language


  • AP Spanish Language: Voces Inocentes
  • AP Spanish Literature: Lazaro de Tormes, The House of Bernarda Alba
  • German 1: Das Boot, Lola Rennt, Run Lola Run
  • German 3/4: Good Bye, Lenin, Nirgendwo in Afrika (Nowhere in Africa)
  • Latin Club: 300 (clips only), Blade Runner (clips only), Gladiator (clips only), Matrix (clips only), Troy (clips only)
  • Spanish 5 Honors Latin American Studies: El Norte, La Historia Oficial, Paloma de Papel
  • Spanish 5 Honors Spanish Studies: Abre los Ojos, El Perro del Hortelano and Alatriste, La comunidad, La Lengua de la Mariposa 
  • Spanish Studies: Celestina
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