@alh, I’d forgotten that, and it usually annoys me that frontal nudity is okay for women but not for men. Of course it was just her chest, and we see men’s chests all the time.
Anyway, I’m glad OP’s daughter sat through the movie. Interesting that the professor apparently had second thoughts about it. Still curious though, what was the movie?
I still want to know what film it is… (unless I missed it somewhere?)
@mathmom @romanigypsyeyes OP stated in post 58 that she isn’t going to tell us the name of the movie
Glad it worked out. I don’t think it is possible these days to show any movie without offending someone, so I have a lot of sympathy for the professor. My kid’s high school English teacher is sincerely and strongly offended by Disney movies. Someone will always be upset about something, I guess.
I found Titanic very disturbing when everyone was drowning. I still can’t watch that scene.
One more note, as I hear more details~ apparently one of her friends was deeply disturbed by the film.
Unrelated to that, the professor more or less apologized to the class in general~ apparently he hadn’t watched the film through himself in over 15 years, and was reminded there was a reason for that~ a number of scenes that he had forgotten about… I expect there may be a change in his course the next time he offers it…
And she didn’t say anything before class, so none of this was in response to her concerns, which it appears were well founded, and due to her own diligence she was at least prepared enough herself to be forewarned, as opposed to her classmate.
Having heard about the professor’s response, I will go ahead and tell you which film it was so that those that have no problems with rated R can go ahead and satisfy their curiosity, and those that are more selective can know they might want to check it out more closely before watching it. (BTW, she read AAAAAALLL the reviews on IMDB before voicing her concerns to me).
1995 Othello
@oldfort I can’t even think about Titanic because of that scene… still disturbs me also… and there is a scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom that makes me hesitate to watch it again (and having just watched Raiders of the Lost Ark, I realized there are others I prefer to avert my eyes for… I’m pretty good at watching the corners of the screen past my fist. 
Like I said before, some people are very highly sensitive to visuals (And for me, even audio… can’t stand to hear someone get punched~ makes me physically ill), and they are often burned into your brain.
Good reasons to be cautious, even if one is an adult.
An answer to your question is that, as an adult, she herself should approach the professor and share her concerns. Maybe she would be more comfortable viewing a movie like that for the first time in the privacy of her own room, either alone or with a trusted friend, than in a large group with both males and females in the classroom. That could be her request. Or maybe the whole movie is too uncomfortable for her right now and she needs an alternative.
But the bigger issue for anyone who has a “trigger” reaction to anything- whether they are religious or nonreligious, liberal or conservative, whether the reaction is caused by internal anxieties or past trauma- is to address the root causes for the long term, not just avoid the trigger in the short term.
Sex is part of life. It would be a shame if discomfort with seeing implications of it kept her from enjoying some of the world’s great art, whether film or other art forms. More importantly, someday hopefully she will be in a loving marriage where sex is a beautiful part of the intimacy, and out of that love will come a child she loves as much as you love her.
Hopefully any college mental health counselor, of any background and beliefs, would be respectful of her values, but this is particularly likely to be true at a Christian college where the college’s missions and official beliefs are probably closely aligned with hers. Perhaps she can meet with someone and talk about her discomfort with sex in R-rated movies, and work through any issues that may be underlying it.
As a parent to another parent, my best wishes to you and your daughter.
@5acorns wrote “You totally missed my point~ there is a huge difference between *reading Shakespeare that was written in the 15/1600’s and *seeing present day films… (The content maybe hasn’t changed all that much, but the graphic nature of the portrayal has…more than Shakespeare would ever have imagined was possible in the late 1500’s early 1600’s.)”
Nope, completely understood your point, just thought that it reflected a sanitized view of Elizabethan England and William Shakespeare suitable for a 1960’s “G” rated Disney special.
Shakespeare lived in a time where men wore codpieces and public drawing and quartering was considered fun family entertainment. The idea that he’d be unable to imagine “the graphic nature of the portrayal…” of violence or nudity, or virtually anything else in modern films is absurd.
@TheGreyKing I’m quite fine with her discomfort with sex scenes in an R rated film~ I’m not comfortable with them myself, and I have a great loving marriage that has the added bonus of 3 fantastic children. 
@tdy123, I “get” what Elizabethan England was like and what Shakespeare saw and understood as life. What I suggest is that he would never have imagined his “plays” being **portrayed in the manner they are today.
For heaven’s sake… they wouldn’t let women on stage, and I’m pretty sure that graphic blood and sex on stage wasn’t the norm, regardless of what might have been going on in the “pit” or in the street for that matter.
I’d possibly go so far as to suggest that his plays may have been a “sanitized” verrsion of Elizabethan England, and to add gratuitous scenes for the sake of ratings is something from our time, not his. (Who actually knows what he would have done today~ but I’m speaking to what he did then, and remaining true to that).
Ah Shakespeare… He reminds me just how much I prefer math/science and generally detested English all the way back to 7th or 8th grade!
I suppose English lovers might say the same about Algebra. ?
@Creekland LOL
@5acorns I think you were right to withhold the movie name until everyone had a chance to weigh in with a theoretical discussion, instead of devolving into the merits of that particular version of the story! I remember very mixed reviews, but have not seen it myself. Not my favorite play, the only movie version I saw was a very unconvincing Lawrence Olivier in blackface which was awful in its own way. (Maggie Smith as Desdemona!!!) Anyway, thanks for revealing it.
I for one, think violence should be worse than sex on film, but for the most part I think movies were more sexy when they showed less.
@mathmom After reading the reviews on IMDB, I kind of really wish they didn’t have certain scenes (That I understand *were pretty controversial, so again, feeling her concern was justified…), because it sounds like Laurence Fishburne did an amazing and vey convincing Othello. But, not my scene…
Thanks for the discussion.
I’d edit reply #1, but it’s way past the available time limit. I didn’t catch that this wasn’t a high school or middle school student. I don’t have a clue what movies may or may not have been shown in my college students’ classes so I didn’t even think to look for that. For a college student, in a Shakespeare class, I wouldn’t bat an eye at an R rating.
I completely understand and would have been like your daughter at that point in life, though now I am much more willing to take a firm stance on things that I consider to be a problem. It is also not hard to believe that the professor had forgotten things about the film. There have been several times in recent years that I have started watching a movie that I had seen in years past and wound up having to turn it off. Sometimes it is because I had previously seen it on a tv channel where it had been edited, and sometimes it is because I saw it when I was at a different point in life and wasn’t bothered by things nearly as much.
My kids hate that every time before watching a movie I have to look it up on commonsensemedia to see what is in it(because the ratings don’t really mean much). I am okay with violence that is central to the movie(the Passion, Gladiator, the Patriot) but not gratuitous violence and gore. Generally I won’t watch anything with nudity or excessive sexuality, though nudity like in Schindler’s List where it is not sexual(nothing sensual about those gas chamber scenes) I can tolerate. I also have no problem with classic art that has nudity, photographs and live video are completely different to me. Language is something that I try to avoid, even if it does fit the narrative of the film, it just makes me cringe and feel sick to my stomach, especially things like the F-bomb or taking God’s name in vain.
I am very much an adult capable of discussing various ideas and thoughts, but do not feel the need to expose myself to those things. We are bombarded with them enough as it is, whenever possible I will avoid them and stick to my values.
@alh, Romeo was seen nude from the rear only, Juliet was nude from the waist up briefly. I had to pull out my DVD and check-- couldn’t recall about Romeo’s state of undress!
Yes, with Olivia Hussey being so young (15?) it would not fly today. But I thought it was tastefully done, then.
@mathmom, we had to get permission for all our field trips.
It’s odd that a prof would choose to show that movie. It’s just a bad film. The actors do well but the film is just bad.
JMO of course.
Thanks for sharing name of movie.
The most disturbing part of all this, imo, is the professor assigned a film he hadn’t watched in 15 years. For a script/screen Shakespeare class, I’d assume the professor was thinking and rethinking interpretations. There seems to have been little or no preparation on his part. There is a thread on the Parents Forum about PhD oversupply. This sounds like an overworked adjunct to me. We advised our college kids to take classes from tenured faculty. Your daughter deserves better.
With apologies to Romani, obviously an excellent teacher, although not yet tenured but I imagine will be if she chooses to stay in academia.
It’s an othello worth discussing because of the casting. Laurence Fishbourne 1995 vs Laurence Olivier, in 1965. Very timely. I want to sit in on that class with a Shakespeare, or film, scholar leading the discussion.