8th Grader Subjected To 'Brokeback' Screening Wants $500K To Buy Back Her Lost Innocence
The Chicago Board of Education is being sued by the family of a 12-year-old girl who claims she was psychologically scarred after a high school substitute teacher screened Ang Lee's award-winning cinematic exploration of forbidden sheepherder love, Brokeback Mountain, for her students:
The lawsuit claims that Jessica Turner, 12, suffered psychological distress after viewing the movie in her 8th grade class at Ashburn Community Elementary School last year. [...]
Turner and her grandparents, Kenneth and LaVerne Richardson, are seeking around $500,000 in damages. [...]
The substitute asked a student to shut the classroom door at the West Side school, saying: "What happens in Ms. Buford's class stays in Ms. Buford's class," according to the lawsuit.
Richardson said his granddaughter was traumatized by the movie and had to undergo psychological treatment and counseling.
Obviously, Jessica failed to heed the disclaimer inspired by a popular Nevada tourism campaign, as she didn't hesitate to tattle to her grandparents about the nonessential course materials she was subjected to that day. Her classmates, meanwhile, hardly eased matters in the ensuing days, knowing that faintly humming the opening notes to Gustavo Santaolalla's evocative score would be enough to send Turner screaming from geometry class, wishing she knew how to quit the horrific, Jake-taking imagery seared into her consciousness—something that no amount of therapy, but possibly $500,000, might be able to one day erase.