The University of Maryland has canceled plans to show Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge* (which currently has an 8.3 IMDB rating), after the state legislature threatened to pull government funding for the school. Apparently this is quite a popular movie, as it has been screened at Northwestern, UCLA, and Carnegie Mellon. It's also the recipient of many awards and award nominations, and has the highest film budget ever for a film of its type.  The film was being provided free of charge to the school by the distributor, so no state funds were being used to pay for the viewing of the film.

Why in the world would Maryland legislators object so vociferously to this movie being shown at a student union?  Such a popular, highly-rated, award-winning movie would be a perfect gift from President Obama to the Queen of England, wouldn't it? So wouldn't it be appropriate for our college students?

Perhaps because the film won an award for Best All-Girl Couples Sex Scene, and was nominated for Best All-Girl 3-Way Sex Scene, Best Couples Sex Scene, Best 3-Way Sex Scene, and Best Group Sex Scene. I don't think they have those categories at the Oscars. Maybe at the Golden Globes.

The news article (the one linked at 'canceled') is so full of win, I can't even begin to decide what parts to quote. So here's a few tidbits.

Miller postponed discussions several times as groups of school children entered the gallery on field trips to the State House.

At one point, Miller explained to students why senators kept changing the subject.

"If you kids are wondering what we're doing, we're waiting for you to leave the room," Miller said. "We're going to talk about some bad stuff."

...

Obscene content is not necessarily protected under the U.S. Constitution, Kissel said, but the fact that the student union planned to have Planned Parenthood** give a prescreening presentation on safe-sex practices before the film strengthens the First Amendment argument.

...

She said she thought Pirates II would be a good alternative to drinking or other dangerous activities.

"We thought this would be something fun for the students to do, especially since we're getting close to the end of the semester," Cunningham said. "We're a college movie theater and we thought it would bring out the students."

Posted by: Alice H at 10:06 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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