Controversies over old movies happen all the time. Usually, it’s because of a change in society or what’s deemed acceptable in society, like when it comes to actors donning face paint to change their race or general attitudes towards women or minorities.
A recent drama has risen up around a movie from 1990 for a different reason that many did not anticipate.
RELATED STORIES
*Kindergarten Cop* is a beloved film that came out in 1990.
The movie follows police officer John Kimble, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher in order to catch a drug dealer whose child is in the class and eventually retires to become a kindergarten teacher full time.
The Northwest Film Center originally had the movie in its drive-in lineup due to “its importance in Oregon filmmaking history.”
However, many found this to be a bad decision, with author Lois Leeven tweeting that it was a “weird time” to air the film during a “national reckoning on overpolicing,” adding, “There’s nothing entertaining about the presence of police in schools, which feeds the ‘school-to-prison’ pipeline.”
Leeven wrote that the “criminalizing of children increases dramatically when cops are assigned to work in schools.”
She also concluded that “It’s true Kindergarten Cop is only a movie. So are Birth of a Nation and Gone With the Wind , but we recognize films like those are not ‘good family fun.’ They are relics of how pop culture feeds racist assumptions.”
She adds “in reality, schools don’t transform cops. Cops transform schools, and in an extremely detrimental way.”
The Northwest Film Center responded to her tweets by saying the film had been replaced with John Lewis: Good Trouble instead.
What do you think about this decision? Let us know your opinion in the comments section below!
