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Senior Grad Night theme question

carolbrady71's picture

Here's a good one I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on.

BM has volunteered to chair our high school grad night--its an all night event at the end of the school year for seniors to have fun in a safe and sober environment to celebrate graduation--this ought to be hilarious (except for the part where the kids may lose out due to her grandiose plans going up in flames because of lack of follow through).

The tradition here is to keep the theme secret until the kids walk into the gym. Parents pay $80 per kid, so it's a big expense for a lot of folks, and a big deal for the kids.

BM has a history (like most narcissists) of big promises, little follow through, and inappropriate sexual innuendo at public events (ever heard of a little league announcer being canned for inappropriate humor). I just heard the theme they picked for this year's event--Game of Thrones.

I don't watch the show, but I've seen a few snippets and read a lot of media about it, I'm wondering if it is an appropriate theme for high school seniors. I am not religious, or have any moral qualms about straight talk with teens around sexual safety, etc, but the portrayal of sexual themes on that show is a bit much for a public school event for high school seniors. I'm wondering what sort of concessions they will dream up--brother/sister kissing booth? Pillage the wench?

I'd love to hear what you all think--am I being a prude or just catty?

Comments

moving_on_again's picture

I have seen every single episode of Game of Thrones and while you could make it appropriate, it's really not, IMO.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

Pick me!!

WTF...REALLY's picture

It’s all yours baby. Man I love that show. It’s so damn good. I’ll definitely be watching it from beginning to end again coming up at some point

advice.only2's picture

If she's chairing it, that means that there is a committee in place as well right? So normally they would have to vote on these themes wouldn't they? So in theory it could be that this was voted for by the committee.

As for BM falling flat, if the committee sees she's faltering they will probably jump in and ask her to be replaced, normally parents don't allow these things to fall flat because they don't want to screw the kids.

carolbrady71's picture

Yes, there is a committee, and they did vote on it. The committee is fairly small at this point, so a majority vote doesn't involve many "ayes". I found out about their choice from a parent on the committee who is uncomfortable with it, but didn't want to express that at the meeting because it's her first year volunteering and she doesn't want to be belittled or singled out by BM (her m.o. when people disagree).

I told the committee member to have a chat with the principal and let the school decide, that way she doesn't have to expose herself to ridicule, and if the school decides it's okay, it's on them.

I think the committee members realize they made a mistake in appointing BM (because no one is stepping up to volunteer, she has burned many many bridges in our tiny community over the years), but they are in a hard spot cause she will lose her shit and cause a huge scene if they try to boot her now.

My kid is a freshman at the same school, and each class tries to out do the previous Grad Night for their kids, in terms of the cool factor. Not sure how we will be able to top murderous little people, torture and rape. Maybe a Breaking Bad theme?

lieutenant_dad's picture

I think it depends how they interpret the GoT theme.

Sure, you could get granular and focus on the sexual activity, mass murders, occult references, etc.

Or, they could just play up the fantasy theme using GoT references. They could divide the gym into three areas where part has a snow theme, part is castle themed with an iron throne for pictures, and part is wherever the Dothraki come from (forget what that is called...). They could build a dragon for secoration, crown a "King of the North" and "Queen of Westeros", host a capture-the-flag style game between the White Walkers (e.g. staff, designated students) and everyone else, etc. There are plenty of generic fantasy themes in the show to make it work.

Also, you said this was graduation for seniors. At that point, they are adults. Young, naive adults, but adults nonetheless. The themes in GoT may not be appropriate for ALL ages of high school, but you (general) can't coddle them into adulthood. I actually thinking picking more of an adult theme is good to get them engaged in the party and keep them there for the evening. If the theme is lame, they'll leave early and still go do stupid things.

Basically, there isn't anything in GoT that they haven't already been exposed to, or at least that's the case for the vast majority of students. Plus, it's a fantasy show with dragons, zombies, and magic. I would hope by the time that students graduate high school that they can recognize fantasy from reality.

carolbrady71's picture

I tried to point that out to the mom who voiced her concern to me--I said the underlying medieval times/renaissance theme is a pretty easy thing to work with in terms of collecting props/decorations, etc.
She said the group was going very specific into the show's characters, scenes. Again, I haven't really watched it (I am not a fan of gore, for my own squeamish reasons).

lieutenant_dad's picture

I guess I would have to know more, then, about what characters/scenes and their attributes that they were using. Like, you could have a "school safe" Jon Snow themed activity where you crown a senior "King of the North" and wrap an IKEA rug around his shoulders. You don't have to delve into the fact he had relations with his aunt.

However, I will concede there are some themes that probably shouldn't be sponsored by the school. I don't think opening up a mock brothel, or an incest kissing booth, is smart. But I think they could get away with dueling/warring using foam swords and dodgeballs. Sure, the fighting would be themed after some brutal scenes in the show, but the activity isn't any worse than nerds LARPing.