 RED does not mean "stop." GREEN does not mean "go." Click on the CAPCon Alert image for explanation |
A ministry of the ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP Ministry) A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Christian Ministry. www.capalert.com/ Entertainment Media Analysis Report A service to His little ones through you in His name by His Word MAR2010.007  (2009), PG-13 [Hard R-13*] (1hr 21min) The #1 Christian entertainment media analysis service on the Internet. We give you OBJECTIVE tools NO ONE ELSE CAN to help YOU make an informed decision for yourself whether a film is fit for your family. Over 1200 analyses for parents, grandparents, pastors, youth leaders and more. |
  (a PayPal account is NOT required) OR (preferred) by Check or Money Order. The CAP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Christian ministry. Donations to us are TAX-DEDUCTIBLE |
on what Hollywood feeds your kids. SUBSCRIBE (or unsubscribe) to our FREE text-only email version of these reports and our COMING SOON notices. |
  Christian Long Distance |
(While the Scriptural references are certainly not subjective, my commentary may be and sometimes is somewhat subjective.)
 Cast/Crew Details Courtesy Internet Movie Database Production (US): Paramount Vantage, Likely Story, This Is That Productions, Ivy Boy Productions Distribution (US): Paramount Home Entertainment Director(s): Àlex Pastor, David Pastor Producer(s): Ray Angelic, Stefanie Azpiazu, Anthony Bregman, Robert Velo, Michael Williams Written by: Àlex Pastor, David Pastor Cinematography/Camera: Benoît Debie Music: Peter Nashel Film Editing: Craig McKay Casting: Jeanne McCarthy Production Design: Clark Hunter Viewed on Paramount Home Entertainment DVD  This analysis is sponsored by the generosity of E&HP. Another "modernization" of Captain Kirk. This time with much more of the "it ain't good enough no matter what 'it' is" attitude ... and a mouth to match. Chris Pine, the "Captain Kirk" of the 2009 Star Trek plays Brian, the quintessential and eldest character of four youths, two boys and two girls, striking out on their own to reach a childhood memory place called Turtle Beach in a world that is dying of a strange virus that emaciates the victims and oozes their blood through lesions in the skin. Piper Perabo plays Bobby, Brian's girlfriend. Lou Taylor Pucci plays Brian's brother, Danny. Emily Van Camp (The Ring 2) plays Kate, Danny's school friend who seems to just be there as a balance for a quartet of two boy-girl pairs. Kate seems to loom in the background ... until the foreground characters evaporate. The four youths speed to Turtle Beach in California which Brian and Danny hope still holds the safety they knew as children. For four days they travel (unmarried), being faced with and forced into moral decisions that should not have to be made. Not long after starting out, they find that the microbial monster they race to avoid as it leeches across America is not their greatest enemy: that their greatest enemy is the survival beast within themselves. The American Medical Association and others ... and God [1 Cor. 15:33 for example] ... warn us about such influence of that which saturates this film but do we listen? "We are above that sort of thing." "We gotta have our way." "We have outgrown all those moral confinements." What we have done is become so drugged, so numb by the narcotics of extremes in and as entertainment that what once was morally unacceptable has become morally invisible. It is no wonder why so many youth have such ugly and dark outlooks on life. Sure, it can all be blamed on parents, street life, bad water, the news or evil spirits but where the rubber meets the road lies films like this one, films to perpetuate, indeed give excuse to such an outlook. Such a grim and disturbing attitude as portrayed in this film saturates in various degrees much of modern entertainment. Not necessarily in the form of dreary and gloomy content as much as in the attitude portrayed. In the portrayal of that attitude is the biggest reason for nothing ever being good enough for so many youth who are taught in so many ways by entertainment to expect more, to want it all and want it now! If you have any doubts about why modern entertainment contributes so much to the bleak and gloomy outlook of so many, see our publication ATTITUDE: In Perspective -- Investigation Area Scoring and Trend in CAP Entertainment Industry Investigations, Special Report-001. The report publishes our finding regarding the focus of the content of modern films. Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100 The violence portrayed in this film, though sometimes gruesome and gory, is of a basal nature reaching deeply into an ill-defined depth of our being, quite possibly into the bottom layer of the progressively protected opinion-values-belief hierarchy. For a word on the opinion-value-belief hierarchy consider the following. Three elements of personal character -- integrity, self respect, coping skills -- combine to form the foundation and fuel for personal behavior management: for chosen attitudes; for behavior choices. How personal integrity, self respect, coping skills are shaped and incorporated and in what ratio will in most cases determine and sometimes dictate how an individual will react to stimuli and will initiate behavior. According to Doctors Michael and Susan Osborne of the Memphis State University, there are three basic progressively protected barriers to persuasion: opinion, values and belief. Each level requires a stronger influence to modify, the belief level being the deepest and most protected layer therefore the most difficult to change. The opinion level may be changed very easily, maybe by new information or just changing one's mind but the values level may take years of persuasion to change. The belief level, once established, may be changed only by catastrophic persuasion. The content of Carriers is "catastrophic persuasion." The attitudes incorporated by an individual in turn feed and, to a point, control his/her behavior choices. Many films, especially this one, present content that can and sometimes does invade personal behavior management parameters and lead to modification of them, likely counterproductively. Such dark and primal content as found in Carriers may influence -- may persuade -- the observer into modifying the deepest and most protected barrier, the belief level, and lead him/her into making poor behavioral choices in similar situations, even if the similar situations simply seem similar or are even manufactured. Knowing this, why do you then suppose God warned us with verses such as 1 Cor. 15:33 and Prov. 16:29. God knew what He as doing when He inspired the content of the Holy Bible, the best blueprint available for personal behavior management. And if you think that the heinous behavior choices demonstrated in this film and others are protected from being influential because they are fantasy, remember that a bad influence does not have to be real to influence badly. One more comment about the most protected layer of the opinion-value-belief hierarchy, the belief layer. That someone believes something does not make it true. For example I believe God's Word but my belief in His Word does not make it true. That it is true does. God's Word does not need our belief in it to be true. That His Word is true makes it true. Whether we believe it or not. Whether we like it or not. Whether we care or not. Impudence/Hate (I) - Zero out of 100 In the beginning of this Summary/Commentary I said "... and a mouth to match" about Chris Pine's attitude portrayed. Most of the 51 uses of profanity, including the four uses of the most foul of the foul words, were spoken by Pine. [Col. 3:8, 2 Tim. 2:16 - 17, Prov. 22:11] "Acting" does not excuse sin any more than quoting someone who curses absolves the quoter of accoutnability. Nor does "acting" excuse the influence of demonstrating sin on the observer. Sexual Immorality (S) - 59 out of 100 The content found by the Sexual Immorality (S) investigation area was the highest scoring of the six investigation areas yet it was the only investigation area to find content equivalent to the film's posted PG-13 rating. All other investigation areas except Murder/Suicide (M) found content equivalent to R-rated films in the comparative baseline database and its score was one point above the R-equivalence score of 54 and below out of 100. This film is truly R-equivalent. Not so much because of the extremeness of individual examples of sexually immoral behavior but because there are so many of the "lesser" kinds of sexually immoral behavior: behaviors such as licking kissing, drawing viewer attention to male privates, using insults that call attention to oral sex, women wearing clothes that expose the straps and curves of their underwear, forced stripping and the like. However, the only nudity in the entire 81 minutes of the film was of rear upper nudity of two women. [Prov. 30:20, Rev. 21:27, Gal. 5:19, Col. 3:5 - 10] Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 38 out of 100 The American College of Physicians (ACP) feel that R-rated films typically contain the most exposure to alcoholic beverages. When they published that 2002 report the researchers were not aware of our finding: the R-13 finding with which Harvard University unknowingly agreed. I have not done a quantitative analysis of the data regarding which rating, PG-13 or R, typically presents the most alcoholic beverages, but after nearly 1300 analysis I can confidently say the PG-13 films probably contain as much or even more presentations of alcoholic beverages (drinking) than R-rated films. And much of it by teens. The point of the matter is that both the American College of Physicians (ACP) and I agree that the demonstration of the consumption of alcoholic beverages in and as entertainment when viewed by underage viewers, especially when drinking is portrayed by poplar performers acting as seasoned and responsible drinkers, indeed and undeniably emboldens the underage viewers to drink alcoholic beverages. The ACP found that out of 4544 youths (90% of them under fourteen - the PG-13 age stratum) who are not restricted in their viewing of films are many times more likely to drink alcoholic beverages without parental knowledge than those who are partially restricted or completely restricted. Specifically, the prevalence of having tried alcohol without parental knowledge was The bottom line? Regardless of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) classification the focus is that the emboldening influence of adolescent exposure to drinking (and smoking) in and as entertainment is undeniable. [Eph. 5:18] Offense to God (O) - Zero out of 100 In addition to skits mocking the Christian faith (which by the way is now a hate crime when the legal table is turned to face the mockers) and what is stereotypically associated with it, someone uses His name in vain ten times without the four letter expletive and 4 times with it. Why not? It's a PG-13 film. Why not!? Because God says don't else suffer the consequences (if unforgiven). [Gal. 6:7, Deut. 5:11] Murder/Suicide (M) - 55 out of 100 Four murders. Two of them to facilitate stealing gas! All somewhat graphic. Y'all know about "thou shalt not kill [murder]." [Ex 20:13] SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION(S) If needed to focus or fortify, applicable text is underlined or bracketed [ ] or bold. If you wish to have full context available, the Blue Letter Bible is a convenient source. If you use the Blue Letter Bible, a new window will open. Close it to return here or use "Window" in your browser's menu bar to alternate between the CAP page and the Blue Letter Bible page. CHAPTER/VERSE ***Selected Scriptures of Armour against the influence of the entertainment industry*** As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie. |
 |
 Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100 Impudence/Hate (I) - Zero out of 100 Sexual Immorality (S) - 59 out of 100 Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 38 out of 100 Offense to God (O) - Zero out of 100 Murder/Suicide (M) - 55 out of 100 |
| There are some in the entertainment industry who maintain that 1) violent programming is harmless because no studies exist that prove a connection between violent entertainment and aggressive behavior in children, and 2) young people know that television, movies, and video games are simply fantasy. Unfortunately, they are wrong on both accounts." And "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." I applaud these associations for fortifying 1 Cor. 15:33. Read the rest of the story. From our years of study, I contend that other aberrant behaviors, attitudes, and expressions can be inserted in place of "violence" in that statement. Our Director - Child Psychology Support, a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist concurs. For example, "Viewing arrogance against fair authority may lead to your kids defying you in real life." Or "Viewing sex may lead to sex in real life." Likewise and especially with impudence, hate and foul language. I further contend that any positive behavior can be inserted in place of "violence" with the same chance or likelihood of being a behavior template for the observer; of being incorporated into the behavior mechanics and/or coping skills of the observer. In choosing your entertainment, please consider carefully the "rest of the story" and our findings. |
|
Thank you for visiting us and may God bless you. Prayerfully, we will provide you with some of the most revealing commentary and investigative reporting you have ever read. In the name of Jesus: Lord, Master, Teacher, Savior, God. Tom Carder President ChildCare Action Project (CAP): Christian Analysis of American Culture 100% dependent on your tax-deductible financial support |  |
Christian Long Distance |
|
We exist only by your tax-deductible donations. PLEASE  Features PayPal! You do NOT need an account to donate. |
