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Entertainment Media Analysis Report

MAR02999
Cruel Intentions (1999), R
CAP Score: 44, CAP ID: 2.32

Thomas A. Carder
CAP President

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Executive Summary / Commentary
Findings / Scoring
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / COMMENTARY:

"Cruel Intentions" , R -- Cruel intentions for the players? For the audience? Both?

I left 22 minutes after the first scene; it was that offensive. I have told you the CAP Entertainment Media Analysis Model was built to require the investigator to view every minute of a movie. I had not expected to be watching only portions of movies. Then I got to thinking (I do that sometimes) and remembered that though the CAP model incorporates running time, it is both operationally and mathematically "applicable to any system or vehicle which imparts information to an observer which requires the observer to learn, to form an opinion, or which elicits emotion(s) or value judgment(s) in the observer." I then wondered why, if it would work on something as short as a song or a magazine, would it not work on only a portion of a movie? So, I decided to test it on the 22-minute portion of "Cruel Intentions." As with anything that Jesus builds, it worked well -- very well. While I would not want to stretch this finding by making it routine to report on only portions of movies, I am indeed confident of the results of this test. The only assumption is that the distribution of junk was relatively uniform, which may or may not be true; ignominy in the rest of the movie may be more or less dense than the first 22 minutes. But in terms of this service, is that really important? The CAP model gives you accurate comparison numbers (the CAP Thermometers and scoring) for a short segment as well as it does for an entire movie. I just will not be able to give you as complete a listing of ignominy or as comprehensive a summary/commentary as I could had I watched the whole show. But again, is that really important?

The first 22 minutes of the "Cruel Intentions" was a sex show. Some nudity but a few tons of sexual talk. Just about every sentence was about sexual conquest, offerings, attempts, barterings, urges....... The last scene I watched presented a "seasoned" girl teaching an innocent girl about how to kiss. At first, the two girls engaged in a light kiss. Then the seasoned girl told the innocent girl "Now I am going to stick my tongue in your mouth - you massage it with yours." And that they did! At such an angle that was CLEARLY to maximize visuals to the audience. And then the previously innocent girl asked the seasoned girl "Do you wanna have a sleep-over?" Gamming (sitting in a short skirt to maximize exposure of the underside of the upper legs), crotch exposure while sitting in a skirt, and a detailed accounting of a homosexual encounter were a few of the sexual matters in "Cruel Intentions." "Have sex with as many PEOPLE as you can" topped off proof of the bisexuality of the seasoned girl. In addition, since this was a movie about high school life, there was a lot of unfair stereotyping of high school kids as druggies by presentation of illegal drugs: possession, consumption, and manufacture with cooking lab paraphernalia. Even the drug manufacture paraphernalia was used in one of the sexual comments: while lifting and dropping a laboratory apparatus (a glass tube over another) "stroking" was mentioned by a male to a homosexual male. Didn't notice any guns, though. Did notice some parents portrayed as simpleton ignoramuses, though.

I am not going to use any more detail than this. If I were to do so, this service would be no better than the movie. I suspect you get the picture. Be sure to check out the listing of ignominy in Findings/Scoring.

The worst part of the movie was seeing and hearing the reactions of the audience. The building sometimes shook with the thundering laughter and hoots from kids who I doubt would have known what they were laughing at until they came to this movie. About half of them were clearly under 17 years old. One girl was about 6 years old. Of the few audience comments I could understand, one of the most tame comments was from an underage teen boy: "Everybody wants to see a little ------" But the worst part of it all was I could "feel" the childhood of those young kids being ripped from them.......and it hurt.

And sometime ago I warned you that some of the previews of other shows can be as vulgar as the feature presentation. One of the trailers preceding "Cruel Intentions" had two boys discussing sexual intercourse. The "experienced" boy described the act to the "inexperienced" boy as "your mother's warm apple pie." You can probably guess what the boy did with his mother's apple pie. It's getting bad, folks and you'll see it all if you go to see "Cruel Intentions."




FINDINGS / SCORING: Cruel Intentions (1999) CAP Thermometers

Wanton Violence/Crime (W):
  • Nothing noteworthy

    Impudence/Hate (I)(1):
  • 11 uses of the three/four letter word vocabulary, two of which were the most foul of foul words
  • a psychologists suggesting that parents are insignificant
  • lying

    Sex/Homosexuality (S):
  • sexual background music
  • sex talk: conquests, requests, offers, barters, innuendo, maneuvers, mannerisms and motions
  • suggestive eye movement
  • planning deceitful maneuvers using sex
  • inappropriate touch
  • exceptionally vulgar sexual invitation
  • homosexuality, detailed discussion of homosexual encounter, suggestion to participate in a homosexual act
  • same-sex kissing, including open mouth kissing followed by an offer of a homosexual encounter

    Drugs/Alcohol (D):
  • drug consumption, manufacture, packaging, purification

    Offense to God (O)(2):
  • 3 uses of God's name in vain including the use of Jesus' name with His title but each without the four letter expletive
  • mockery of God

    Murder/Suicide (M)(3):
  • Nothing noteworthy


    (1) As noted in CAP Special Report-001, "Investigation Area and Scoring Trend," of the six CAP Investigation Areas, Impudence/Hate was the strongest presence in all four movie classifications. It has a strong revelation about the entertainment media.

    (2) The use of the three/four letter word vocabulary without God's name is incorporated into the Impudence/Hate Investigation Area. The use of God's name with or without the three/four letter word vocabulary is incorporated into the Offense to God Investigation Area. There is no duplication. As required of the Holy Scriptures, unless God's name is used with reverence to His glory and praise, its use is considered in vain, whether literal or euphemistic.

    (3) Only portrayal of successful murder or suicide are incorporated into Murder/Suicide. Presentation of attempts to commit murder or suicide and deaths by police action or war are incorporated into Wanton Violence/Crime.



    Additional reviews of this movie may be located at "Movie Review Query Engine at Telerama."




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    In the name of Jesus:
    Lord, Master, Teacher, Savior, God.

    Thomas A. Carder
    President
    ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP)

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