ChildCare Action Project:
Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP)
Entertainment Media Analysis Report
MAR-0013
Forrest Gump (1994)
PG-13
CAP Score: 54
CAP ID: 0.92
Thomas A. Carder
CAP President
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Forrest Gump was a prime example of attemps of Hollywood to lower the threshold of acceptance of immoral and vulgar material. Under the humorous and warm front was graphic violence, very foul language, sexual material, some use of drugs and alcohol, and a suicide attempt. Worst of all was the 56 examples of Offense to God (the use of God's name, direct and euphemistically, with and without the three-four letter word vocabulary).(1) Although CAP Investigation Standards do not include acts of actual war as examples of unacceptable material, the Vietnam war in the movie was not an actual accounting of the war nor actual file footage -- it was Hollywood fanfare of gore and violence. Two sodliers were incinerated to the bone with bomb fire. Another was tossed by bomb blast.(2) These things happened in the Vietnam war, but the "soldiers" in Forrest Gump were not soldiers nor were they in Vietnam. Of other noteworthiness was nudity, physical abuse of a woman, child gang brutality against a disadvantaged child, and a child sneaking out of her house in the middle of the night to get into bed with Gump as a child.
Other examples of unacceptable material in Forrest Gump included living together out of wedlock while spouting "...doing nothing wrong," portrayal of sexual intercourse out of wedlock as acceptable, sexual foreplay in a car, drunkenness, and demonstration of how to use drugs.
The ChildCare Action Project findings for Forrest Gump are as follows.
In accordance with the comparative baseline data, Forrest Gump was equivalent to R material in Impunity/Hate and Offense to God. It was PG-13 material in Wanton Violence/Crime and Sex/Homosexuality. Forrest Gump was equivalent to PG material in Drugs/Alcohol. The movie was G material in Murder/Suicide.
Below is the table showing the scoring in each of the Investigation Areas plus the Final Score drawn from the actual CAP Report. In addition, the number of examples per hour of unacceptable material in each of the Investigation Areas is provided.
(1) The use of the three/four letter word vocabulary is incorporated into the Impunity/Hate Investigation Area. The use of God's name in vain with and without the three/four letter word vocabulary is incorporated into the Offense to God Investigation Area.
As noted in CAP Special Report-0001, "Investigation Area Scoring and Trend," Impunity/Hate was the strongest presence in all four movie classifications. I pray you will find time to read Special Report-0001. It has a strong revelation about the entertainment media.
(2) Murder/Suicide lost no points due to the Hollywood-style war deaths. Death due to war is not considered murder y the CAP Investigations Standards. The Hollywoor-style war deaths were incorporated into Wanton Violence/Crime.
Additional reviews of this movie may be located at "Movie Review Query Engine at Telerama."
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Lord, Master, Teacher, Savior, God.
Thomas A. Carder
President
ChildCare Action Project: Christian Analysis of American Culture (CAP)
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