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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 MAR2011.054  (2011), PG-13 [Hard R-13*] (1hr 27min) 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 1300 analyses for parents, grandparents, pastors, youth leaders and more. |
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(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): Screen Gems, Vertigo Entertainment Distribution (US): Screen Gems Director(s): Christian E. Christainsen Producer(s): Doug Davison, George Flynn, Roy Lee, Sonny Mallhi, Beau Marks, Irene Yeung Written by: Sony Mallhi Cinematography/Camera: Phil Parmet Music: John Frizzell Film Editing: randy Bricker Casting: Linda Kroeger Production Design: John gary Steele Art Direction: Chris Conrwell Viewed on Sony Pictures Home Entertainment DVD  "I've seen this movie before." You may say that if you watch The Roommate because it is so formula and cookie-cutter in style and statement. Only the faces have been changed. Sara Matthews (Minka Kelly) has a new roommate. In fact, it is her first roommate since this is her first dorm room at the University of Los Angeles. Sara's roommate is Rebecca (Leighton Meester). Rebecca has some issues that need medication. She is possessive obsessive to the extreme and is in denial since she won't take her prescribed medication. The first hint of Rebecca's possessive obsessive control freak issues is when Rebecca showed resentment at one of Sara's friends for expressing social friendship with Sara. Another hint comes when Rebecca fancies a disturbing painting. The hints keep coming. One of the strongest hints of Rebecca's psychiatric issues is when she puts Sara's kitten in the clothes dryer at the laundro-mat. Sara named the kitten Cuddles and is affectionate with the kitten. That put a burr on Rebecca's possessive obsessive saddle. The very low final score of 15 out of 100 for The Roommate is not so much because of intensely graphic or extreme individual examples of assault on morality and decency as much as because of the sheer number of examples of not-so-graphic or extreme - "lesser" - examples. For example, there are 19 examples of violence, 29 examples of impudence/hate (mostly profanity), 22 of sexually immodest behavior or talk, 14 of alcoholic beverages and 12 uses of God's name in vain (and one murder). All in 87 minutes of programming. That is a little over one example of some kind of assault on morality and decency every minute! Such thickness of assaults create an Influence Density (ID) of 2.02 when the range of ID scores earned by R-rated films in the comparative baseline database is 0.78 to 2.04 (the higher the figure the thicker the assaults). An ID score of 2.02 nearly tops that range of R-equivalent ID figures. The film is not that graphic or odious. But there are so many examples of lesser moral assault that the magnitude or total envelope of the film content is equivalent to the more gruesome films more severely rated. This film is probably one of the best cinematic testimonies to the CAP Rule of 1000 for the nearly 1400 films we have analyzed so far. I will put that into perspective. A film that contains 10 examples of assault on morality and decency each worth 100 "bads" (Movie A) is influentially equivalent to a film of the same length that contains 100 examples of lesser assault on morality worth only 10 "bads" each (Movie B). Each film represents a negative moral influence of 1000. The Roommate is an example of Movie B. Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100 The hardest hitting examples of violence and/or crime in this film include physical assault with injury, animal torture killing, self-injury to implicate, a firearm held to the victim's face and long sequences of fighting. God is quite clear about how He feels about violence. Fifty six times in the Bible He speaks darkly of violence. A couple of them include Prov. 3:31-32 and Ps. 11:5. God even warns us that violence is "catching" and can lead one into the "path that is not good." [Prov. 16:29] Even man (four professional public health agencies) has warned us of the leading properties of violence by revealing "Viewing violence may lead to real life violence." How many ways must it be said for us to heed the wisdom? Impudence/Hate (I) - Zero out of 100 While I doubt any one of the actors or actresses was actually a teenager, they were portraying teens. So, the behaviors and comments demonstrated onscreen are treated as if the thespians were teens. This film shows our teens what Hollywood thinks of teens: of youth at the age when "it is good to be bad."* Maybe some of our teens are that way in some situations but many of our teens are responsible and productive citizens. But, unfortunately, because of such demonstration in and as entertainment, many of our teens adopt the cinematic portrayals. [Rom. 5:19] Cussing is one of them [Col. 3:8, 2 Tim 2:16, Prov. 8:13 and more, many more]. Eighteen times a "teen" used some form of profanity. Twelve times a "teen" lied. There is more "teen" impudence and belligerence demonstrated in this film but the point is made. * Dr. Karan Omidvari at St. Michael's Medical Center in Newark reveals that "teenagers are at the age when it's good to be bad." If that does not "confirm" what God said about the foolishness in the heart of youth [Prov. 22:15] I don't know what would. Further. Dr. Karen Nelson, head of a major university psychology department and Dr. Larry Gilliam, a practicing counselor both agree with me that it would be unusual for even a 16 year old to be able to fully separate fantasy from reality or fully anticipate the consequences of his/her actions: that such skills typically do not fully plateau until the early 20s. Sexual Immorality - Zero out of 100 Yes, there is "teen" intercourse in this film but it is "sanitized" by not showing any genitals. (Like that is supposed to make it clean?) Many times the suggestion of a behavior is more influential than the witnessing an actual act. Just as "viewing violence may lead to real life violence", viewing sex may lead to real life sex. Tracy exhibits herself to a crowd of fraternity party goers but we see it from the rear as if that makes it okay to do so. Stephen (Cam Gigandet) glances down at Sara's wet chest rather often. Rebecca uses her sex appeal to extort a college professor. There is more to the sexually immoral content of this film. Please look to the listing in the Findings/Scoring section for a complete accounting of the content found. [Mark 7:20 - 23] Drugs/Alcohol (D) - Zero out of 100 Thirteen year olds may watch this film. That the MPAA guidelines say "Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13" is meaningless. "PG-13" says and says to all 13 year olds that 13 year olds can watch it since they are not "under 13." And 13 year olds are indeed vulnerable to the influence of the drinking and drunkenness in the film. So sayeth the American College of Physicians (ACP): A 2002 study by the ACP revealed that adolescent exposure to drinking in and as entertainment undeniably leads to abuse of alcohol among underage viewers. The finding entitled Relation Between Parental Restrictions on Movies and Adolescent Use of Tobacco and Alcohol reports that of 4544 youths from grades 5 through 8 of fifteen Vermont and New Hampshire middle schools (90% of the youths were under fourteen years old - the "PG-13" crowd) only 16% were completely restricted in their entertainment diets. Within the ACP study population, the prevalence of having tried alcohol without parental knowledge was Offense to God (O) - Zero out of 100 Twelve times a "teen" used God's name in vain, once with the four letter expletive. I wonder if any of the writers or performer who set the example by using His name in vain knew of Luke 17:2 which warns that s/he who teaches and/or causes our youth to sin would be better off with a millstone tied about his/her neck then cast into the sea. God is clear in Deut. 5:11 about the sin of using His name in vain. In vain? What is that? Since you've asked, I'll tell you. :) Vain is shav {shawv}: emptiness, nothingness, vanity, such as an expletive. With or without the four letter expletive, the use of God's name in any way other than respect, reverence or responsible discussion is in vain. That includes the popular three syllable sentence with His name trailing it AND the misuse of Jesus' name or title. So, trying to excuse such expressions with "I was talking TO God/Jesus when I said that" or "It's just words" or "I was acting" will not work with Him. Nor will "Everybody says that" excuse the sin of using His name in vain. If everyone on the planet who has ever drawn breath used His name in vain, it would still be a sin to do so. If no one ever did, it would still be a sin to do so. Murder/Suicide (M) - 89 out of 100 There was only one murder and no suicides in the entire 87 minutes. The murder was by multiple stabbings by Rebecca in the back of Sara's ex-boyfriend, Jason (Matt Lanter) as Rebecca was sexually involved with him. Fortunately the murder was not as graphic as many movie murders. There was no blood nor flesh splattered about, but it was still portrayal of a murder. 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. |
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(The objective heart of the CAP Analysis Model, independent of and insulated from the Summary / Commentary section.)  Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100 Impudence/Hate (I) - Zero out of 100 Sexual Immorality (S) - Zero out of 100 Drugs/Alcohol (D) - Zero out of 100 Offense to God (O) - Zero out of 100 Murder/Suicide (M) - 89 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. |
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| For G rated Films with G equivalence: G PG equivalence: PG-G PG-13 equivalence: 13-G R equivalence: R-G< | For PG rated Films with G equivalence: G-PG PG equivalence: PG PG-13 equivalence: 13-PG R equivalence: R-PG | For PG-13 rated Films with G equivalence: G-13 PG equivalence: PG(13) PG-13 equivalence: PG-13 R equivalence: R-13 | For R rated Films with G equivalence: G-R PG equivalence: PG-R PG-13 equivalence: 13-R R equivalence: R | For NR rated Films with G equivalence: G-NR PG equivalence: PG-NR PG-13 equivalence: 13-NR R equivalence: R-NR |