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Entertainment Media Analysis Report
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MAR254042

(2005), PG [PG*] (1hr 31min)

Analysis Date
CAP Final Score
CAP Influence Density
MinMax
May 31, 2005
71 out of 100
0.53
-70

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Christian Long Distance

SUMMARY / COMMENTARY:
(This section may be and sometimes is somewhat subjective.)

If Scriptural references appear, the full text appears at the end of the Summary / Commentary.



(2005), PG [PG*] -- It is no wonder...


Cast/Crew Details Courtesy Internet Movie Database
Production (US): Alcon Entertainment, Warner Bros., Traveling Pants Productions Inc., 17th Street Productions, Alloy Entertainment
Distribution (US): Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.
Director(s): Ken Kwapis
Producer(s): Debra Martin Chase, Kira Davis, Denise Di Novi, Alison Greenspan, Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove, Leslie Morganstein, Christine A. Sacani, Christine A. Sacani, Steven P. Wegner, Melissa Wiechmann
Novel: Ann Brashares
Screenplay: Delia Ephron, Elizabeth Chandler
Cinematography/Camera: John Bailey
Music: Cliff Eidelman
Film Editing: Kathryn Himoff
Casting: Jakki Fink, Shani Ginsberg, Coreen Mayrs
Production Design: Gae S. Buckley
Viewed At: Driftwood Theater 6


Before I get into that which we do for your little ones through you, their parents and for grandparents, pastors, Sunday School teachers, youth ministers and so on, let me ask you to take a few moments to read the text of the "BEFORE Your Read On..." link above. It explains why we tell you, for the most part, of only the negative and abrasive content of films. In a nutshell, it tells you that the good and positive parts which many films present are up to your discovery: that to tell you of them as well would spoil the whole film. Using the teachings and expectations of Jesus to decide what to reveal to you, we tell you what the trailers, advertisers, promoters, etc. can't or won't tell you so you might be in a better position to make an informed moral decision on your own whether a film is fit.

I guess by modern progressive and enlightened standards it is okay for your little ones to see a woman, nude except for a thong bikini bottom, sitting down with a man while facing away from the audience but toward the man. I guess by the same standards it is also okay for your adolescents to see sexual aggression by a teen girl and to hear her vague talk of her sexual intercourse with a young man and long as she expresses regret about having done it, right? Well!? Nothing was seen except them making out. [Matt 25:40]

And I guess it is okay for the same target audience to watch a teen girl and boy co-stripping. So!? Again, nothing is seen except her in her underwear. It will only get the young teens to thinking about it which is no big deal since thinking about it does not cause pregnancy, right? It is not okay with me but that is immaterial. It is not okay with God. [Luke 17;2]

Maybe it is also okay with modern society that your kids hear teen girls use the three/four letter word vocabulary [Prov. 22:11] and God's name in vain without the four letter expletive. [Deut. 5:11] I mean really. They all hear worse at school and that excuses it in and as entertainment, right? [2 Tim. 2:16]

Maybe it is okay by modern entertainment standards for your kids to watch a teen girl show animated and violent arrogance and hatred toward her father. She was certainly justified in speaking and acting the way she did wasn't she since the father was, as usual, a shallow and selfish oaf just like almost all movie parents until the end anyway? Such proselytizing dissonance may cause your teens to act that way when similar circumstances, whether imagined or projected or not, arise in their lives, right?

Maybe it is okay with the world for someone to coach another to lie to manufacture an advantage. And maybe it is okay to show teen girls doing wrong as long a as they are sorry afterwards, right? Maybe so, but it is not okay with God. A noble destination does not excuse an ignoble path. Neither context nor culture excuses sin.

Using demonstrations of bad behavior to teach children how not to behave may instead teach them how to not behave. You don't demonstrate misbehavior to teach your children how to behave properly do you? Don't you rather set the example by modeling wholesome morality? One way to find out is to look back to when you were given too much change by a store clerk. Did you give it back? Quietly?

All the above items of "lesser" assault on mortality and decency may seem trite but maybe real life is the way it is in part because of all the items of "lesser" assault which which saturate our youth with disdain for wholesome and pure in and as entertainment. Behaviors noted in and as entertainment don't all get tossed with the popcorn bucket. [1 Cor. 15:33]

Four best friends: Tibby (Amber Tamblyn, Victoria Tennant as young Tibby), Lena (Alexis Bledel, Alanna Dawn Ekkert as young Lena), Carmen (America Ferrera, Tiara Santana as young Carmen) and Bridget (Blake Lively, Ashley Hale as young Bridget) formed a pact, a sisterhood that will carry them through life as an inseparable unit as they diverge in life and go their separate ways. To seal the pact the girls used a special pair of jeans that "magically" fit each of them, passing the pants from girl to girl each week to remind them of the pact they formed, of their forever friendship, of the sisterhood.

The sexually oriented theme of this film was exemplified by one of ten rules (later to be eleven) the sisterhood adopted to govern the sisterhood and the sharing of the pants: "You must never let a boy take the pants off you (but you may take them off for him)." [Gal. 5:19]

The four girls were all born within a week of each other and stayed as close as the same-week births implies through to the summer between their junior and senor high school year at 17 years old.

Tibby, who was the most self-oriented of the group, stayed home to work at Wallman's (envision "Wal-Mart") and work on her malcontent documentary of the people who work and shop at Wallman's.

Lena, shy and withdrawn Lena, shipped off to Greece to live the summer with her grandparents and, of course, met a guy who became more than the one who saved her from drowning while she was wearing "the pants." In fact, it was "the pants" that caused her near drowning.

Carmen, the most arrogant and bitter of the group, was gleeful that she would be able to spend more than four straight days, indeed, the whole summer with her divorced father instead of her mother. A surprise awaited Carmen since her father had not shared all with Carmen that she thought he should. [Eph. 4:29]

Outgoing and boy-crazy Bridget traipsed off to soccer camp in Mexico where she, too, met a boy, one of the camp directors, who brushed her off repeatedly -- until one night, on the beach, in the dark, with her shirt intentionally open to the waist ... [1 Thess. 4:3]

Such is PG nowadays. [Ps. 12:8] It is no wonder our youth become so worldly without wisdom. It is no wonder, when films targeted at young girls can present sinful behaviors as acceptable and desirable, that our kids come to think of immoral sex and arrogance at parents as normal and acceptable as breathing.

I get razzed often for telling parents about such content without telling them of the light and pleasant aspects of films, which many present, as if the warm-n-fuzzies excuse the dark-n-dirties. I even get accused of driving people away from Jesus. [2Tim. 3:12-13, Matt. 5:11] For those of you who feel this way, I invite you to read our "You Make All Christians Look Bad..." from our home page. Brace yourself if you do. It is a "sign of the times."


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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

  • Prov. 22:11 He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend.
  • Deut. 5:11 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. [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 thoughtful discussion is in vain. That includes the popular three syllable sentence with His name trailing it AND the misuse of Jesus' name.]
  • 2 Tim. 2:16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
  • Gal. 5:19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
  • Eph. 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
  • 1 Thess. 4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
  • 2Tim. 3:12-13 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
  • Matt. 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

    ***Selected Scriptures of Armour against the influence of the entertainment industry***
  • Ps. 12:8 The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men [e.g., create progressively vile/offensive entertainment with impunity and no consequences to younger and younger audiences every year when enough people continue to defend it, embrace it, pay for it, enjoy it, want it].
  • Col. 2:8 Beware lest any man [by his influence] spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
  • 1 Cor. 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
  • Rom. 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
  • Jude 1:4 For there are certain men* crept in unawares [secretly slipped in among you], who were before of old ordained to this condemnation [whose condemnation was written about long ago], ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness [a license for immorality], and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. [*men: anthropos {anth'-ro-pos}, generic, a human being, whether male or female]
  • Matt. 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto [or for] one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto [or for] me.
  • Luke 17:2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. ["Offend": skandalizo - to entice to sin; to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey; to cause to fall away. "Little ones": mikros - little;, small of age; younger which can include at-home teens].
  • Ps. 119:133 Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me [let no sin rule over me].
  • John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
  • 1 Thess. 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. ["Evil" includes all things that are sinful.]


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    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.
  • FINDINGS / SCORING:
    (The heart of the CAP Analysis Model)

    The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) CAP Thermometers

    Wanton Violence/Crime (W)
  • girl slapping repeatedly a couple boys with a rolled up program pamphlet
  • near drowning

    Impudence/Hate (I)
  • five uses of the three/four letter word vocabulary, three by teen
  • adolescent hate talk of parents
  • facial piercing
  • coaching to lie to manufacture opportunity
  • teen arrogance at father, repeatedly, once in an animated and violent fashion
  • portraying teens as worldly
  • belittlement of "parent"

    Sexual Immorality (S)
  • teens in underwear, multiple, one with lower buttocks showing
  • teen dropping pants to underwear, twice
  • below navel skin, repeatedly
  • adult cohabitation and exposing teen children to it
  • dressing to maximize the human form and/or skin exposure, repeatedly
  • upper rear female nudity with thong nudity
  • teen girl stripping to underwear before a boy with him joining her
  • teen girl being sexually aggressive to a boy
  • camera angle to force viewer on private parts
  • freedom from accountability to excuse sexual interests
  • teen girl with shirt open to entice
  • unseen unwed intercourse, talk about it after the fact
  • teens talking to ease conscience regarding immoral sex

    Drugs/Alcohol (D):
  • smoking, repeatedly
  • bar
  • drinking

    Offense to God (O)
  • ten uses of God's name in vain without the four letter expletive, by teens

    Murder/Suicide (M)
  • none noted





  • First Impressions and YourSafeChild.com






    Christian Educators Association International







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    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 more than eight 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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