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Reel World Reality 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 MAR2011.147  (2011), PG-13 [R-13*] (1hr 48.5min) 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.)
 Production (US): Paramount Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, Bad Robot Distribution (US): Warner Brothers Director(s): J.J. Abrams Producer(s): Stephen Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Guy Riedel Written by: J.J. Abrams Cinematography/Camera: Larry Fong Music: Michael Giacchino Film Editing: Maryann Brandon, Mary Jo Markey Casting: April Webster, Alyssa Weisberg Production Design: Martin Whist Viewed on Warner Brothers Home Video DVD  I cannot imagine what the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) was thinking or whether they were thinking at all when they rated this film. Super 8 is saturated with adolescent cussing. Front to back. Profanity flittered about 37.6 times per hour. [Col. 3:8, Eph. 5:4] And, though I am certain the MPAA could not care less, the same adolescents saturated the movie with abuses of God's name. Adolescents use profanity more than 5 times as many as adults. And adolescents abuse God's name more than 10 times as many as adults. [Deut. 5:11] It is appropriate to bring up God's Word about teaching and/or causing youth to sin since this film is rife with it by example. Each time one of the adolescents (or any adult) curses or uses God's name in vain it is a sin ("acting" does not excuse it). An adult ... the writer, director, et cetera ... led the child to speak the offenses (and their parents let them). Jesus told us in Luke 17:2 that the man or woman who teaches/causes a little one to sin would be better off with a millstone tied about his/her neck then cast into the sea. Jesus also warns us that whatever we do to little ones we do to Him. [Matt. 25:40] One more (of zillions). God has an angel watching over each little one. That angel beholds the very face of God. [Matt. 18:10] Is it any wonder what the angels for these young performers will be saying to God? And yes, these adolescent performers are "little ones." By definition, "little one" is mikros meaning younger by birth. All your children are younger than you by birth, including your at-home teens. I normally enjoy sci-fi films, but not this one. Not only did I not like it because of the extensive use of profanity and abuse of God's name by adolescents but because the amount of "sci-fi" in this sci-fi was minimal. Most of the time was spent on a group of six adolescents (eventually seven) doing what adolescents do, or at least what Hollywood thinks adolescents do and, by doing so, tell us what the filmmakers think of the moral caliber of the modern adolescent. One of the things the adolescents do is make a super 8 (8 millimeter chemical film) zombie movie. But to get that done, most of their antics were against the rules. Parental rules. And the law. But then, that is one of the key elements of modern filmmaking used extensively to get the adolescents, the chief source of cinematic revenue, into the theater seats. The main source of cinematic revenue? Yes. A slide presented by Loews theaters announced more than half of all moviegoers were under 17. At a time when gasoline was $2.00 per gallon ... ... adolescent Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), son of Sheriff's Deputy Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler), sulks in pain due to the loss of his mother, Elizabeth (Caitriona Balfe) in an industrial accident at the Lillian Steel factory. Elizabeth had taken a shift of drunkard Louis Dainard (Ron Eldard) who failed to show up for work because of his drinking. Elizabeth's selflessness was a fateful mistake. She took the falling steel beam for Dainard. Dainard knew his fault and appeared at Elizabeth's funeral to own up to it to Joe's dad who then carted Dainard off in his patrol unit leaving Joe setting on a swing set in the front yard half-buried in snow and holding a locket of his mother's. Four month later the school year ended at Lillian Middle School and the five boys continue their work on their film. Joe was the make-up and sound man. Charles (Riley Griffiths) is the director. Cory (Ryan Lee) is the special effects/pyro man. Preston (Zach Mills) is an extra. Martin (Gabriel Basso) is the star until Charles decided he needed a stage wife to up the production value. Now, Alice Dainard (Mary Elle Fanning) enters the group. Yes, Alice is the son of the man who lives because Elizabeth took his shift at the steel mill and died for it. And yes, Elle ("El" not Ellie) is Dakota Fanning's younger sister. One night as the crew was filming a key scene of their movie at a train station, a train approached in the distance. A train passing by as the starring duo spoke their parts! What an opportunity to boost the production value Charles screeched in his barely pubescent voice. And it worked! One could easily imagine Humphrey Bogart in his trench coat saying goodbye to Lauren Bacall on a train station platform. At least the production value of the piece was high until a man, Dr. Woodward, drove his truck onto the train tracks and intentionally collided head-on with the engine of the train, an Air Force train. That train wreck set the stage for the rest of the show by releasing something that should not have been released. About that alien released by the train wreck. I offer a little reality to the extensive fantasy violence caused by the alien. A number of times the alien uses one of its tentacles to grab human victims from above. While quite dramatic and certainly works of cinematic excellence, sometimes the radius of the arc the victims take while in the tentacle of the alien would require a tentacle much, much longer than is seen on the alien. I doubt that I am the only one who notices such things. "At a time when gasoline was $2.00 per gallon ..." How did I come up with that? Since you've asked I'll tell you. When the Sheriff was getting gas the pump read 20 cents at one tenth of a gallon. That's how. One final note. The alien's face reminded me a little of the giant allergic turtle Moria in Neverending Storyª. Following are brief discussions of the content per individual content investigation area. As always the Findings section of this report, the heart of the CAP Analysis Model, is the best source for discovering the full accounting of the content of this film. Wanton Violence/Crime (W) - Zero out of 100 Violence is intense at times, especially in the train wreck. Kids are severely endangered and property damage is massive. Though it is all fantasy, "fantasy" does not protect from the influence of it. Violence is violence. I am not going to summarize the violence content here any further because it is too extensive. Please look to the listing in the Findings section for a complete accounting of the violence content of this film. But I am going to share with you some of God's Word about violence. In Proverb 16:29 God warns that violence is "catching": that it can lead one into a "way that is not good." Proverb 16:29 is just one verse of many that condemn embracing violence. In addition, hundreds of years after God's "published His findings" about violence, man plagiarized his Word about the influence of violence by four professional public health agencies jointly publishing that viewing violence in and as entertainment can, among other things, lead the observer, especially the young, into real life violence and can lead the observer to believe that violence is an effective way to settle conflict. Impudence/Hate (I) - Zero out of 100 Fifty-six times an adolescent uses some form of profanity with one single-syllable word in particular appearing to be their favorite. Then adults add 11 more uses of profanity. If this film is fit for 13 year old children, what is it about the film that makes it fit for them? Is it because the MPAA thinks kids hear and use that kind of language every day at school? If such is true maybe it is because of films like this one that adolescents speak that way. Note that if you use a curse-free filter when you watch movies, it would be a waste of time to watch this one. Curse-free filters typically shut off the audio upon detection of profanity. Since profanity occurs at 37.6 times per hour the audio would be shut off so much there would be little script left, making the capturing the meanings and flow of the script impossible. Sexual Immorality (S) - 94 out of 100 The only sexually oriented material in the entire 108.5 minutes of the programming were Joe in a bathtub and Charles' teenage sister trying to get her mother to let her wear something that shows more skin. About taking a bath being sexually oriented, how do you take a bath or a shower? With your clothes on? Not likely -- which is the point. When "bath" happens, so does nudity. Whether the nudity is seen or not, bath/shower means "nude." Do you think "fully clothed" when "bath" or "shower" comes up? Typically filmmakers rightfully have the bath-taking character in a bathroom alone which is morally correct. Then why is it okay to invite 200,000,000 viewers into that bathroom? Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 35 out of 100 Drinking, booze, drunkenness, smoking and illegal drug consumption all appear in this film. Again, that it is "fantasy" does not protect from the influence of such imagery. In 2002 the American College of Physicians (ACP) published a report which 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) only 16% were completely restricted in their entertainment diets. Within the ACP study population, the prevalence of having tried alcohol without parental knowledge was There is nothing to say that viewing smoking and consumption of illegal drugs in and as entertainment does not carry the same danger of influence as viewing drinking. Actually, the same matter of cinematic content proselytizing behavior applies to any behavior demonstrated in and as entertainment, including good behavior. Offense to God (O) - Zero out of 100 Forty-three times an adolescent spoke God's name in vain. Four times an adult did. While each is a sin, an adolescent speaking it means s/he has been taught to speak it, typically by example. Teaching and/or causing our youth to sin invokes Luke 17:2 and other verses that warn of teaching and/or causing youth to sin. [1 Cor. 8:9] Murder/Suicide (M) - 91 out of 100 There are a number of events that could be thought of as the alien murdering humans but it is a stretch to do so. Instead the killings by the alien were incorporated into the Wanton Violence/Crime content investigation area. There was, however, one murder. Of a human by humans. By lethal injection. Note that though the murder by lethal injection could have been incorporated by the Drugs/Alcohol content investigation area, any single event of behavior cannot be incorporated by more than one investigation area. No duplication is assured by the analysis model operating procedures. 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 --> Children who see a lot of violence are more likely to view violence as an effective way of settling conflicts. Children exposed to violence are more likely to assume the acts of violence are acceptable behavior. --> Viewing violence can lead to emotional desensitization towards violence in real life. It can decease the likelihood that one will take action on behalf of a victim when violence occurs. --> Entertainment violence feeds a perception that the world is a violent and mean place. Viewing violence increases fear of becoming a victim of violence, with a resultant increase in self-protective behavior and a mistrust of others. --> Viewing violence may lead to real life violence. Children exposed to violent programming at a young age have a higher tendency for violent and aggressive behavior later in life than children who are not so exposed. Further, God speaks darkly of violence 56 times in the Old and New Testament of the KJV.] 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) - 94 out of 100 Drugs/Alcohol (D) - 35 out of 100 Offense to God (O) - Zero out of 100 Murder/Suicide (M) - 91 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 |
