Deadwood dialogue -- F'ing bad writing?

[kurahee]

@spoke-

I knew somebody would demand a goddamn cite.
Here’s a second-hand cite:

I just wanted to say thanks for the cite.

Good stuff, from actual Deadwood residents.

I still think it’s a bit over the top and unnecessary. It’s a rough frontier town. We get it. You could cut the f-bombs in half and still have enough to satisfy anyone who loves the swearing. It would just require the writers to come up with 20 extra minutes of dialog.

[Smeghead]

@Jombi

Ahhh, this may hit on the disconnect I experience with the show. It seems that everything else about the show – visually, the circumstances they’re in, etc. – is meant to be ultra realistic but the dialogue isn’t. If that’s intentional, I guess that’s an artistic decision you either like or don’t like. For me, it’s a jarring contrast.
If the same Shakespearean dialogue were in a western featuring pretty women in clean dresses and cleanly shaved men in starched shirts, it wouldn’t see so out of place to me.
Of course, I probably wouldn’t like that show either. I guess I’m looking for the Deadwood realism with realistic dialogue.

I can understand why it has that effect on you, but for me, the effect is the opposite. Let me see if I can explain what I’m thinking coherently…

I think contrast is a big theme in the show. These people are out in rough, rough land in the middle of nowhere, with no law, no resources - nothing other than the work they’re willing to put in and a few other lowlifes who are out doing the same thing - and they’re trying to build a community, then a town. I think the language kind of reflects this idea of trying to build something out of nothing. The swearing reflects the rough and brutal side of their lives, while the flowery eloquence reflects the potential for civilization and the desire to better themselves.

I may be reading too much into it, but that’s how it strikes me, and I think it’s one thing that gives the show its intensely poignant feel.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@kurahee

I still think it’s a bit over the top and unnecessary. It’s a rough frontier town. We get it. You could cut the f-bombs in half and still have enough to satisfy anyone who loves the swearing. It would just require the writers to come up with 20 extra minutes of dialog.

Honestly, no you couldn’t. The over-the-top nature of the swearing provides many of the show’s delights.

My wife and I are watching season 2 on DVD (which has the advantage of meaning we can watch several episodes in rapid succession, but the disadvantage of meaning we can’t participate in ongoing threads about Deadwood). There’s a scene in which a certain swearing gent is talking to a nominal Ma, and cussing up his customary blue streak. She quietly asks him not to use profane language within earshot of her child, and the gent acquiesces, but finds himself stuttering and tripping over words as he’s never done before in the show’s history. It’s a subtle thing, but hilarious, and wouldn’t work without his normal style of speech.

The show is peppered with such moments.

Daniel

[AuntiePam]

Daniel, “swearing gent”. Heh.

Nice take on that scene. It reminded me of Ellsworth talking with Joanie Stubbs, and apologizing for his rough language. Joanie said it was okay, and he thanked her for allowing him his “full range of expression.”

The only conversation I had trouble with in this episode was Charlie and Seth, when Seth was questioning his fitness as sheriff. Charlie’s speech can be hard to understand unless he’s being loud (“Get off my fuckin’ foot!”). Whenever Charlie said “camp”, I heard “can’t”. I had to listen three times to get it.