# Gratuitous profanity in movies and other entertainment **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 14, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-profanity-in-movies-and-other-entertainment/844836 "2019-12-14T00:33:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-profanity-in-movies-and-other-entertainment/844836/21 "2019-12-16T13:40:26Z")
How about poetry? [Evidently Chickentown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs7UJaMJHrc) - though again, we have the problem of whether this is gratuitous or not. (And I didn’t know until now that this was used in The Sopranos - lordy). Personal opinion: I’m not sure poetry gets better than ( **NSFW** ): The fucking clocks are fucking wrong The fucking days are fucking long It fucking gets you fucking down Evidently chicken town Here’s something filmic which I would have said was gratuitous, but actually comparing versions for the first time, I’m not so sure any more. During the filming of Blade Runner, certain scenes were shot in duplicate because a “TV version” was required, so that [I want more life, fucker](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwLoRi5vy8Q) and [I want more life, father](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF5XfVZtJG4) were both shot, for the scene where Batty confronts his maker. After 25 years of being able to think about it, Ridley Scott chose Father for the definitive Final Cut; but (I think) that doesn’t make Fucker gratuitous, it just means that Father is better (YMMV). j ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-profanity-in-movies-and-other-entertainment/844836/22 "2019-12-16T13:57:21Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > So whaddya think, **DCnDC**? Is all that profanity really gratuitous, or do practitioners in those kinds of business really talk that way? I’m still wondering about that. I think you both must live in a convent or something. Bail bondsmen talking about a half million dollar bail? I have zero problem believing they talk like that. I hear worse walking through downtown Boston every day. Next you’ll be complaining about the “Fuck you, pay me” scene in Goodfellas. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-profanity-in-movies-and-other-entertainment/844836/23 "2019-12-16T14:52:29Z")
In 1981, my brother and I took our cousin (who was in elementary school at the time) to see [On the Right Track](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Right_Track), starring Gary Coleman (who was still doing _Diff’rent Strokes_). Coleman was 13 at the time, and playing a much younger character. In one scene he cut loose with a string of profanity. My brother and I cringed. My cousin gasped in shock. “He said ‘ain’t’!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2019, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-profanity-in-movies-and-other-entertainment/844836/24 "2019-12-16T15:33:29Z")
There is some value in having a movie’s rating be a “match” for its intended audience. When I saw The Straight Story, which is rated G, there were several families with young children in attendance. The kids were bored out of their minds. Some people assume that a G rating means “kid movie”. Many also think that animation implies “kid movie”. When South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut was in theaters I saw it twice. Both times there were several families with young kids. I tried to be nice and warn them about what they were about to see. To a one, they told me that I should mind my own business. And to a one, they left as soon as the song “Uncle Fucker” started. The ratings board tried to help with these issues by adding detail about why a movie achieved its rating, but people don’t seem to pay attention. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-profanity-in-movies-and-other-entertainment/844836.md?page=1)