I think you’ve misunderstood my OP: ‘these days’ refers to me, not the movies.
I guess it’s all in who you normally converse with. In real life among family, friends, and coworkers, the only time I hear cussin’ is when someone is *really *upset. Normal conversations are not sprinkled with profanity. So I find certain movies and TV shows distracting due to the amount of potty language.
And I don’t know that it’s the words themselves as much as what that kind of language suggests - a very limited, uneducated vocabulary. In my admittedly narrow life experience, I’ve found those who feel compelled to swear are not particularly interesting or appealing in other ways, too.
It certainly is what you’re used to. For me, TV language is quite sanitized and the lack of swearing often amuses me in its unrealism. Swearing is casual among most my peers and parents (although it’s not casual enough for me to swear around children.)
Yeah, not my experience. Sure there are some people like that, and a lot of people who absolutely are not. Just like people who avoid swearing to me feel a bit prudish and goody-two-shoes-ish, although many actually are not and just have been socialized differently.
Swearing doesn’t bother me, and I actually hate watching movies that have been edited for TV where they cut out all the swearing, or dub in a word like “Viking”. I find it jarring and distracting.
But Two and a Half Men is just gross.
What are the TV shows you watch that have excessive swearing? The only ones I can come up with that swear at all are on HBO or Showtime.
My best fiend has made three feature-length films, which I worked on. His scripts use the F-word quite a lot. It’s a word I avoid using (except when quoting or for comedic purposes, though it slips out on rare occasions), and I think it’s over-used. My friend claims, ‘That’s the way people talk. It’s real.’ Yes, it is (IME). But I could do with less of it in cinema.
My mom is 84 and watches a lot of TV, at full blast. She gets the biggest kick out of all the swearing she hears. One day I was over there trying to straighten out her checkbook, she had “Family Guy” on, and I could not believe my ears! And there’s mom, laughing her head off! (To think, back in the olden days we were watching some awards show hosted by Frank Sinatra, and he made some joke using the word ‘piece’. The audience was laughing so hard, and I asked mom what he meant, and she whispered in my ear, "piece means ‘piece of a-s-s’!) Shocked, we were, shocked!
God, I learned to swear from my GRANDMOTHER. She could have made a teamster blush.
I just don’t see why movies and TV shows that are not concerned with realism in other respects should be so focused on realism in dialogue.
I don’t particularly mind if the “bad” words aren’t in the script in the first place.
What REALLY annoys me is if they are in there and the broadcaster bleeps them out, or even worse, overdubs some non-obscenities in their place. I don’t like the paternal attitude that implies.
To me swearing is a cheap way of getting a laugh.
I recall on an old time radio show the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, (remember these shows went out live). There was a big set up with the punch line being “he lost his suspenders.” But Gracie says, “He lost his pants.”
And it changed the whole meaning of the joke. And it got only a small laugh till George panicked and said, “Suspenders Gracie, you meant suspenders.” Confused Gracies, says “that’s what I said,” George replied “no, it’s suspenders” Then there’s dead silence and Gracie says “Oh wow, that changes the whole meaning doesn’t it.” And at that point the whole audience gets it then and starts laughing.
It basically changed the joke from one of losing one’s pants to oral sex.
But the thing is back the even that joke being screwed up went over most people’s heads till it was pointed out to then.
By using swears and such, to me, it’s a cheap way of ramming home a point, that can be established with better writing.
Some people have always preferred a bit of vulgarity in their art. One of my favorite poems is the “Satyr on Charles II.” It was written in the 1670s, as a commentary on how Charles II was perceptible to persuasion by his lady friends. Some choice quotes include:
“In th’ isle of Britain, long since famous grown
For breeding the best cunts in Christendom,”
“Peace is his aim, his gentleness is such,
And love he loves, for he loves fucking much.”
Read the whole thing, it’s short and hilarious, and it also provides some interesting historical perspective. Clement A. Price Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience | Rutgers SASN
Warning: Quartz and the King of England may be offended by its harsh language.
Last night I was watching a Frasier rerun (that I’d either forgotten or never seen before) on the Hallmark channel. Jane Leeves character related the following story:
*This whole thing reminds me of when I first moved to London. I was very mistrusting of people back then. I was convinced the way to stay out of harm’s way was to walk straight with me eyes cast down, never meeting anyone’s glance. But, finally, I decided that was no way to live. So one day, I just lifted up my chin and took it all in. Well, the change was amazing. There were sights I’d never seen, sounds I’d never heard. A tiny old man came up to me with a note in his hand. He needed help. I realized this was no city full of thieves and muggers. There were people here who needed me. I took his note, read it, and to this day, I can remember just what I said to that man: "That’s not how you spell *******."
I had to resort to Google to discover that the offending word, the word that required network censorship was fellatio. :rolleyes: You have got to be kidding me, Hallmark.
Thing is, the more you hear swears, the less impact they have. Does anyone remember the episode of South Park, where all of a sudden, everyone started saying “shit” multiple times? Comedy Central didn’t bleep it out, and there was a counter at the bottom showing how many times it was said. By the end of the show, the kids basically came the realization that it wasn’t all that fun to swear anymore, because it wasn’t “naughty”, it was just boring. (The episode was hysterical, if only because of the counter)
And like I pointed out – your idea of “excessive swearing” and mine are probably completely different. But then, I have a huge potty-mouth.
What old TV shows use the words bitch and ass? I remember when those were no-nos.
We have Sirius radio in The Family Truckster, and after a long road trip I couldn’t handle the Raw channel (comedy) for very long. The swearing was non-stop. Blue Collar was the choice, because while there is some swearing, they don’t rely on it for their punchlines.
The squeaky clean comedy channel sucked, too.