Swearing

[SpikedBuffy]

Well obviously the show is so great and has such good themes that it is not necessary to include foul language.

See, some shows only survive because fo their lewd scenes and swearing.

I feel proud that BtVS survived for seven seasons because it was a good show, not because it followed other shows and took on their ugly ways of getting an audience.

 

[Allycat]

People, am I just being to blonde today? What the hell are the W- and B-word?

I think I only know the F- and the N-word... personally, I think the whole deal with censoring those words is pretty pathetic, not to mention hypocrite. If you ever watch Jerry Springer or something of the sort, you have to spot the words between the bleeps. Americans cuss a helluva lot and everyone knows it; why try to deny it?

 

[ProphecyGirl]

Yes Jerry Springer is the definition of America. Not all young people or Americans find the need to use profanity.

 

[Ilovefred]

I actually know someone who was on the Jerry Springer show (he was a former janitor where I used to work), but he was very low in intelligence and was duped by his wife. With the exception of him, I think if I saw most of the people they have on that show out in public, I'd want to hit most of them. They're a bunch of wankers and bi***es and ba***rds. (There's a "W" and "B" word for ya.)

 

[~Dawn~]

I agree with the people who said they're glad there wasn't a bunch of swearing on Buffy. I think doing it once in awhile when you're really angry or something is fine, I do it myself. As for people that swear alot, I'm not offended by it but I do usually think the person doing it is kind of ignorant. Like the other poster said, there are so many words in the English language and I feel like people who swear all the time probably don't know many of them. The writing on Buffy was so great just as it was.

 

[Mango]

Yeah, I totally agree. I am glad that there wasn't much swearing in the show. Buffy has a younger audience than people think, I mean my 5 year old and 7 year old cousins watch it with me. I think that the way they censor the swearing

although a lot of the time they imply swearing or mime it e.g. in sanctuary when faith calls faith a s*** or in doppledanged when vamp willow gets staked it looks like shes about to say f***

LOL! I remember the Doppelgangland one. I love the way they do things like that to cut out the swearing. I always chuckle. I think a chuckle is better than a swear word. 😉

 

[goldenboy]

I agree that swearing is generally a lazy, unimaginative form of expression. Words have meaning, power, because of the value a society places on them. You can cheapen, lessen the power of a word through overuse, especially swearwords. The swearing in a Scorcese film becomes numbing, mundane at a certain point. Though it may be an accurate reflection of reality.

Taboos, restrictions can actually provide a context for great art, expression. I find a lot of "postmodern" visual art utterly boring, directionless. There are no specific parameters, restrictions to react against.

The FCC may have actually done the Buffy/Angel writers a favor.

And along those lines, I think you see a lot of desperation in some postmodern art: putting a crucifix in jar of urine, slicing open a cadaver, preserving it. Yes, it's expression. It's searching for what's left of a society's norms to react against.

 

[goldenboy]

I did like the way Angel would say "rat's ass" or "jackass". You know what he'd really say, but... Just something of endearing about it. I can remember when the generic cuss in comics was "Blast!". Sounded silly even to my seven-year-old brain. But it was cute.

And the coarseness of the language, even on broadcast, has increased. I can remember a time when just uttering "ass" was shocking. Standards come and go with the culture.

 

[Velocity_gurl]

It was funnier when the swearing was implied, I loved the Willow moment in 'The wish' I always thought it was funny when Spike swore using English swear words, the culture differences. : pbounce: