Yes i know – it's entertainment

[erastes]

But I think the same about (most) TV series as I do about (most) books (the parentheses are for the rare exceptions) that people will Believe what they see.  I'm watching Deadwood, and I'm on episode three, and if I filter out the We Must Have All The Non Old Money Swearing All The Time Because That Is Shocking And Will Win Us Emmys then yes I'm enjoying it. There's dirt galore and it's a lot like I would imagine a camp-soon-to-be-town would have been. (There are a hell of a lot of extras though, just walking up and down, rather than actually DOING anything)

However, the language is annoying me. Not the swearing—I can filter that out, and I'm not bothered by it. Can't imagine that people used those particular words with such alactrity, to be honest, but perhaps it would lessen the impact if they were using time-relevant swear words.  But words like "dope" and "shit" (when referring to drugs) are MUCH much much later – shit is mid 20th century for example. No doubt that some kind of opium was around and widely used, but these words are annoyingly jarring.

I read on Wiki that the swearing was a deliberate choice because (wtf) the original swear words were "blasphemous" and they would have been seen as amusing characters like Yosemite Sam. I don't know. I'd like to have seen something that tried to be "original" by actually getting it right.

This is rather embarrassing, but it wasn't until today that I put the Deadwood in the film "Calamity Jane" together with this Deadwood. LOL.

Comments

[beckyblack]

I've read that stuff about the swearing and I do think in the end they made the right choice. Not just because people would have sounded silly, but because swear words only work as swear words if they're the swear words you grew up with. That is they only evoke an emotional response if you've known them to be "bad" words all your life.

Same reason why made up curse words in sci fi and fantasty don't really work. Some give a frisson of recognition if they evoke the word they replace. But still it doesn't produce the same reaction. The same with foreign swear words. You might be perfectly well aware they they are profanities, but I know I don't have the same reaction to "merde" as I do to "shit".

That's my take on it anyway.

I once said that the Calamity Jane character in Deadwood (who just breaks my heart) would make Doris Day turn in her grave. I then had to retract that statement, since Doris Day isn't in fact dead!