Actors/actresses Cussing In Film/television

[kujo]

[quote name='Socrates' post='1568865' date='Jun 11 2008, 10:24 PM']And life imitates art. I think when it has become acceptable to put foul language in movies, music, etc., people are more likely to use foul language in life, and it becomes a vicious cycle.
In the old days, when the code prohibited cussin' on the silver screen, foul language was considered unacceptable in polite society, and would only be used in the rougher parts of society, or away from the ladies and kids.
Standards of civility have fallen, and I don't regard the ever-increasing use and acceptance of foul and obscene language to be a positive sign in our society. (Though I myself have been guilty at times)
There's nothing magically evil about four-letter words such as the "f-bomb," but it is because these are words that have been traditionally deemed foul and vulgar that they are used as "cuss words."
You might want to think, if the "f-bomb" (or whatever other word) were considered a nice and innocent thing to say, would we use it so much?
The problem isn't so much the word itself as using language for the sake of being offensive.
It's probably venially sinful at most, but still a bad habit contrary to civility, and should be discouraged among Christians.

I'm kind of on the fence with the language in movies thing - a lot of movies I like are pretty foul-mouthed, and I've written some fiction with foul-mouthed dialog, but I think this trend has helped lead to a decline in civility and decency in our culture. And yes, old-time Hollywood has shown that you can write effective dialog without foul language, but now it seems kind of funny watching an old movie where a tough gangster character will be really furious, but say something like "Gosh darn it!"[/quote]

I guess I agree that the words such as the "f-bomb" are considered foul and are mostly used to be vulgar. I know that I have a problem with profanity and use it out of habit more often than not. Most of the time, I'm not trying to vulgar or crude. It's a habit so ingrained into my language that it's completely involuntary most of the time. Hard to shake.

[Winchester]

[quote name='Paladin D' post='1567590' date='Jun 10 2008, 10:11 PM']True, but then this thread would degenerate into what constitutes a cuss word, and whether or not those cuss words are truely sinful.[/quote]Exactly.

[Veridicus]

I would say that usage of vulgar words to increase the verisimilitude of historical dramas and such is permissible so long as the viewer is explicitly warned beforehand that their is potentially scandalizing material. I think the reality is that adults with formed moral consciouses should be perfectly capable of handling hearing 'curse words' whatever they may be. Sometimes I'm not particularly in the mood to hear curse words because I don't feel like keeping my filtErs. That's why I could never ever listen to radio rap...its just utterly offensive to me and I dont' feel like trying to sieve through the croutons (I actually wrote the word croutons that time...). It's all about being informed and warned in my opinion.

I don't feel like our televisions, radios, rating systems do an even marginal job of addressing this sort of moral dilemma...

[The Bus Station]

[quote name='fides quarens intellectum' post='1568808' date='Jun 11 2008, 07:38 PM']i really can't think of more than two movies that have actually stayed true to history.[/quote]

Yeah, this is my problem with the "historical accuracy" argument. So much is changed in historical films in terms of plot. I'd much rather they focus on plot accuracies then the amount of f-bombs, except for those f-bombs that are necessary in helping the audience understand something, or in advancing the story... ?

[quote]Art imitates life.[/quote]

Yes, this is true. But people have promiscuous sex in real life. That doesn't mean explicit sex scenes are acceptable in a biographical film about a sexually promiscuous person.

[dominicansoul]

[quote name='The Bus Station' post='1570620' date='Jun 13 2008, 12:50 PM']But people have promiscuous sex in real life. That doesn't mean explicit sex scenes are acceptable in a biographical film about a sexually promiscuous person.[/quote]


I agree with you very much!! Can you imagine if someone were to make a film about St. Augustine? That would probably be Rated X! And that would not be to his liking, I am sure!!!

I don't think profanity is necessary anytime. If you are a great filmmaker, you don't need to add it to make the story "real."

[Paddington]

One point that I haven't read here is that misusing the Lord's name takes on soooo many forms. If a distressed character says, "God must hate me," it could be a pretty powerful scene...and yet a sin. If a televangelist is on the movie and has a line about God giving you money for giving him money, that wouldn't make the cut.

Also, I believe that regular cursing "f-bomb" and etc. falls under using the Lord's name in vain in that it disables the believer from using and/or representing His name effectively through resulting suspicion.