Deadwood-I am a prude.

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

Josey

member
Joined
Feb 11, 2003
Messages
1,475
Location
Catfish Co, KY
I am older than I thought. I could not watch the show due to the language. I knew it wasn't the Gene Autry Show but, it was less than what I expected. Anybody else getting old? I wonder IF the show was "aimed" at toothless, banjopicking, gunowning, sex voyeurs that think the constitution MEANS what it says? Sorry for the rant, I truly was disappointed.
 
josey,

Nope - it's not just you, and no it's not that you're gettting old.

It's HBO. (If anybody is going try to rewrite history, you can bet it will be HBO)

The language pretty much ruined what could have been a decent entertainment. They really could have toned it way down.

(Except for the Calamity Jane figure - now SHE was pretty accurately portrayed, except for the "caring mother-type with the kid) Her comment to the bar patrons about their lack of,,umm,,equipment,,was priceless. :D

I wonder IF the show was "aimed" at toothless, banjopicking, gunowning, sex voyeurs
Click to expand...
Honestly? I think it's just the opposite. Have a gander around this forum and check out the language, or even the veiled crude remarks.
Now go find a "liberal" forum, and check out the language there.
(((Pretty much the most useless feature of this forums' software is the censorship feature that changes words into ***.( matter of fact, I'm not sure if it's even enabled anymore?)))
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm starting to get this weird second sense type of thing that kicks in.
Foul language = liberal slant on things.
Liberal slant on things = a show like Deadwood sooner or later is going to throw in a gun control message. (or at least try to)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Still, too early to tell. The show is from the same guy that did NYPD Blue. (David Milch). NYPDB started out pretty rough on it's first couple of episodes, then toned down.

Look on the bright side - it ain't Oz or got Sarah Jessica "look @ me I have legs like a skinny guy" Parker ;)
 
I must be morally bankrupt. Nothing that anyone can say ever shocks me. I tend to criticize others for thier language, but not on moral grounds. Usually it's due to inaccurate, sloppy speech. If I use an expletive, it's to jar you to attention -- a verbal slap, so to speak. If you use them all the time, then they lose their power. And, of course, I live by the unwritten law that you always "go for the joke." Some jokes are simply funnier depending on how you say them. George Carlin wouldn't be the comic he is today without some colorful language!

At any rate, there's enough stuff going on in the world and in our lives that can shock us and make us angry. To me, words aren't one of 'em.
 
Glockslinger,
Did you catch the show?
Reason I ask is because the language was unnecessary (IMHO). It was really overdone to the point of being irritating.

heck I wanted to shoot the old foul mouthed sot @ the beginning just to shut him up! :what:
 
Hi {{{{{Barbara!}}}}} :D

Actually, most westerns aren't my thing, but I do watch a whole lot of HBO programming; Six Feet Under, Real Time w/ Bill Mahr and others. I used to watch Dennis Miller a lot, too, and if foul language is offensive to you, then that was NOT your show!!!

I guess overdone to the point of distraction could be annoying.
 
If you have to resort ot foul language to express yourself you either have nothing to say or want attention. Writers tend to throw lots of profane words around because they don't want to think. If they wrote the same scripts properly they might have to consult a dictionary.
 
Writers tend to throw lots of profane words around because they don't want to think.
Click to expand...

Anyone ever read a Richard Marcinko novel from the "Rogue Warrior " series? After you get through all the profanity, you lose track of where the story is going. Don't get me wrong, I fling the "F" word around as well as the next guy. But you have to leave room in your sentence somewhere for constructive thought and communication.
 
Agreed, Josey.

I too was really looking forward to this show. The wife and I watched it from stem to stern. We're not generally offended by the occasional curse-word(s). And I do believe that in some instances it is germane to the storyline.

But, this went WAY over the line for my taste. Really a distraction and I suspect a distortion of the truth.

I'm an avid Cowboy Action Shooter and really wanted to like this show, but they've lost me.

And Glockslinger's,
At any rate, there's enough stuff going on in the world and in our lives that can shock us and make us angry. To me, words aren't one of 'em.
Click to expand...

Although I believe I understand your meaning perhaps you've simplified the thought to an extreme. Most bad legislation and intruding laws begin with words. I hear and read many words that come from our government "representatives" and media, much of which ends up as laws that trample your freedoms. I HOPE that most of us consider them shocking, making us angry enough to stand firm against them.

Are you listening HBO? Yeah, right.... :rolleyes:

stellarpod
 
I think that show could be good if they get their feet under themselves. The production value is there, the acting is there, the money is obviously there. They just need to polish the story up and learn that they don't have to beat people about the head with profanity and gratuitous violence. Nothing against violence, but they made the point of showing some things just to gross people out. That's where it starts to distract from the story. Same with the language. It's not the profanity that's the problem, is the profanity for profanity's sake that's the problem. Same thing with special effects. They should be transparent.

I think the show has alot of potential.

- Gabe
 
So let me see if I get this right ... You watched an hour of hangings, beatings, rape, abuse, stealing, murder, dismemberment, cons, whoring, boozing, and I'm sure a few more I missed, and the language bothered you?

I don't have a real good feel for the period, but I am guessing that guys involved in the activities described above would not be soft spoken folks. Perhaps growing up with John Wayne's "Shucks lady, I'm a bad man 'cause I said 'damn'" might have altered our view of the period. I do trully wonder what people talk like in the "wild west" and if I had to make a guess I would say that Deadwood would be close to right for the circumstances they describe.

Loch
 
I stand with Josey. I enjoy westerns - older ones that is. I strongly object to the language that gets slung aruond these days. It isn't a matter of being a prude, but rather having some personal standards of good behavior. I've come to believe that some have such a limited vocabulary they can't express themselves without using these all-too-popular words. Frankly I feel sorry for them. They need to grow up.
 
I heard an interview yesterday with Milch, the Exec producer, etc about all of this. It was on NPR. I am certainly not a liberal but I like hearing both sides.

He answered a question about this aspect of the extremely filthy language posed to him by the interviewer. He said they had done quite alot of research and that is really was the type of language used in those places in those times. He used an analogy to a Gorilla beating his chest to scare off potential threats.

The analogy went like this. If a Gorilla had to fight every time he was provoked, (to the death), they would never survive. He said the same was true in lawless places in the frontier (in those days). So the bad language was a defense mechanism.

Deadwood was a place without law. The whites there were in violation of US treaties with the Indians and so they purposely could not establish laws lest the US govt. would come in and impose law or toss them out which is what should have happened.

Profanity is not new. This series uses alot of it. I have only seen the first episode (sinve that is all that has aired to date). I will see how it progresses. They could have done away with the bad language and used words phrases like "gol dang it!" but you have to know that isn't real.

If this offends you too much, turn it off. No one is forcing you to watch and since HBO costs extra, you must like it or you wouldn't be buying it.
 
Russ: My problem isn't with the occasional use of the "F" word, so much as the absolute continuous use of same. Honestly, I suspect that 75% of the sentences uttered in the dialog included this word.

It is the gratuitous nature of the use that bothers me, or as GRD put it "profanity for profanity's sake".

Each of us have a threshold of acceptability. It is unrealistic to believe ours would all be the same. But, in my case, they went well beyond that threshold. I'd like to see a bit more imagination used in the dialog. Anyone can shock the audience by heaving in the F-word four times in every sentence. How about some real literary talent for a change?

Just another example of catering to the lowest common denominator in my opinion.

From the posts I'm reading here, there are apparently a good percentage of our folks who feel the same as Josie, myself and others.

stellarpod
 
This is a really good and interesting thread.

But it's not about guns, so I am closing it as Off Topic.

(Hope this doesn't cause anyone to cuss. ;) )

pax
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top