Profanity in Movies
By estherlou
@estherlou (5015)
United States
December 4, 2007 10:24am CST
One of my biggest pet peeves is the profanity in the movies. You many times can't even enjoy a PG13 movie because of all of the language. Well, hubby and I discovered something really interesting by mistake. I watched Bruce Willis' new movie Live Free or Die Hard with my son and grandsons over the thanksgiving holiday. There was a theatrical version and an unrated version on the dvd. We picked the theatrical version. Oh my gosh! There was more language than usual in it and it was all "g-d" words...the one I absolutely hate the most and cringe when I hear it. I didn't actually count, but probably 8 times or so. I was actually impressed with Bruce Willis's character...he didn't even cuss until almost the end of the movie. Anyway...hubby watched the unrated version. He later reported, "There were no "g" words anywhere in the movie! They were all "f" words." Now, to me, that is amazing! Who decided it was better to teach whole generations of people and children it was okay to take the Lord's name in vain repeatedly and who made the judgement it was better than using the "f" word? Admittedly...I don't like that one either, but really guys...when did it become okay to liberally use the Lord's name as a cuss word and no one complains? This means everyone under the age of 18 is repeatedly subjected to that type of profanity in the movies. Remember the 10 Commandments? Boy, I'm going to get it now! I just would rather watch a movie where the action hero doesn't feel it is necessary to cuss at all! Big sigh...back to the G movies for me.
3 people like this
12 responses
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
11 Dec 07
I'm over it too. Once upon a time there was no cussing. Then we got the occasional "f" word but it was in context, now, I see programmes on TV where it's used all the time by men and women and used in a belligerent or angry manner. This is nasty!
By the way, using the "g" word or similar is blashemy.
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
7 Dec 07
I am sorry.I haven't paid attention to the rating of a movie since I was about 14.That was when I got to see my first R rated movie.I always thought that a movie would get a R rating if you someone says the F word.I am not as sensitive to cussing as you so when a character cusses ,it doesn't bother me.Taking the Lord's name in vain is one of the 10 commandments but not everyone follows the Ten Commandments.Suggestion. If there is a film you want to see, wait until it comes to basic cable or regular t.v. They have to edit for t.v. so all the language you hate will be replaced with tamer language.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157629)
• United States
5 Dec 07
Profanity is not necessary to make good plots, but many people just put up with it. I very seldom go to movies anymore, unless they are for little kids. I have gone to movies with adults with disabilities. When we choose a movie as a group, it is always pretty mild, but still it has language sometimes. That is a shame, because some of these clients have behaviors of socially inappropriate language, and the movies do not model appropriate behaviors. Usually there is very little swearing, but they all protest, because they are very simple, and they know it is wrong. Why do all the "sophisticated" people think that bad behavior is correct? There are certain stars that make wonderful movies, then ruin them with this same issue. I will not even go to their movies anymore.
1 person likes this
@slickcut (8141)
• United States
5 Dec 07
I was not aware that there were two versions in the movies..I have never understood why a person has to use curse words and Gods name in vain to talk.It really does not make any sense to me.Do people think that they can only get their point across by using tons of profanity?When i hear someone do this it really reminds me of low class people, and i know that i got that by the way i was raised,i was taught that cursing was not the way to talk...I do understand how people can get angry and can say a curse word, but just to use the words for the fun of it in a sentence it uncalled for.I have a friend that every other word out of her mouth is the "F"word and to me that is so tacky...Frankly i am embarrassed to go with her in a crowd because i don't like the way people look at her.I have told her to please cut out the "F" word while we are around a crowd, and she does..She use to never do this the entire time i have known her,i have known her for 30 years and she is like a sister to me, but i am always getting on to her..
1 person likes this
@terri0824 (4991)
• United States
7 Dec 07
I have to agree with you wholeheartedly. It goes right through me to here God's name taken in vane. There is no reason a movie needs to use those words. A movie can get its point across without ever using a cuss word. If more people refused to watch movies without cuss words in them, then they would have to change the way a movie is made and not use them.
1 person likes this
@Soul112 (3)
• Saudi Arabia
5 Dec 07
I agree with you completely in this matter. Even if one looks beyond religious boundaries, this is basically a corruption of young children's minds. I mean the hero's portrayal of 'cool' is swearing all the time. I also heard that recently MPAA decreased the ratings of all old movies resulting in PG-15 movies becoming PG-13 and they have also increased their boundaries of a PG-13 movie. Is this true ?
1 person likes this
@jillbeth (2705)
• United States
4 Dec 07
I think a lot of bad language in movies is gratuitous, just there to get a higher rating. Replace the GD in a PG-13 movie with the F word and you get an R rating and more viewers! I have seen movies that appeal to kids with what I thought was inappropriate language for kids to hear. Like the Scooby Doo movies, where Scrappy tells Fred he has no "scrote." Now that is crude, and even though a lot of kids may not know what that means, they are going to start repeating it. I don't like hearing the Lord's name used as a cuss word, either. My grandson has a habit of say "Oh, God" because he must hear it at his dad's house, never here. I just gently remind him that he should say "Oh, gosh" or something similar.
1 person likes this
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
4 Dec 07
am with you on that I think they made better movies with out the extra breath it takes to cuss in a movie. The F word is one I hate the most and I have to admit I myseslf say GD ever so often but not like in a movie.
If ya think about it the parents that let their kids watch the movies with cuss words in it use it in every day talking and never thing twice about it.
back to the G rated and black and white movies or groan Disney all the time.
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
4 Dec 07
We are very picky about the kinds of movies we view. We have dish network. We have everything blocked that has a higher rating than PG13. That does help but like you said, we can often still be explosed to that kind of language. We just turn it off.
1 person likes this
@eclecticsteve (253)
• United States
5 Dec 07
Not just cuss words, but blood and gore also. I'm a huge horror movie fan, but give me the horror films of the thirties to the sixties anyday. The horror is in the suspense, not the gore. I still watch most of the horror films that come out, but they would have been better without the gore, or the gore plus profanity.
@crisp_cool (26)
• India
5 Dec 07
children do speak f words..u may not want dem 2 hear it..but dey knw it..dey hide that dey knw abt it...and die hard 4 is nothing...have u ever seen movies like fight club or domino or other crime kinda movies...half the movie is f words...
@markmiyashiro (213)
• United States
5 Dec 07
I think Hollywood first tried to swear, and now the people are not putting up with it, ever since Mel Gibson's on Christ , hollywood realise that people want the swearing out, and there is a demand for Christian Movies that are wholesome and the family can enjoy together, wholesome movies sell a lot of tickets, that's where the money is look at how sucessful Walt Desiny was.
1 person likes this
@xleslieanne (692)
• United States
4 Dec 07
i know what you mean about the movies nowadays. some cursing in a movie is ohkay with me, but when the characters are spitting out curse words every 2minutes i just find it annoying and unreasonable. most of the scripts would be just as good without all of the curse words added in them.
1 person likes this
