In Reina W.'s response to a ...
Question: In Reina W.'s response to a question about the language on
Saving Grace, she said, "[The writer] admitted to using profanity a lot, so how can she claim that a morally troubled woman should have a cleaner mouth than she does?" I myself have a very basic rule about profanity in TV or movies — if it gets to the point where I notice it, there is too much. There should be more important things on the screen, and if I'm bombarded with a volume of cursing that causes me to think to myself, "Enough already," the material isn't being well served. TV and movies should give us snappy, literate, witty dialogue — the way we wish we spoke. Just because you
can say anything you want on cable doesn't mean you
should. So far the language on
Saving Grace hasn't crossed the line for me. However, I would hope that if the criticisms from average viewers continue, the producers of
Saving Grace won't simply assume that the complainers are prudes. I don't believe in censorship, but I do believe in editing. Using
any adjective over a dozen times in one or two minutes is sloppy writing, and that applies to swear words as well.
Answer: Excellent points, and I remember having many of these same objections to the self-conscious use of profanity in the early days of something even as critically acclaimed as
Deadwood. I found it very off-putting until, several hours in, I got caught up enough in the characters, the story and the whole texture of the piece to accept the almost operatic level of swearing as the work of profane art that it came to be. In most cases, though, a cuss is just a cuss, and when it calls attention to itself unduly, it's rarely a good thing.
