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- vapdne
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- From: UK
- Registered: 2016-10-14
- Posts: 86
Topic: Swearing and violence in US TV (and film)
This has been a question I've been meaning to ask for a long time. Can someone explain why there are so many US TV shows that depict very graphic violence but have no swearing? In the UK you can guarantee that anything that has such levels of violence (and stuff that doesn't even have any graphic violence) will include swearing and that also goes for continental TV shows I've watched recently.
I don't watch trailers. I never have and I never will. I don't like Tom Cruise, James Cameron and there's lots more to add, give me time I don't like Star Wars or Star Trek or any superhero *hit
- lighton
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- From: Fillory (first floor)
- Registered: 2018-03-21
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Re: Swearing and violence in US TV (and film)
vapdne wrote:Can someone explain why there are so many US TV shows that depict very graphic violence but have no swearing? In the UK you can guarantee that anything that has such levels of violence (and stuff that doesn't even have any graphic violence) will include swearing and that also goes for continental TV shows I've watched recently.
Well... while the population is mostly okay with the fact that "about 1.4 million people have died from firearms in the U.S. between 1968 and 2011" (about 470 9/11 events in terms of casualties, almost one 9/11 per month), it is NOT OKAY to swear on cable TV (or to show a nipple)! People are so sensitive, you know? Since using the bleep censor all the time would f--cking annoy every viewer, they just avoid having to use one by using harmless language. Your TV hero can f--k up all of his opponents with a machine gun, but he can't say so! F--k that sh-t!
- vapdne
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- Registered: 2016-10-14
- Posts: 86
Re: Swearing and violence in US TV (and film)
Cheers Liteon. We don't have cable in the UK and to be honest I have no idea how the USA's TV broadcast system works. I do know that if I watch a HBO show like The Leftovers or 30 Coins: swearing is fine. And then I watch something like The Walking Dead (I'm not proud of that but I do watch it even thou it is basically a 2/5 these days) and no swearing, so presume that's cable. Anyway what I understand now is cable = no swearing. Subscription services: don't matter.
I don't watch trailers. I never have and I never will. I don't like Tom Cruise, James Cameron and there's lots more to add, give me time I don't like Star Wars or Star Trek or any superhero *hit
- lighton
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- From: Fillory (first floor)
- Registered: 2018-03-21
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Re: Swearing and violence in US TV (and film)
vapdne wrote:Anyway what I understand now is cable = no swearing. Subscription services: don't matter.
Yeah, it's probably not a perfect distinction, but somewhere along those lines. Streaming services arrived on the scene with a fresh breeze of swearing. Not only in their shows, but probably also in some cable TV headquarters.
- Registered: 2006-09-14
- Posts: 85
Re: Swearing and violence in US TV (and film)
Afaik it's forbidden on publicly broadcast US tv to use certain swear words. Doing so will result in (at least) a fine. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words Perfect example of american hypocritical nonsense. ;-)
6 Reply by selecta 2020-12-28 02:59:08 (edited by selecta 2020-12-28 03:01:20)
- Registered: 2016-06-09
- Posts: 31
Re: Swearing and violence in US TV (and film)
Cable TV in the US has never been under the dominion of the FCC, right? It is the "normal" channels, the ones that (used to?) go out in the air, that everyone can watch, that are affected by the rules, as far as I know. So, HBO and Showtime, for example, have never had to follow these rules. Or is that just because they are channels you have to pay to watch?
- lighton
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Re: Swearing and violence in US TV (and film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dir … n_services adds some clarity: The FCC obscenity guidelines have never been applied to non-broadcast media such as cable television or satellite radio. [...] Since cable television must be subscribed to in order to receive it legally, it has long been thought that since subscribers who object to the content being delivered may cancel their subscription, an incentive is created for the cable operators to self-regulate (unlike broadcast television, cable television is not legally considered to be "pervasive", nor does it depend on a scarce, government-allocated electromagnetic spectrum; as such, neither of the arguments buttressing the case for broadcast regulation particularly apply to cable television). Self-regulation by many basic cable networks is undertaken by Standards and Practices (S&P) departments that self-censor their programming because of the pressure put on them by advertisers – also meaning that any basic cable network willing to ignore such pressure could use any of the Seven Dirty Words. All of the words on Carlin's list have come into common usage in many made-for-cable series and film productions.
- Registered: 2016-06-09
- Posts: 31
Re: Swearing and violence in US TV (and film)
I do know there are a number of (conservative) organizations in the US working to change TV (to their preferences) by putting pressure on the companies that pay TV channels for advertising time. This probably goes for violent scenes, as well. But it seems to be applied much stricter when it comes to swearing, nudity and sex. I guess to a certain extent every country's TV reflect the culture and values of that country. It certainly does for Sweden, where I live. Nudity, at least, is not (in modern times) considered "harmful".
- lighton
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- Registered: 2018-03-21
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Re: Swearing and violence in US TV (and film)
selecta wrote:I do know there are a number of (conservative) organizations in the US working to change TV (to their preferences) by putting pressure on the companies that pay TV channels for advertising time. This probably goes for violent scenes, as well. But it seems to be applied much stricter when it comes to swearing, nudity and sex. I guess to a certain extent every country's TV reflect the culture and values of that country. It certainly does for Sweden, where I live. Nudity, at least, is not (in modern times) considered "harmful".
Yeah, that's the US... where you can fire an AR-15 at the age of 7, drive at age 16, survive a mass shooting at age 17, start your porn career at age 18 (but have to wait till you're 21 to gamble or purchase alcohol), but God forbid you swear on TV! Americans consume 80% of opiate painkillers produced in the world, maybe swearing (or an occasional nipple being visible) on TV isn't such a big deal.
10 Reply by g371 2020-12-29 20:06:59 (edited by g371 2020-12-29 20:08:06)
- g371
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- From: Riga, Latvia
- Registered: 2013-11-08
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Re: Swearing and violence in US TV (and film)
Actually this is interesting topic regarding cultural differences. For example, I many times have wondered how much weight in USA "fuck" has comparing the equal words in other languages. For example, if "fuck" and "shit" would be used in my part of Europe as it is on average in USA shows, it would be considered as not some PG-13, but very explicit content But that could be just because "fuck" in English is less "offending".
- proteinnerd
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Re: Swearing and violence in US TV (and film)
I think we can all agree that our American friends are a little screwed up when it comes to violence, swearing and nudity. If they just swapped their acceptance level for guns and violence with nudity or swearing it would probably be a much better place.
- vapdne
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- Registered: 2016-10-14
- Posts: 86
Re: Swearing and violence in US TV (and film)
Yeah it's an interesting area. Thanks everyone for their thoughts and input. I'm not going to make any personal judgement calls on this but as I'm an atheist lefty liberal you can have a guess.
I don't watch trailers. I never have and I never will. I don't like Tom Cruise, James Cameron and there's lots more to add, give me time I don't like Star Wars or Star Trek or any superhero *hit
- bamuel
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- From: Bristol, England
- Registered: 2007-06-27
- Posts: 512
Re: Swearing and violence in US TV (and film)
I don't get the fraking problem with any of it (jumping in with no real input but a reference here)
"city morgue, you kill em, we chill em"
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