"If you ever say that again, I'll wash your mouth out with soap!"

Last I heard, it was on iFilm.

As for my opinion on the issue:

I'm all for it, *if* it fits the character and *if* it fits in the universe. If you're telling a Star Wars story that's set in the fictional universe, certain words (most notably S and F) aren't really appropriate. The Star Wars authors have gone to great lengths to create new words to replace those (heh, like "forked" in Shatterpoint), and we've seen that in SW the terms tend to be less one-word "swear words," but phrases. We took in-universe language to something close to, but not quite, an extreme in Second Strike, but we still followed the same rules.

D, A, P, H. All covered in Star Wars materials, be it the films or the novels and comics. S and F, not. Phrases that are just derogatory, like calling someone a camel-screwer or something, are much more common.

As long as it FITS, I have no issue with it. However, just like with 2S, you have to have an idea of your target audience and the consequences that go with it. Part of why 2S isn't listed on the "non-hosted" section here is its language and maturity of situations (real war, rather than space opera wussiness). We've made cases for inclusion after big changes in LFL policy like Shatterpoint, but still, that's something that must be kept in mind during creation.

 

"They say damn in the original trilogy. (Only once I think)

My, how wrong you are.

I believe the (Only once I think) was talking about the next sentence.

 

I think that if it is appropriate for the character to swear then go for it, if not then no.

We have a show in the UK called Father Ted, which is really funny when they use the "f" word - it's the way they say it. But I have just seen a short on Atom - Ninjai: The Little Ninja, where I hated the swearing because I didn't think it suited the character.

This is true even if you use "beep" instead. There is something funny about how they do it on South Park. But that's not always the case.

If people aren?t bothered if you swear or not, that?s one thing. But deciding if it?s right for the character to swear, is another matter entirely.

 

Fudge Itzkadoozie!!

Ah... I just ate one of those. But it sounds like an SW curse.

 

"This is true even if you use "beep" instead. There is something funny about how they do it on South Park. But that's not always the case."

Heck, they made an entire episode built around seeing how many times they could say **** in one episode. That's a classic!

 

I suck at pronounciation keys, but anyway:

fuhj its-kuh-do-zee.

 

Well, to bring in the "European point of view" *g* (well, I'm German)...

I don't really get you Americans (hey, I can say that... you would call us "you Germans" or worse! *g*) being so... well... I don't wanna say uptight, but a little "hesitating" when it comes to swearing. I mean the occasional "****" or "****" wouldn't really hurt anybody. And if the justification for NOT using them would be protecting younger audience from those words, I just can say "huh??". I mean, every kid around knows those words, probably uses them, and why should anybody give a heck about it? It's not as like you're getting "socially unusable" through them, right? You wouldn't swear at a job interview, would you? *g*

And don't even get me started on "bleeping out" curse words (uh-oh, too late, I already started!). I mean, it's really ridicoulous, ESPECIALLY in films. And that's why shows like South Park use it to make fun of it. But if it's used as censorship, it's really destroying the illusion a film tries to create.

Anyway, if you don't want any curse words to appear in your film, simply don't use them.

EDIT: How ironic, i got to bleep you out. No matter your opinion on profanity, we don't allow it here.

 

I remember there was a debate like this when the BA blooper reel was released. I basically said the same things that Laserschwert said. Not in the same terms, though.

 

Where I dissagree with Lazerschwarts (who's post is surely to be mod-edited soon), is this: Regardless of how you feel about the appropriateness of the swearing, the mojority of the world (certainly the US) is uptight about it. So, if you don't want to limit your audience in any way, you will either omit the swearing or censor it. If _Vengence_ didn't care about his audience being limmitted, he would never have asked the question.

And by the way, South Park doesn't purposely censor themselves for a joke. Where did you get that from?!?
They do it because they have to - because Comedy Central wouldn't allow it any other way. If they were allowed, those bleeps would be gone!! Gone!!

 

Uhm, you might want to watch the behind the scenes thing on the newest South Park DVD set. Many of the bleeps are there because they have word choice and prefer the bleeps becuase "they're funny."

 

Hmmm... I think I've mislead some of you. The script doesn't have the actors belting out all of the certain four letter words every sentence. Just one or two "damn"s in the whole thing, almost unnoticeable (wooh, sp?). Like how Lucas pulled it off. Aaron only noticed one swear word in the saga, when there are really quite a few. It would be like that.

So let me rephrase the question: How do you feel about "damn" being used sparingly in a FanFilm script when it is used to colour a character's personality?

 

That i really don't mind, as long as it's used in the correct context. That word isn't even considered profanity on these boards...

 

durbnpoisn, I'm sure the author of this thread thinks about censoring his own work because the majority of the audience he gets here is based in the US, and because the site itself is based there and works with US criterias.

If his film was to be distributed in theaters around the world, things would probably be different. Seriously, Americans are VERY sensitive when it comes to swearing, while the rest of the world -from what I've seen- are more tolerant. So I don't know your use the expression "the majority of the world" is good here.

 

See, i don't know if i really think it's right to be saying Americans as a whole are that much more sensetive about it. I'm not, but the parents that want to make sure these boards are 'family friendly' are. Therefore, i have to adhere to the rules on profanity to make this a good place for their kids to go.

It's never what your opinion is, it's what your audience's opinion is. Unless you don't care at all what your audience thinks of what your doing, in which case, go nuts. But that gets to be more rare every single day...

-Chris

 

Well, I've gotta say that I hoped that my post would get "bleeped" by a mod, just to strengthen my point (sorry for the inconveniences, my friends, but I couldn't bleep them out myself... )

But as we're mentioning South Park... they KNOW that all curse words would get bleeped out, so there wouldn't be any point in keeping them, other than showing the irony in the whole censorship stuff (take my post as an example for that *g*).

You shouldn't forget though, everything forbidden is just more tempting... so most of these "uptight" people probably either giggle about every bleep, or call the church elders immediately, for crying out loud.

Plus I wouldn't call "damn" or "hell" bad words... they both refer to satan, right? Maybe there's a little too much narrowminded religious thinking behind that strange fear of curse words.

But all right, you get my point.

 

I?m still trying to work out you guys (Americans) when it comes to swearing. I mean, did anyone see the MTV Music Awards? I was appalled at the amount of swearing, or at least beeps ? especially in the Lord of the Rings section. It was funny for about two seconds, but it just went on and on and on. I?m just glad Yoda didn?t feel the need to go ?beep.? Even though Samuel L. Jackson ?beeping? well did!

I does seem a major taboo to you, so when the opportunity comes along to swear, you do it. I even saw Dustin Hoffman say the ?f? word on TV in the UK ? because he could.

It is like that forbidden fruit that you just got to eat.

If you're making a Fan Film which is a parody of Aliens - about a group of Stormtroopers sent to investagate a planet that may or may not have been overrun by a horde of Ewoks (Hey that actually sounds like a good idea) then swearing (or at least beeping) would be fitting.

If not then you have to ask yourself, is this appropriate, or am I just doing this because I can?

 

Trevor:
Father Ted has Jack calling out "feck" all the time (along with "girls!", "arse!", and "drink!" in his limited vocabulary), not the other f-word... fun show, tho...

Now of course, if you guys want to use the universal curse word, one whose very utterance represents smething so disgusting and repellant that every known sentient race in the galaxy would have conniptions at the mere mention of it, you must go for the ultimate one... unless you come from some backwater planet on the outer western rim where they just don't know what it means...

That word, that abominable, repugnant, could get you thrown in prison for life word is:

BELGIUM

Ooooo... I need to wash now...

Fenn
who *hopes* people get this reference...

 

?
I'm all for obscure references... I missed this one.


Why are American's so uptight about profanity? Actually, by and large, we're not. But, the conservative gov't that has been in power forever - and who controls the FCC IS. (The FCC is appointed, and not elected, mind you.)
As a result of the rules that they impose on broadcast, the worlds' opinion is that the general population feels that way too.

Stand around in the shopping mall for 5 minutes and see if the general public reflects what you hear on radio and TV.

In any case, we Americans are so used to having our primetime entertainment censcored, we don't even notice it anymore. That's one of the reasons we laugh when a forbidden word makes it out across the airwaves accidentally!!

But, even having said all this, I still think that little children need not to hear profanity so much. Not because I feel it's dangerous. But, because it is not generally accepted by society for a 4 year old to blurt out "Dad, what the **** is that?!?"
And, that I'm quite sure is the root of all the censorship. It's a way of helping parents keep their kids away from it.

Right or wrong, that is the way it is. And, you have the free choice to either play along nice, or knowingly cut your audience. It's entirely up to you.
I choose to use profanity and censor it. I can't change the world, so it's the best compromise, in my opinion. And, I would advise anyone else to do the same.

 

trevor_lamb: I'm still trying to figure us out, too.

We curse a couple times in End of the Order (two adolescent Sith- come on!) but we keep it universe-oriented. Also, since they're Sith, they don't say "Sithspit" or "Sithspawn", and since this is pre-TPM, "Emporer's black bones" just wouldn't do. The S word is replaced with "Shavit", from the Hand of Thrawn Series. Also, we use "Kriffing", also taken from the Han of Thrawn series. I also tok some liberties...

Son of a dewback!

 

OK, when it comes to 4 year old kids I think it's appropriate... but what about a forum like this? What's the minimum age here? Around 14? I don't think a 14 year old would get that much of a kick out of swearing all the time... does he?

 

Father Ted has Jack calling out "feck" all the time (along with "girls!", "arse!", and "drink!" in his limited vocabulary), not the other f-word...

I know that was what he said, that was my point. Just didn't know if Father Ted was shown in the US, and couldn't be "arsed" to explain it - Ha Ha. Those who aren?t regular viewers of Father Ted will still debate with me that it's not "feck" he's saying. So I was just wondering how this would go down in the US?

What is the measure for rating movies and videos in the US? That would be interesting to know.

Movies in the UK are classed as U, PG, 12, 15 or 18, for those that don't know. But they don't seem at all bothered about "milder" swear words in PG films.

In some respects you are more free than here in the UK. Movies are reclassified for video/DVD and some films have gone from a PG rating to a 12 or 15 with no extra footage. Sometimes even edited more.

I am told that this is because people have greater control over the home experience - pausing, rewinding, and just watching the same scene over and over again, if they wish. Which is something to take into account when publishing on the web.

But if Jean-Luc can swear in French, I say go for it.

 

There ARE strange differences regarding video classifications between Europe and America... For example: a movie gets R-rated in the US, as soon as a nipple is seen on screen. What's that all about?

 

For example: a movie gets R-rated in the US, as soon as a nipple is seen on screen.

That's not accurate actually. Just think of Titanic, and that movie was only rated PG-13.