:rolleyes: Keep it in your pants will you?

Note: The original post is call TOO MUCH profanity, meaning that I personally believe there is an unreasonable amount of profanity in the Sopranos, which not only takes away from the dialogue, but also gets old. You have to admit it, sometimes the characters become so predictable it’s dismal. Granted, for the sake of reality I think there should be violence and profanity, sure. Let’s not get overboard here though, it’s stupid how sometimes no one can put together a sentence on the show without the use of at least one cuss word, not a exactly a humble expression of intelligence.

:rolleyes: Keep it in your pants will you?

B.J Cheese ^.

It is in my pants most of the times, but if I wanted your opinion on what to do with it, or where to keep it I would take it out of your mouth.

Yeah, you and who else? :rolleyes:


By the way it's "B. B. Cheese" get it right.

As I suspected, you would be adamant to keep it.

Thanks Capo!

I had just watched some old time "gangster classics" featuring James Cagney and Bogart. I noted there was a lesser amount of profanity and this did not take away from anything. I thought these films were great movies.


I am not saying to remove all profanity and violence completely out of the Sopranos. I am saying to clean it up a little bit. What's so bad about that? I mean even the children are swearing in front of the parents for crying out loud! I don't know about the rest of you, but I would be on my face if I were to say the things they say to their parents. For good reason too.


:p

No, don't clean it. When I see a movie, I want realism, not cleaned crap. Yes, the oldies may have been good but they were unrealistic to leave out the realism "Taboo society" kills.

I disagree and I will give you my reasons.

1)Marlon Brando won the Oscar for “Best Actor” for his performance as the character Vito Corleone in the film The Godfather (1972). Two years later Robert DeNiro won the Oscar for role as Vito Corleone, the same character as Brando. (never been done before).

2)What film can we say is a classic in modern times?

You mean to tell me that these actors were chosen "Best Actors" for no reason? These films didn't have much swearing and were sucessful, so the argument of sucess would be invalid and the awards prove that "realism" in the roles and characters is also false.

They were not classics for not dwearing as much. But still, Godfather is an unrealistic portray of the mafia. which is it's only flaw. They were not chosen for not cussing BUT FOR ACTING!. Jesus.

Yes acting. These actors and films were recognized by their quality. The dialogue was much more complex than most would-be modern “mobster films”. These newer films are all right, but where do you draw the line when it comes to the access of profanity? When is enough....enough? Anyone have any thoughts about this please give your opinions! Thank you.

Because it is reality. You have to live with it. Mafias are NOTHING like the Corleone family.

I wonder if you’re suggesting that Francis Ford Coppola should create a new Godfather Trilogy by remaking it and of course he would have to re-cast it, among many other important tangibles. Perhaps modernize the timeless classic trilogy to make it more “real”. After all, real is better, right?


Hhhmmm…

Realism is better yes.

Why would anyone want to make that suggestion? They'd be ridiculed out of society. Yes, it is a classic, but times change; sex sells, as does realism in TV shows (and realism comes in the form of proper colloquial language, however coarse it may seem).

Why would David Chase want to clean the show up when A: it is possibly the most in-demand and popular TV show at the moment (so why change a winning formula?), and B: he has not set out to produce a kiddies' show. This is the Mafia. People swear. I swear. You swear. The Sopranos are human beings, and the show makes viewers very aware of what they can expect.

Yes, you may get wrong for swearing in front of your parents, but every family in the world is different.

If you resent it so much don't watch it. Nobody is forcing you to. You either like a show or don't. If you don't like it because of profanity, fine; but don't go on and on about it.

Mick

I agree with you TIS on the sex scenes. They are overdone and most of the time unecessary. Especially the Janice/Richie in 2nd season.

Which episode?

I believe it is an episode toward the end of Season 2, though am uncertain as to which one exactly; Richie does Janice doggy-style and holds a gun to her head, before abruptly stopping to Janice's words: "It should be you," [implying that Richie should clip Tony]. Hence Janice's telling Carmela later in the season that she would like to see a gumar that lets Richie hold a gun to her head during sex.

Personally, I find scenes like this very humourous, the way the camera just cuts to a scene in which the two most unlikely participants are going at it doggy-style. And the one-liners including the coarse swear words are sometimes the funniest things in the show: take Junior's frequent deliverance of the C word, for instance!

Take away the swearing, the sex scenes and the violence and what you have is a show without any humour, realism or enjoyable scenes.

Mick

I disagree with you Mick and I will state my reasons.


1)Just because something is popular does not mean the product is of high quality.
2)Swearing is does not give more meaning to the show or a more effective portrayal of the characters.
3)I find the scene you mentioned totally unnecessary, this could have been mentioned instead of shown.
4)How are cursing and swearing funny?
5)If you took away the swearing, sex scenes, and the violence, yes it would be a whole different show, but humor, in its entirety would still be there. I am not saying get rid of all these scenes, I am saying to keep it in reason. I am not saying make it PG 13, I am saying to tone it down a notch. I wonder if there is a limit from the way you’ve addressed your opinion Mick. You know in the future it will get even more graphic, but where do you cross the line? I’m guessing there will be actual sexual contact on shows in the future the rate things are going.

Wrong, look at many stand up comedians. Most that don't swear are *ok* but do you notice that the ones that do swear to stress are more popular. The best example of this is George Carlin. And nobody ever answers. What is wrong with words. I believe there are NO SUCH THING as bad words. Anyone who is offended by a word is weak IMO.

The swearing in the Sopranos has never bothered me, heck I use the same words myself a lot of the times.


Like other members have mentioned it's all about different time periods. While the Godfather was set in the 40's. The Sopranos are set nowdays, values have changed a lot in about 50 or so years.

Another member talked about all the nudity that is shown on the Sopranos, well correct me if I'm wrong but most of, if not all of the nudity shown on The Sopranos takes place at the Bada Bing club. Which is a strip club, that's what happens in a strip club.

If cheese seems to be upset about all the swearing, then I suggest he might want to stop watching the the Sopranos.

But that's just my 2 cents.

I note and respect your point, LL.

In reply I answer the following:
1)I agree with your quality/popularit statement totally. But I do believe that we should start to talk specifically about the show in question; in this case, I think that David Chase has every right not to change such a winning formula.

2)I disagree. I swear. You swear (I'm sure). Everybody swears when in the right company. Tony swears in the Bing with the guys. Junior swears when he makes a mistake. All the characters swear when angry (as most people do react abruptly in real life) and most characters even apologise in the show when they lack control of their bad language in front of kids.

3)I don't find it necessary in evolving the plot, but how else could Janice get it over to Richie that she wants to clip her brother in the ehat of the moment. She couldn't just blurt out to his face; it just wouldn't have the same effect, and wouldn't be true to Janice's character.

4)Cursing and swearing (which to me is the same thing) is funny due to the way the actors deliver the lines. Junior's use of C*** when he fell in the shower: Hilarious.

5)I disagree totally that the show should be toned down. Don't get me wrong, I think some scenes in the show are very graphic and some even somewhat disturbing. (In all honesty, I do believe that some of the sex could be cut out, but I in no way want them to be.) But when did David Chase set out to not upset viewers. This show is not for children. The subject of the Mafia never will be. It's intended audience are those who do not get upset by this sort of thing. If people do get upset by the things which are shown in the show, then The Sopranos is simply not for them.

Mick

Janice has before in an obvious fashioned attempted to stimulate Richie to kill Tony. That scene was crucial to show that she used her influence during sex, when Richie would be vulnerable. It wouldn't be out of her character though to tell Richie to his face without the distraction of sexual intercourse, that she wanted him to kill Anthony depending on her mood, and he shows his resentment: " how can you think of shit like that during sex? "

If watching the show is hard and offensive, not watching it is the opposite of those things, then why not do it? But to want a show to change because of a particular notion one holds is far beyond outrageous. I think Cheese should not watch the show if it is so harmful and allow those who enjoy a realistic show on realistic matters to enjoy it. Afterall; those people have the same right as he has to not enjoy it.

I don't watch the Sopranos, but I thought I need to share my .02

Profanity can be used as something that has meaning. Saying it once or twice can be more powerful than you might think.
However, when it's been overused (Taratino comes to mind) it can lose any power meaning and become just another word.

When used at the right time and the right amount of times, you get a much better dialogue compared to hearing every other word.

However, while some people might find this stuff "real" in their movies, I'm more of the type that likes beauty pictures. I admit, I'm soft. I don't like my movies/shows to hard.(which is one of the reasons I'm not a much of a fan of Quentin Taratino)

Tarantino? Try Martin S. Casino, Goodfellas.

Yes I've seen those. I like them for the most part.

There's something almost comic about Pesci's voice when he says fuck every other word.

Face it, profanity is FUNNY. Look at George Carlin, he doesn't give a shit what anybody thinks, he says it all and has gotten in trouble with the FCC before. And that's why every time he has a show, the tickets ARE SOLD OUT within a short time.

- George Carlin

GPig, I see your point, but must stress that up to that point Janice would never have come out blatantly with an attempt to kil her brother. Yes, times after that Janice has come out with it(ie. in Junior's house, when she urges Richie to ask Junior about clipping Tony) but only because Richie by that point knew how she felt and she knew he felt the same way about Tony. Up until that particular sex scene, however, Janice would never have said such a thing.

Mick

I believe swearing, violence and nudity are essential components of 'The Sopranos' and help make it one of the most brilliant pieces of entertainment ever made. The so-called 'bad' language helps to convey each character precisely, take a look at Livia (possibly the greatest character of them all, Nancy Marchand was a goddess) her frequent remarks such as 'I don't like that talk' whenever Tony swears around her shows how she is from a different time period, however, she is certainly far from being 'nicer' i mean she orders the death of her only son because she put him in a resting home! I agree that the show includes some fantastically comic uses of the word '**** ', especially from Junior, but we can't forget Paulie ('Don't get cunty!'). I don't find these especially offensive as being being from the uk, that particular word is far more commonplace than the us but also it is used with definite comic intent and panache and another word would not suffice. The violence is amazingly realistic - look at the fight in the apartment in 'Pine Barrens' - it is horribly messy and very un-stagey (compare the balletic fights of any kung-fu movie you care to mention) this adds to the almost deadpan realism of the show which is superbly offset by occasional dream sequences. The ludicrous and excessive nudity, mainly in the busts of the bing dancers, shows the misogynistic attitudes of all the male mafioso characters. When a main female character is in a sex scene it is always purposeful. The best example being the extremely disturbing rape of Dr. Melfi; this was as graphic as legally possible yet entirely non-sensationalised (compare Straw Dogs). I think that to have toned that down would have been an insult to what the character was going through and the subject of rape in general; this event marked an essential turning point for Dr. Melfi and was one of the most compelling episodes of the series so far; the final scene where she could have asked tony to kill her rapist but doesn't is simply incredible. 'The Sopranos' should on no account tone down any aspect of itself. To do so would destroy its credibility rather than enhace it. You have to lie in the gutter to see the stars.

Hyman, welcome to the BB! Stay around.

Mick