I think the tipping point for me was Star Trek Picard. The use of the f-bomb in that show was so jarring to me it immediately wrecked my willing suspension of disbelief. In other words, it wasn’t true to the story world. Not to me, although in my defense I do have several decades of shows imprinted on my DNA.
This was merely an egregious final straw. I had been reaching saturation point for some time. In retrospect, I think this is partly due to the COVID-19 situation. Inevitably, humans turn to humour to get through dark days, and the sharp increase in memes to my WhatsApp account was palpable. After a while, I noticed the unnecessary swearing, and once noticed, it could not be unnoticed. I say ‘unnecessary,’ as many of the gags I was sent were perfectly good jokes in their own right. However, it seems as though the various authors of these jokes were afraid that they would not be understood, people would not understand when the punchline was delivered, unless signposted with an f-bomb.
This is one of two common uses of this particular expletive in the modern world, it would seem. The first, as above, is as signpost to punchline. The other is to signpost emphasis, a kind of shorthand for ‘very.’ So, on Twitter, when a user is particularly upset/emotional about an issue, out comes the f-bomb, as if to make clear to the world at large ‘hey, no joking, I really really mean this.”
That’s memes and Twitter rants, and these are not TV shows. I have commented elsewhere I am not exactly a fan of Netflix’s show Another Life. The show features an advanced spaceship on an important mission, accordingly staffed by highly qualified experts in numerous scientific fields. Who, with the single exception of Katee Sackhoff’s character, are all about 20, have the emotional depth of a particularly vain chicken, spend the entire time bickering, and do so by speaking as though they are feuding on Twitter. When I was a child, myself and my brother both kept hamsters. These are solitary creatures and will likely attack each other given the opportunity. This happened once when one hamster managed to escape to a location the other was already occupying, and lo, they leapt onto each other and formed a squeaking ball, rolling round tearing at each other for a few seconds until they were separated. I was minded of this watching the behaviour of this show’s characters. Far from an advanced starship populated by the best minds, it’s a giant hamster ball careening across the universe with poor Ms. Sackhoff occasionally separating the squabbling rodents.
It was while watching this that it dawned on me the difference between modern showrunners and, say, Berman and Shankar who ran Star Trek: TNG. With Star Trek: TNG the writers tried to imagine how humanity would be in the future, specifically, if we evolved and improved as a species and got past the pettiness of today. Sure, you could argue that also being prime time network shows, they were not allowed to script swearing, but I also think it doesn’t match the humanity the show imagined. With Another Life, and, unfortunately, Discovery and Picard the showrunners seem to be projecting themselves into the future. And so, characters speak like our current generation.
With Another Life I guess that’s fine, it’s their IP, they can do what they like with it. I can choose not to watch it. It is, however, disappointing to see IP I know and love being treated in this manner. I also noticed playing the Resident Evil 3: Nemesis game that there was a great deal of swearing. Again, one might argue that being pursued by an almost immortal dental nightmare with a rocket launcher in his inside coat pocket might cause a person to utter a curse or two. However, it just doesn’t strike me as in keeping with the tone of the original IP.
Far worse, then, is Final Fantasy VII Remake. This, one of the most beloved RPGs ever, a sacred part of my own childhood, a perfect example of the pure and innocent storytelling of the genre, decent people in a fight against implacable evil. Certainly I would let a child play the original. I was accordingly dismayed by the addition of swearing to the remake. It adds absolutely nothing and takes away a heck of a lot.
This has led me, inevitably, to consider my own writing, not least as the protagonist of two of my novels is prone to swearing. And on re-reading The Wedding Banquet, one of my short stories, that is quite coarse at times. However, the quirk with Simon Aulus is that his swearing is not just spewing vulgarity. That and he doesn’t do it every three seconds. With Wedding Banquet, on consideration, I think it does match the tone, and certainly the voice of the ill-fated protagonist. Anyone who has read my game reviews will also note I don’t use profanity; I don’t think it’s professional.
Swearing happens, and it has its place in fiction. However, I think I will adapt the old adage that an author should read their manuscript and remove every adverb unless it is is really necessary. Re-read your manuscript, and remove as much profanity as possible. On that note, working on my current manuscript, I have had one of the characters start to swear at the exact point it is revealed how unpleasant he is. I am pleased with that as an active decision.