If you have ever watched DEXTER*, you know that Deb has a filthy mouth. Seriously–you know the phrase “swear like a sailor”? Well, Debra Morgan makes sailors blush. Her vocabulary is just that dirty.
All the cussing probably bothers some people when they watch the show, but it doesn’t really phase me. But, at the same time, excessive cursing in some other shows, movies, or books really gets to me. Why? I guess you could chalk it up to my deep and faithful love of DEXTER (and not just the show, y’all, the character too–I don’t care that he’s a serial killer; I love him), but I think it is more than just my own bias.
In DEXTER, Deb’s cursing feels completely natural. It is something she just does. It is not added in to make the show more edgy (what does that even mean anymore?), and it is not there for shock value. Deb’s dirty mouth is just part of her character, and she is pretty endearing for it.
Jennifer Carpenter** (the actress behind Deb), however, does not have a potty mouth. In fact, she finds it really unattractive and spends her hiatus between filming trying to clean up her language, because she finds herself slipping after playing Deb for so long.
See how that works? An actress who does not cuss playing a character who is well acquainted with every four-letter word known to man (and a few originals, too). Jennifer Carpenter is not her character.
Nor am I.
You see, while I don’t cuss (okay, I try not to cuss), my characters might. I am not going to censor out something that feels and sounds natural because I personally wouldn’t say it. If I feel that is how a character really talks and thinks, that is how I am going to write their dialogue and narration. Now, this doesn’t mean that if a character has a penchant for the F-bomb, I am going to pepper my manuscript with that word. Like any other word (and probably more so), overuse is bad. Not only does it get annoying to the reader, but if it is used too much, then when it is used to actually convey something–to make an impact–the effect is completely lost.
I realize that I will get some backlash for this attitude. I write YA. Which means that, when I am published, there will be bad reviews on Amazon who were shocked and appalled to find a curse word in the book. “Sure,” they will say, “other people might talk like that, but not my kid. How dare you expose my darling child to such terrible things?” I expect I will get letters about how the whole value of the book was lost because my character dropped a four letter word on page 271.
I also expect to get some backlash because of my religion.*** I imagine I will see some people gasping that I–a Mormon–wrote a dirty word in a book. Surely I can’t possibly be a good member of the church if I put such fowl things in my books. Yeah, I totally expect these kind of reactions, so I already have a response to them:
Let me say it again…
I am not my characters.
*What? You have never seen DEXTER?! I suggest you repent.
**This is totally unrelated to the meat of this post, but how freakin’ adorable are Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall??
***Not from the church itself, but from people, both members of my church and non.
6 Comments
Wow, it’s definitely foul language week in the blogosphere. Natalie Whipple and Kiersten White also posted about this today! I agree with you, Rachel. Cussing doesn’t bother me unless it’s inauthentic or so excessive it’s annoying. And the reason it bothers me then still has nothing to do with the fact they are cuss words – it’s because the words are inauthentic and annoying.
And I’ve never seen Dexter (I’m not sure I have the channel? Is it Showtime?), but I’ve heard it’s amazing. Wasn’t that the show with John Lithgow as the Trinity Killer? I kept reading about Dexter versus Trinity in Entertainment Weekly (my fav magazine EVER) and thinking… that sounds *pretty awesome*.
I know! I saw Kiersten and Natalie’s blogs right after I posted this. There must be something in the bloggy water today.
Yeah, Dexter is the one with John Lithgow. Sadly, I haven’t seen any of that season yet. We don’t have any TV service at home (so Showtime is definitely out), but we have the first three seasons of Dexter on DVD. We are very impatiently waiting for the fourth one in a few months. I love this show!
Oh, I meant to tell you, I actually wrote about a similar topic (language and me not =ing my characters) back in December and I said a lot of the same things you did here:
http://www.abbystevens.com/2009/12/characters-narrator-book-me.html
Oh fun! The whole time I was writing this, I was trying to remember where I read someone say this stuff before. Yeah…I think that was you.
You’re so full of sh** Rachel. I mean seriously, do expect us to believe that a church going person can actually relate to the rest of the world? *Heavy dose of sarcasm implied*
Friend, I love you for that comment!