Controlling Content

How many of you have seen The Goonies? In case you haven’t, let me give you a summary. It’s a great film about a bunch of teenagers who set off on a great adventure to find a pirate’s treasure so they can save their town from being bought and destroyed by a rich man. Throughout the film the kids have to avoid the pirate captain One-Eyed Willie’s booby traps, and must run from a trio of thugs bent on taking the treasure for themselves.

Overall it’s a pretty good film for 1985, and it was one of the first films for actor Sean Astin, who is best known for his role as Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings franchise. The film is fun and the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat.

But I must say that I have a serious issue with this film: the language.

How old are these kid actors? Astin was 14 years old, as were fellow actors Feldman and Quan; actor Jeff Cohen was only 11. And I must say that nothing annoys me more in a movie than when children under the age of fifteen are cursing some of the vilest pieces of our language because some adult script writer told them it was appropriate.

And not only were these kids asked to speak foul language in the film, there are a few scenes when the kids bring up an innuendo of some kind. I don’t find this type of content appropriate no matter the age of the actor, but an eleven year old? Come on.

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now how much this truly bothers me. And I hope it bothers you too. Let’s go through a few more examples of language content, shall we?

Top Gun hit the theatres in 1986, a movie about a Navy pilot who competes in a weapons school to become the best of the best. This movie is really cool to watch for the fighter jets; I remember watching a little of it because my dad and I had been talking about jets and he wanted to show me some plane stuff.

Take note of the word “little” there. I didn’t see more than five to ten minutes of that movie because the language was awful. Every third word was a curse word! Yes, you’re in a dog-fight three thousand feet up in the air; yes, they’re shooting at you; yes, you are probably going to die. But what is your mouth accomplishing exactly?

Next film: Eagle Eye. I loved this movie the first time I saw it. The plot of this movie reveals two different people who do not know each other, yet they are pulled together to work for a mysterious woman that can watch their every move, no matter where they are. They have to do what they’re told, or people they love will die. Ultimately they have to stop a huge attack on the U.S. government. It is a great film featuring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan. This movie had the intensity that makes me love action/adventure films. But again, my biggest complaint was the swearing.

I can say the same about the Bourne Identity franchise, the Marvel film industry (e.g. Iron Man, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, X-Men, Avengers), the Mission Impossible series, I-Robot, Star Trek, the Harry Potter films, Independence Day, the Indiana Jones franchise, Jurassic Park, and loads more. I could continue, but I’m sure you’ve got the point by now.

There once was a time when swearing, and other forms of content, were forbidden in the film industry. And it was way back in humble 1939.

Gone with the Wind—winner of ten academy awards and possibly America’s greatest of dramas, romances, war films, and extremely long movies (226 minutes!). I must say this was one film I never did finish. But back in 1939, strict regulations were kept on the film industry as to what forms of content and language were allowed to be filmed. Rhett Butler’s famous last line proved a particular issue; as a result, an Amendment was passed onto the Production Code. This amendment basically stated that no use of foul language was to be permitted in film except in using a direct quote from a book or if it was historically or culturally accurate.

Swearing in film in those days was a big deal. People had a better sense of respect for themselves and for people. What changed exactly? Honestly I don’t have an answer to that except that people are sinners and the world is steadily growing worse. But how can we react to the problem?

Swearing in today’s film is not going to stop. That’s a given. But we, parents especially, should either buy some kind of filter to block swearing out or don’t let your kids watch a movie that has swearing in it; plain and simple. The more your children hear curse words, the more they will pick it up. That’s a fact. As two-year-olds, we learn how to talk by listening to what we hear around us. Swearing is no exception.

Now for the rest of us who know swearing when we hear it and are plenty old enough to know it is inappropriate, what should our response be? Should we just watch a film and “tune out” the curse words? My response is no. As I stated earlier, I love the movie Eagle Eye. But I don’t plan to watch that movie without the remote in my hand, ready to mute or without a filter. That’s how I’ve chosen to respond to this issue.

If you’re at work and you have coworkers who constantly swear, I’m afraid there isn’t much you can do about that, aside from politely asking them to not use such language in front of you. You might get a positive response, you might not. But you ultimately cannot control the people around you.

But you can control your television.