AgingColumnists

When Did Potty Mouth Become Everyday Speech?

By Marilyn L. Pinsky

 

There I am, standing on a checkout line.

The person behind me is a presentable looking adult talking on the phone, neatly dressed, sort of a soccer dad type, assumably on a routine business call.

Suddenly he starts spouting sentences filled with the “F” word and a few of its variations, including the maternal one.

This checkout line is at the grocery store, not a porn shop where you might expect such language. I mean not that I actually hang out around porn shops that much to know if they do or don’t swear, but presumably one does have to do research (though personally I am learning to play Canasta just so you know I have other things to do.) Also it would not be a good look for their business having older women hanging out there. And getting kicked out of a porn shop would just be so demoralizing. I mean, I imagine it would be.

But I digress.

Coincidentally, around the time of that incident, and it was only one of many from gas stations to doctors’ offices, I was taking a ‘70s film course and the instructor, Jeff Ryder, brought up the issue of how movies have influenced culture.

Ryder was director of casting at NBC, director of mini series at NBC, vice president of daytime programming at NBC. Then vice president of movies for television at MGM Television. And for those of us who love television dramas, he was co-head writer at “Guiding Light,” executive story editor at “Dynasty,” associate head writer at “Loving ABC” and for “Riviera,” a European drama. In a total career switch, Ryder became associate dean of the College of Media, Art and Design at University of the Arts in Philadelphia and prior to that was director, writing for film/TV at the college.

We discussed what the rules were for language in movies when many of us were growing up.

“The studios were worried that when talkies came into being in the late ‘20s, there was a lot more sexuality in the story lines and more semi-nudity in the form of scantily dressed females,” said Ryder.

They feared that the government would impose standards of decency on the industry, so to get a jump on that they created their own censoring mechanism. Known as the ‘Hays Code’ it was in operation from 1934 to1968 and was essentially a self-censorship series of regulations and policies. But neither language nor violence was their fear. They were worried about having their movies censured over nudity and compromising positions.

“Over a period of about 54 years standards were beginning to be loosened and the studios were allowing more sexuality,” explained Ryder. “Violence was still not an issue, but it was being controlled. Then the language started to loosen up. You heard more damns in the films.”

In 1967, Warner Brothers was ready to release their version of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” and the Hays office objected to the language in the film — a few “son of a bitches,” “damns” and sexual connotations language, such as “hump the hostess.”

Not usual movie language up to that point. Apparently Jacqueline Kennedy wrote a hand written letter advocating for the film and asking that they not oppose its release and ultimately the Hays office capitulated. At that time also, Jack Valenti was the new president of the Motion Picture Association and he was very close with President Lyndon B. Johnson. Instead of the Hays Code, Valenti instituted a rating system which we still have today. There were four levels of motion picture ratings: G for general viewing, PG13 for parental guidance and may be inappropriate for under 13 year olds, R restricted for adult material and 17 and older and X — no one under 18.”

Was television under the same commission or something similar?

“No,” said Ryder. “TV was and continues to be under regulation from the Federal Communications Commission; but it has limited oversight over program content. Paid cable and streaming don’t have to adhere to the same standards as consumers have the choice of paying for the content, so those two mediums are not considered public. In the 2004 Super Bowl ‘wardrobe malfunction incident’ with Janet Jackson, known as “Nipplegate,” the FCC fined CBS for indecency but lost.

“But network TV is definitely looser than it was in the 1960s. Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore as a married couple in the “Dick Van Dyke” show could not even sleep in the same bed.

“Dynasty” in every couple of shows could say the word “bitch.” And in the last 10 years things are even looser. We hear “damns” more frequently also. But never the “S” or “F” words, so there are still some limits.

“In film, in terms of violence, the Hays Office allowed Warner Brothers to release “Bonnie and Clyde” in 1967 despite the bloody, slow motion massacre at the end. The movie was a huge commercial success. Nominated for the 1968 Oscars were “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The

Graduate,” which had a quick cut of Mrs. Robinson’s breast. 1969 was the first time an Oscar for Best Picture went to an X rated film, “Midnight Cowboy.” If we look at that film today through a 2024 lens, it would no longer be considered an X rated film. This says more about sexuality in films than language.”

Sex in film has flatlined since the late ‘70s, early ‘80s. Now there is more violence and language. United States film makers are relatively prudish sexually compared to European filmmakers. Frontal male nudity is still not common and even female nudity is rarely seen. Bare breasts, yes, but below the waist, not so much.

I asked Ryder which came first, swearing in culture or on the screen?

“The first television show where swearing was rampant was the “Sopranos” and that opened the flood gates for the ‘F’ word. The ‘F’ word was definitely out there in society but that show culturally brought language and violence together,” he said.

How do you think that affects society at large?

“It is one of those issues where when you see it in the degree you do on the screen, the genie is out of the bottle. It gives people permission, even enables them to swear, with no consequences and no accountability anymore,” he said. “The last vestige of that has been erased with political rhetoric. No one is shocked anymore.”

Not that this answers my concern of the guy on the grocery line, but according to Ryder, the F word has become part of the lexicon of film and TV.

“In certain times it can be appropriate and not to use it is not terribly realistic,” he said. “The problem is that it has become too gratuitous and to some extent, has lost its shock value.”