What did they say?

POSTED BY: zzetta13
UPDATED: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 21:24
VIEWED: 7016
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ZZETTA13

Saturday, April 22, 2006 5:38 AM

Hello all you browncoats.

Heres a new thread with some opinions and observations. I'm interested to hear whats on your minds as well.

Now one of the things that I have enjoyed about the Firefly tv series (and Serenity the movie also) was the language issue.

Simon " I use swear words when its appropriate."
Kaylee "Simon, the whole idea is that it ain't appropriate."

It's just my opinion but the use of harsh ( or lack there of) language was an absolute plus for the show.I mean, there were the made up words and all but hearing these didn't seem near as bad.

What do you guys think? If Firefly and Serenity had had more of a hard dialog would the show been have been better, worse, or have had no change at all?
IMO there are really enough shows that burn my ears and I'm used to hearing all kinds of talk every day.I think it gave the show more class.

just Z

SAMEERTIA

Saturday, April 22, 2006 5:49 AM

:) Uh, you HAVE read the translations of those Chinese curses, haven't you?

But I agree. One of the things that I like about Firefly is that they can get the point across without the f-word. Well, in English anyway.

ZZETTA13

Saturday, April 22, 2006 5:55 AM

No SameErtia I haven't read the translation of the chinese words on FF/Serenity. I am way to lazy to do that. I do have a sister-inlaw thats chinese though. Maybe I'll ask her.

Course I may end up with a slap across the face and I don't want that to ing happen.

Z

PS: = rutting

CANTONHEROINE

Saturday, April 22, 2006 6:04 AM

Quote:
It's just my opinion but the use of harsh ( or lack there of) language was an absolute plus for the show.

No harsh language? Hmmm. You might wanna reconsider that notion...
Go here for translations:
http://fireflychinese.home.att.net/

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ZZETTA13

Saturday, April 22, 2006 6:39 AM

Just to revise my original post I should have said the lack of non-abusive words spoken in ENGLISH.

I didn't view the translation of chinese. Spoken with the right tone of voice in chinese and "Your mother has a pretty flower garden" could sound pretty gorram bad to me.

Z

Also Cantonheroine that is some very good artwork. I like really like it.

ROLANDREYNOLDS

Saturday, April 22, 2006 6:48 AM

That's an interesting question.

Of course, language in the writing is a huge feature to this show/movie, just for the fact that attention was paid to craft a 'cultural dialect' of the future by combining the old, the present, and the exotic together (well, exotic to us Westerners).

Then again, I'm not entirely sure I know what you're asking. What would the effect be if they dropped the F-bomb every other scene? What if they didn't translate things, or actually said "Goddamn" instead of "Gorram"?

I think if those were the case, the show would have had one less thing making it cool. Harsh language isn't what I think makes a scene or a moment, it's the delivery.

SILENCE

Saturday, April 22, 2006 6:49 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by zzetta13:
Just to revise my original post I should have said the lack of non-abusive words spoken in ENGLISH.

I didn't view the translation of chinese. Spoken with the right tone of voice in chinese and "Your mother has a pretty flower garden" could sound pretty gorram bad to me.

Z

Also Cantonheroine that is some very good artwork. I like really like it.

Yeah well I assure you those Chinese lines have nothing to do with flower gardens! Some of them mention mothers though.

But no, nothing harsh in english.

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One mission.
One army of Browncoats.

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NUCLEARDAY

Saturday, April 22, 2006 10:36 AM

Yeah, the whole use of bad language on TV... I can dig it if there's a point, but... generally, dropping the f-bomb every other line can be taken as a sign that you're lacking in the vocabulary department. So my feelings when I see that stuff on TV is usually that the writers were just being lazy.

The use of made-up words and the chinese swearing just seems a bit more classy to me. Sometimes a situation just calls for a curse, and it's just one more shiny element that the writers went through the trouble of making it interesting.

(Gorramn is cool, but I still think my favorite one is jack-hat :)

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CRYBABY

Saturday, April 22, 2006 11:08 AM

Well sometimes swear words lend more realism to the dialogue. I remember when I first saw Odyssey 5 I thought the moderate amount of cussing really helped since it portray the characters as regular people (despite them all being astronauts) who spoke just like the rest of us.

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NUCLEARDAY

Saturday, April 22, 2006 11:41 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by crybaby:
Well sometimes swear words lend more realism to the dialogue. I remember when I first saw Odyssey 5 I thought the moderate amount of cussing really helped since it portray the characters as regular people (despite them all being astronauts) who spoke just like the rest of us.

Oh, I agree. I think the use of language in NYPD Blue made sense, for example. And oftentimes the situation just calls for it. I've had quite a few arguments with my grandparents that the only proper response to being shot or falling off of a cliff is

Also nice, though, when someone finds an elegant way of being both classy and crude, so to speak. Of course, Science Fiction has a long and storied tradition of using made-up words in place of more common swears (frell and smeg are two of my favorites, though I've found the acceptance of "smeg" as a non-swear depends on who you talk to :)

Here's something I just thought of, though: Is Firefly out in China yet? And how do they handle the swearing in Chinese? ;p

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You can take my hope when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

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