April 27, 2005
Man of Constant Cussing
A few weeks ago there was a New Yorker article about David Milch, the writer and creator of the HBO show Deadwood. It wasn’t archived on the New Yorker site, but it’s finally turned up online here. Its a great close reading of the show and its creator.
At one point, Milch had to defend the near constant stream of swearing in the show to the HBO producers. He wrote a long letter detailing the historical precedent for the language, and then concluded:
"If, as seems demonstrable, words like prick, cunt, shit, fuck and cocksucker would have been in common usage in the time and place in which 'Deadwood' is set, then, like any words, in form and frequency their expression will be governed by the personality of a given character, imagined by the author with whatever imperfection, as the character is shaped and tested in the crucible of experience. The goal is not to offend but to realize the character's full humanness."
In addition to justifying what he's doing, that sentence is also a good example of the kind of longing rhetorical style that runs through the show, and makes it worth watching.
I've also found this “Number of Fucks in Deadwood Site” indispensable. So far there have been 1602 in the series, with and average fuck per minute of 1.46.
More to come soon. Thanks for sticking around.
