Posted on 12/06/2012 10:26:35 AM PST by BenLurkin
Movieguide, which reviews films from a Christian perspective, says there are about 40 obscenities in the PG-13 Lincoln, including 10 uses of “goddamn.” Similarly, the Dove Foundation laments that “the language they feature in the film … does not line up with the morals and language of the time period.”
“The historical record is clear that Lincoln definitely did not tolerate profanity around him,” Barton says. “There are records of him confronting military generals if he heard about them cursing. Furthermore, the F-word used by Bilbo was virtually nonexistent in that day and it definitely would not have been used around Lincoln. If Lincoln had heard it, it is certain that he would instantly have delivered a severe rebuke.”
(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodreporter.com ...
Bilbo?? I was thinking of another film which has a character named Bilbo coming out soon.
As for the film Lincoln, I have not seen it, but it does not surprise me that Hollywood would add some foul language for no good reason at all.
Spielberg also has Lincoln “defending” the post modern definition of “justice” that would have been roundly laughed at in the mid 1860’s.
Revisioniost history to protect a socialist agenda.
The Lincoln Administration was a profanity in and of itself.
I like historical movies as there is rarely any real cursing in them. Now the screen writers have made the ancients curse in modern drivel. I refuse to watch STARZ' SPARTACUS for that very reason.
George Washington
“The General is sorry to be informed that the foolish, and wicked practice, of profane cursing and swearing (a Vice heretofore little known in an American Army) is growing into fashion; he hopes the officers will, by example, as well as influence, endeavour to check it, and that both they, and the men will reflect, that we can have little hopes of the blessing of Heaven on our Arms, if we insult it by our impiety, and folly; added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense, and character, detests and despises it.
Head Quarters, New York, August 3rd 1776. Parole Uxbridge. Countersign Virginia”
― George Washington
I have not seen it, but I’m beginning to think it’s a propaganda film designed to change our opinion of (yet another) cultural hero.
The “F” word has been around for a long time, but it was previously known as an acronym: For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and was painted on the stockades of people who committed adultery.
Its use as a word wasn’t really widespread until the 20th century and was generally meant to mean “sex.”
It always strikes me as odd how modern filmmakers making period films are so extremely keen on getting the “visual” side of history and its accompanying mise-en-scene correct for their eras... yet don’t have the slightest regards for language, comportment, attitude, and worldview.
Comportment is particularly off, a lot of times in these historical-based films, with actors who just reek of a modern sensibility, and demonstrate it in the manner in which they walk and talk.
The F word dates back to the Middle Ages at least and is probably much older (the German, Norwegian and Dutch languages that are related to or have had influence on the English Language in Anglo-Saxon times have similar words meaning the same thing as the ‘F’ Word).
It could not have survived until the 1890s unless it was in common usage outside of polite society. Back in the 1860s, it would probably have been seen as so far beyond the pale that its use would not have been typically recorded in documentary evidence, but it must have been used, or else it would have been lost. Not everyone was a lady or a gentleman back then...
The word derives from Middle English "fucken" (to strike), German "ficken", and Low German "fokken", which means exactly the same thing as the "f" word.
Indeed.
I have read many letters from soldiers in the field from that time period.
Not only is there a total absence of Cursing, but the handwriting is clean and legible, and the grammar is correct. A large vocabulary and an erudite means of self-expression seem to have been in abundance even in the simple, lonely thoughts of a common soldier.
While a man would have been less likely to curse in a letter to home, the general tone of the letters indicates a much higher plane of self-expression than what we have today.
I am convinced that there has been concerted and organized effort on the part of Hollywood to coarsen and debase our culture.
Haven’t seen the movie. But recently was reading about one of the Union generals (Reynolds?) who was especially renowned for his ability to swear a blue streak.
Interesting. Learn something new every day.
To be honest, if they made the film using authentic dialogue from the day, the educated classes would be so verbose as to become baffling and tiresome to listen to, whereas the lower classes would be virtually unintelligible with their thick accents and use of words that have long since fallen into disuse. Unless their name is Mel Gibson, most Hollywood directors are going to make a compromise so that audiences can actually understand what the characters are saying...
And it has succeeded.
There are several urban-legend false etymologies postulating an acronymic origin for the word. None of these acronyms was ever recorded before the 1960s, according to the authoritative lexicographical work The F-Word, and thus are backronyms.
There are several urban-legend false etymologies postulating an acronymic origin for the word. None of these acronyms was ever recorded before the 1960s, according to the authoritative lexicographical work The F-Word, and thus are backronyms.
Not that I use wikipedia all that much but there’s a great article on it there. Seems trustworthy, lots of footnotes on it.
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