Fuck
April 30th, 2007
Inventive animations, colorful talking heads and well-chosen movie clips illustrate this history of the F bomb, the most powerful taboo word in the English language. Lenny Bruce, Ron Jeremy, Ice-T, and T. S. Eliot weigh in on where, how and why to use it, and it’s all here–from the Nixon Tapes to George Carlin and Howard Stern, Eddie Murphy’s Raw, Scarface, Deadwood and Dick Cheney’s “Go fuck yourself.” I kept waiting for the movie to outstay its welcome, but before I got bored, it was over. Kirby Dick’s This Film is Not Yet Rated makes a more coherent case about institutionalized censorship in the US, and I wish more had been said about the influence of the FCC and the Parents Television Council, but Fuck’s mission is primarily to entertain. Lenny Bruce was right: “If you can’t say fuck, you can’t say ‘fuck the government.’”
Fuck. Steve Anderson, 2005. ***
April 30th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
The most powerful taboo word in the English language? I’d have thought that was ‘cunt’. ‘Fuck’ is so ubiquitous now that it’s become tame.
May 1st, 2007 at 9:15 am
I wondered about this as I typed it, Paul, so your point is well taken. “Cunt” might be more taboo, but I was also thinking about versatility and usefulness, and it’s here that “fuck” with its million variations (from “fuck off” to “fuckwad” to “fuckity fuck fuck”) really shines. If I had to rely on one curse word for the rest of my life, I’d definitely choose “fuck” over “cunt.” (And depending on the company you find yourself in, it may not be considered tame or ubiquitous at all.)
May 1st, 2007 at 9:41 am
I think we agree that it’s the most versatile taboo word, but… ;)