So the current show that’s the focal point of our household obsession with watching TV shows on DVD is “Deadwood”. The show caught a lot of praise and flack for the amount of cursing on it, but I haven’t seen much in the way of in-depth criticism about how the rampant cursing works, just some standard titillation. What I’ve noticed about it is that it’s part of a larger trend on the show of overlaying anachronistic stylistic touches to signal to the viewer that this show is about the idea of the 19th century West, not a direct historical show, and that we the audience are meant to read modern meanings into plotlines that are in fact mired in the semi-historical world of Deadwood. The profanity-laden dialect on the show has more in common with the way people talk now than it would then, and some of the phrasings they use would have probably been meaningless even to the most rough-languaged 19th century Americans. There’s other stylistic choices that point to this—a prostitute wearing lipstick, another one smoking a cigarette (which was probably rare to non-existent in the 1870s), terms like “dope” and “junk” to refer to opium, and I think even some of hymnals they sing were written after this time period. It’s deliberately unrealistic—the Wild West is as realistic in a lot of ways on “Deadwood” as it is on “Firefly”.
Which is why I think a lot of the discomforting behavior on “Deadwood” is less about making the audience feel superior to 19th century Americans, and more about, yes, holding up a mirror to ourselves. But it’s surprisingly subtle in that project; the allure of believing that you’re watching a world much different than your own sucks you in. The anvils are admirably sparse on the show. Which is why I was glad to have read this quote:
It’s hard to quarrel with her on that one, and compounding the mess is the fact that most Americans don’t even understand the religion they want to see defended: “A majority of adults, in what is supposedly the most religious nation in the developed world, cannot name the four Gospels or identify Genesis as the first book of the Bible.” For me, this startling information immediately brought to mind Stephen Colbert’s interview with Georgia Rep. Lynn Westmoreland on “The Colbert Report.” Westmoreland co-sponsored a bill that would require the display of the Ten Commandments in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, but, when asked, couldn’t actually list the commandments he’s fighting to enshrine. (Of course, the bill, a flagrant violation of the separation of church and state, was proposed only so that it could be shot down, thereby fueling the Christian right’s preposterous claims of persecution.)
on the same day I watched an episode from the first season of “Deadwood” titled “Mister Wu“. The two plots interwoven on this episode seem unrelated. One is about the Chinese immigrant Mister Wu who runs about a gazillion businesses for the people of Deadwood, from laundry to butchery to opium running to disposing of the bodies of those murdered by the saloon keepers. In this episode, one of his employees and a fellow immigrant is killed by some white men stealing opium off him, putting saloon keeper Al Swearengen in the catch-22 of having to make it up to Mister Wu by killing the murderers, but not able to do so because the murderers killed a Chinese immigrant, and thus didn’t really commit a real crime in the eyes of most Deadwood residents. The other plot is about the declining health of Reverend Smith, who has a brain tumor and is unable to reconcile the mundane biology of his disease with the spiritual view he has of himself.
The Mister Wu plot brings to the forefront an interesting and subtle element of the show, which is the place of Christianity in this environment. The white characters routinely disparage Chinese immigrants and the Sioux in terms that indicate that the justification for their racism is the belief that these people are lesser for not being Christian. Native Americans are routinely called “heathens” and Chinese immigrants are called “celestials”. At one point, this theme is made more obvious when one extremely racist character disparages Mister Wu by making a comment about how Wu’s “people worship a fat man seated on his ass”. Thoughtful viewers should immediately pick up on the fact that Christianity could as easily, or even more easily, be dismissed using similar terms. I cheerfully do it all the time—I’m not defending religion, as you’ll see.
The deep irony here is that the very non-religious nature of the characters on the show is well displayed. There’s no church to speak of in Deadwood (at least not as far in the show as I am), and most people don’t give two shits about even basic Christian morality. There’s only one character that’s even remotely interested in Christian spirituality (the sickly reverend), and only a few more who are mildly motivated to lean on their proclaimed faith for rituals like funerals. Christianity is just an identity, and a shallow one at that, because it mostly is a cudgel to determine racial dominance.
But “Deadwood” is no pious take on past injustices, but a satire of our own times, and the take on Christianity on the show is just perfect. The culture war battles about school prayer, the 10 commandments monuments, “defending traditional marriage”, creationism, and other right wing culture battles has very little to do with an authentic commitment to Christianity as a spiritual salve or a community-building ritual provider. It’s about tribalism, a way for a certain group of Americans to exert cultural dominance over the rest of us.
Which is why Mister Wu’s story was woven in nicely with the reverend’s sad story. As the only true believer in the camp, he’s being forced to face up to the fact that his belief system is not what it’s cracked up to be, and increasingly irrelevant as a source of knowledge in our modern world. His past of having fits of spiritual revelation are turning out to be less inspired by The Word than by a growing tumor in his brain. Rather than face up to the fact that his entire worldview was a biological malfunction, he resists treatment. The clash between science (especially biology) and religion over the issue of getting to define the human body itself is the obvious theme here. I just really liked the way it was interwoven with the functional nature of Christianity as a weapon of base tribalism.
45 Responses to “Sunday freethinker/TV obsession blogging”
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I read an interview with the show’s writer, where he said that the historical Deadwood was known for, among other things, the foul language used by its residents. However in that era, saying “hell” or “God damn” were much more offensive and shocking than they are today. So, said the writer, to maintain that tone, he had to raise the bar on the swearing.
Fuck hell dammit cocksucker. Thank you.
First post on here ever.
Aside from the preacher, the most honestly religious character on the show is Sol Starr, who happens to be Jewish.
I think it’s funny to see cocksucker used as a profanity, given that it describes about half the people in the world
Incidentally, being a new NetFlix subscriber, I’m glad your house is obsessed with watching DVDs. I appreciate the heads-up on good shows. (”The Wire” is my all-time favorite!)
Rome.
The OED shows the relevant sense of “dope” attested back in 1889, which isn’t that much earlier than when the show takes place, right?
The drug sense of “junk” doesn’t show up — or at least get noticed in print by the OED editors — until 1925, so that one is probably an anachronism.
I love this show, as my pseudonym would indicate.
To further expound on the effect of the language..
It is easily the most graphic series I’ve seen on TV. You will hear cocksucker or motherfucker shouted more during an hour of this show than at any time since Eddie Murphy was king. However, anyone who focuses on this will miss the otherwise ornate, rich dialog and themes. The show was not written for people merely seeking titillation. Viewer reaction runs a meta parallel to how the “Pearl Clutchers” respond to contention in the real world. If all you think about are the 4-letter words you are missing the point and need to pay attention like a grown up, and there are times when those 4-letter words are perfectly appropriate.
Deadwood, Carnivale (esp. season 2 when stuff actually happened), and Rome were in my opinion some of the best TV I’ve seen. Season 3 of Deadwood is excellent, and I was never more upset at a network cancellation as when HBO killed this series before season 3 hit the air. Gerald McRaney as George Hearst was inspired.
At the risk of sidetracking, I can’t recall if it was Pam or Amanda who was the Life on Mars fan, but I’d be interested in their take on the sequel, Ashes to Ashes. Given that the original was a parody of The Sweeney, the new show is even more a parody of a parody.
The new woman-out-of-time is gorgeous (Keeley Hawes, as DI Alex Drake, has legs that go on forever), but unless you have a penchant for shouty posh birds I find her hard to take. She’s very unsympathetic, and I’m still trying to figure out whether that was the writers’ intention, whether it is Keeley Hawes’s pedestrian acting, or simply that he character is living in the Thatcher era, where sympathy was in short supply.
If you can get past the fact that the putatively empathic character alienates everyone right left and centre (Alex Drake is some kind of profiler) the show is hugely entertaining. It has a great soundtrack and the best line so far is when a gun toting Alex asks the unreconstructed Gene Hunt what he’s staring at. He replies:
“You. In leather. ‘Oldin’ that. Gives me the ‘orn.”
…and to actually talk about the point Amanda was making…
The religious themes are just as you describe them. No one’s faith is really mentioned or used (outside of the reverend or Sol Starr’s) except in cases where it can be used to manipulate opinion or justice - race, gender, and social status are similarly exploited - or as an epithet. Everyone to varying proportions is motivated by self-preservation or exploitation. There isn’t really an altruistic bone in the camp, perhaps save Doc Cochrane…and maybe Al’s odd relationship with Jewell.
Religion in politics today is almost solely used as a litmus test if ideological purity. Anyone who brings it up in American politics is only doing so to show that they are “Christier” than their opponent, and they only do so to play to a specific demographic.
Amusingly, the videos on the front page of Youtube where I just went to find some bit of fannish trivia are all about Black History Month, about half of them archival footage of MLK & Malcom X speaking, mixed in with contemporary respondents speaking about race and their life experience in the USA.
Susan Jacoby’s rant sounds identical to “Woe is us! We are doomed, DOOMED because this new generation is so stupid and selfish and ignorant - so UNLIKE US in OUR DAY!” from the 1970s, the 1960s, the 1950s, the 1940s, the 1930s, and the 1920s that I have read (or, in the case of the latter decades, heard declaimed by my fellow theocons daily) - IOW, it’s the same old oblivious-to-the-world BS that the older generation always spouts off, and yet somehow teenagers and twentysomethings and older learners still go on discovering the classics and remixing them and making them their own, and Civilization As We Know It continues to fail to end and vindicate all the Decline of the Westers with their arrogant apres nous le deluge declarations.
As for the levels of profanity in the Old West, well, a lot of it never got *printed* back in the day, but there was a LOT of it and it was VERY scatalogical, even if you have to infer it sometimes from the context (you don’t REALLY think tough guys in Mark Twain’s day used chocolate as a swear word, do you?)
And the scene with Mr. Wu? Could be illustrating JS Mill’s diatribes about the tribal nature of Western Christianity to a T - which date from the middle of the 1800s. So not all that anachronistic, really.
I really liked the show alot when it first came on, but found I was too damned tired that late at night to keep up with the pace and missed half of what was said!
Actually, there’s been a few excellent analyses of what’s going on with the language in the show. A few years back, the New Republic linked to this post about the internal rhythm and allusive scheme of sentence “I’ll tell you what: I may have fucked my life up flatter than hammered shit, but I stand here before you today beholden to no human cocksucker.”
Actually, there’s been a few excellent analyses of what’s going on with the language in the show. A few years back, the New Republic linked to this post about the internal rhythm and allusive scheme of sentence “I’ll tell you what: I may have fucked my life up flatter than hammered shit, but I stand here before you today beholden to no human cocksucker.”
And I remember that episode- Mister Wu’s pigs were, um, efficient in removing layers of problems for Al!
bellatrys, I tried to make it clear that the anachronisms are stylistic choices, not plot or character choices—therefore the treatment of Mr. Wu is very much of the time, but perhaps the language used is anachronistic.
Jake, is this the interview you read? Good stuff, and it covers a lot of what Amanda is talking about.
Here’s a good analysis of what’s true on the show and not. What’s frustrating is that while the language is rougher on the show than in real life to convey how it would have felt at the time, the treatment of the prostitutes in the Gem is actually downplayed significantly. I know—hard to believe since they’re all fucked up and repeatedly beaten and all that. But according to that site, it was much worse in real life. They probably had to downplay it so that it’s watchable at all. The show doesn’t touch on (yet, at least) how most of the women were essentially kidnapped, how suicide attempts were so frequent that the doctor always had his stomach pump on him, or how the lackeys beat the prostitutes regularly as well as the salon owner.
While I never quite latched on to Rome (ALMOST and then I’d lose my grip), I totally agree with Swedgin that Deadwood & Carnivale were among the best shows I’ve ever seen. They are sorely missed and even to this day, I feel lonelier on Sunday evenings, as if a hole has been blown in my heart. Maybe it’s because watching them was almost like… exercise! Occasionally an episode would literally wear me out.
Amanda, incredible job of analyzing this and putting it into words. About the most I could ever muster up after an episode was, “holy shit!”
For what it’s worth, I don’t think Sol Star is a religious person. His Jewishness is ethnic, not spiritual. Around the turn of the century, Jews in Eastern Europe tended to be religious (the Tevye types); a relatively educated Viennese Jew like Star would have been culturally but not religiously Jewish, much like Sigmund Freud. Up in Germany Reform Judaism was being invented around those times, but I don’t see even that in Sol. Far as I recall we never see him pray, or read a Bible, and he’s quite comfortable with all the Reverend’s Christian language–and with fucking a shiksa and partnering with a Gentile–in a way that a highly religious Jew wouldn’t be.
He’s quite secular, and deeply moral without being idealistic. (Which, to my mind, is part of why he manages to stay saner than Doc Cochran. Sol accepts what he can and can’t do to make the world a better place and doesn’t beat himself up over things he can’t fix. If there was ever a man who needed the serenity prayer, it’s Doc.)
While I never quite latched on to Rome (ALMOST and then I’d lose my grip), I totally agree with Swedgin that Deadwood & Carnivale were among the best shows I’ve ever seen. They are sorely missed and even to this day, I feel lonelier on Sunday evenings, as if a hole has been blown in my heart. Maybe it’s because watching them was almost like… exercise! Occasionally an episode would literally wear me out.
Amanda, incredible job of analyzing this and putting it into words. About the most I could ever muster up after an episode was, “holy shit!”
My first experience of Deadwood was when i was over at my then boyfriend’s house. It was on the TV in his bedroom. So I’m blowing him, and I start hearing “cocksucker” being said over and over. I had to stop and laugh.
Qustion: how does Rev. Smith know he has a brain tumor? Where in Deadwood did he have his MRI done?
I guess I don’t find it surprising that Deadwood has anachronisms; the whole Old West thing is apocryphal anachronism. Most westerns conflate several major events - the Civil War, western expansionism, the invention of brass-cartridge ammunition, and the gold rush, for instance - to create a mythical background, but most of these things were fairly separated in time.
In the way Lord of the Rings is set in a kind of mythologized Europe, Westerns are set in a mythological America. You’re right to identify Deadwood as the exploration of modern issues against a different background, but that’s generally a feature of the Western genre in general.
While I never quite latched on to Rome (ALMOST and then I’d lose my grip), I totally agree with Swedgin that Deadwood & Carnivale were among the best shows I’ve ever seen. They are sorely missed and even to this day, I feel lonelier on Sunday evenings, as if a hole has been blown in my heart. Maybe it’s because watching them was almost like… exercise! Occasionally an episode would literally wear me out.
Amanda, incredible job of analyzing this and putting it into words. About the most I could ever muster up after an episode was, “holy shit!”
SEASON ONE SPOILER ALERT
The most memorable religious moment from Season 1 of Deadwood for me was Bullock (aka The Stick of Justice) insisting that he and Utter had to dispose of the body of the Indian man whom Bullock had killed in the proper way. As I remember it, Utter revives Bullock at the scene of the fight, Bullock shakes off his concussion and says that they should bury the body. Utter says that a brave would never want to be buried — he’d want to be placed on a platform facing in a particular direction (I can’t remember which one), to be reunited with family in the spirit world. Bullock says, “Okay” and they build a platform and put the body on top of it.
Deadwood isn’t a world with much interest in religion per se, but many characters experience moments of reverence.
While I never quite latched on to Rome (ALMOST and then I’d lose my grip), I totally agree with Swedgin that Deadwood & Carnivale were among the best shows I’ve ever seen. They are sorely missed and even to this day, I feel lonelier on Sunday evenings, as if a hole has been blown in my heart. Maybe it’s because watching them was almost like… exercise! Occasionally an episode would literally wear me out.
Amanda, incredible job of analyzing this and putting it into words. About the most I could ever muster up after an episode was, “holy shit!”
BTW, may I say that I am utterly delighted that my favorite blog is discussing my favorite show. Amanda, I don’t agree with your severe anti-religious stance (not that I intend to start an argument about it here and now) but if you like the deconstruction of the randomness of religious belief, wait till you see what Richardson has in store for you in season 2.
Amanda@16: Season 2. Wait for it.
Qustion: how does Rev. Smith know he has a brain tumor? Where in Deadwood did he have his MRI done?
Well, it’s the doctor’s guess. And it’s based on the progression of symptoms. Even though he refuses to see a doctor, the doctor sees him anyway, since as a minister, he works in the small pox tent, attending to victims and the doctor sees him daily.
True, Chet, but “Deadwood” is more self-aware and deliberating about it than most Westerns.
Actually, cigarettes were around; according to Wikipedia, they became more common after the Crimean War (1850) so they could be in Deadwood. Self-rolled, but not inconceivable. Carmen of the opera worked in a cigarette factory.
Lipstick is ancient too, goes back to Mesopotamia, though perhaps not in twisty tubes (if that’s what the show has), was likely in little pots and full of lead. Certainly stage actors and whores were using it by the 19th century.
Anachronisms are so my thing in movies and TV shows. But the 19th century was relatively modern..wristwatches used to be the big thing to catch there.
I do apologize for the multiple posts. I’m not drunk I swear! I was having issues with it not posting, then I realized I probably wasn’t registered (don’t remember ever registering so maybe that was added since my last comment long ago). I was still having issues and because I’m toying around with a couple of different browsers I tried again from a different browser and it still didn’t show up.
Now they all did. Nice.
My boyfriend and I got hooked on Deadwood (once you get accustomed to the rhythm of the iambic pentameter it makes a lot more sense) and watched all three seasons on DVD. We ended up discussing it A LOT (hey, we’re grad students). What we thought was really interesting, and which you see more as the seasons go by, is how the thing that seems to unite the entire camp is not reverence for any religion but their reverence for the children of the camp. The kids seem to be viewed in a kind of semi-mythical way as the bright new hope of them all. It’s kind of cute. And yeah, Richardson’s awesome, what with the antlers and all.
I do apologize for the multiple posts. I’m not drunk I swear! I was having issues with it not posting,
looks like it got caught in moderation limbo. happened to me the other day
We are just about to finish the 2nd season in our house. Really good show. What’s suprising is, given how serious it is, just how damned funny it is a lot of the time- it has more laughs, and more sublime humour, than most sitcoms do.
Em, I don’t imagine that the lipcoloring whores used then looked like something you’d buy off the shelf now. I assume it was cake-y-er. I’m assuming the made-up face of the one whore was an anachronism, since most of the whores go without modern cosmetics.
once you get accustomed to the rhythm of the iambic pentameter it makes a lot more sense . . .
I don’t know where the idea that the dialogue is written in iambic pentameter came from, but there doesn’t seem to be any textual evidence for it. K. Silem Mohammad — who’s a poet and an English professor — discussed this meme here:
http://lime-tree.blogspot.com/2007/04/deadwood-and-blank-verse.html
Not that Deadwood isn’t well written or a great show — it’s both! But we shouldn’t use a technical term with a precise meaning as shorthand for “vaguely literary sounding”.
David Milch, the producer and lead writer has talked at great length about the cursing. They tried, in an early draft to replicate the 19th century style of cursing which was all blasphemous rather than scatological but everyone sounded like Yosemite Sam.
And the rhythm of the speeches in that show boarder on the Shakespearian. Especially in later seasons, once Calamity Jane arrives. She sound slike a refuge from Hamlet. It’s heartbreaking.
Geez, like I don’t have enough TV shows in my Azureus queue already. *sigh* Me and my gf just finished watching two seasons of Dexter, I’ve still got half of the sole season of the Dresden Files to watch, and the L Word actually started being interesting again this season…
I fell in love with the show in general and its use of language in particular. I loved the way it was simultaneously vulgar and eloquent. I always thought of the show as a critique of libertarian romanticization of the old west as a small government ideal. The libertarian paradise was, in reality just a few violent thugs running the show.
Rather than face up to the fact that his entire worldview was a biological malfunction, he resists treatment.
What treatment could one possibly get for brain cancer in the 19th century that would do anything besides make the inevitable death come faster?
I fuckin’ love this show, and all the fuckin’ cocksuckers who are in it.
Seriously, I did think the creators were trying to authentically replicate Deadwood, South Dakato in the 19th century, relying heavily on the use of language. Interesting point that the use of language, instead of being historically accurate, is trying to sell the idea of Deadwood in the 19th century.
I visited Deadwood South Dakota before the series began in 2002, and not much has changed since the 1800’s! It’s still a dark, shady frontier town.
I have no idea, Dianne. But that’s what the doctor says. It’s problematic saying, “What kind of treatment was there in the real world 19th century?” More relevant is, “What is going on with these characters in their own world?” The answer to the latter question is the doctor asks the reverend to visit with him, and the reverend resists him. I’m assuming they have ways to treat the symptoms. Medicine in the 1870s wasn’t like medieval medicine—it wasn’t like humours and leeches. They had drugs and stuff, primitive by our standards, but still. It’s assumed by the doctor that the reverend is getting worse faster because he doesn’t get enough resist. I’m assuming some sort of sedative is indicated.
Medicine in the 1870s wasn’t like medieval medicine—it wasn’t like humours and leeches.
True, but I was thinking in terms of surgery. Brain surgery in the 19th century–eep! You’re right, of course, that it isn’t really the issue…I suppose one could reasonably posit some sort of medical intervention that would relieve some of the symptoms. Opiates, primative diuretics, that sort of thing. But whatever the possibilities, the point for the story was the reverend’s unwillingness to explore them. This is not a problem limited to 19th century fiction. Most doctors who have completed residency have a story about a Jehovah’s witness who died or suffered some horrible complication because of his/her unwillingness to accept modern medicine.
Dianne,
Maybe they needed to call that Greek doctor and his slave from season 1 of Rome — the one who removed a piece of Pullo’s broken skull with a screw/drill and replaced it with a nice, round piece of metal. All without anesthetics! I always wondered why Pullo never had seizures, or even headaches, during the rest of that show…
And speaking of diuretics, let me say that after seeing Deadwood I will never think the same way about kidney/bladder stones.
Yeah, the medical stuff is interesting. I forgot that they had vaccinations already then. In our time, we tend to think of polio as the big one, but they were on the road to eradicating small pox even then.
There’s no treatment for the Reverend in the world of the show. Nobody is under any illusion that the doc could cure him of his brain tumor.
The only question is whether the Rev. wants to be put out of his misery. Interestingly, the Rev. doesn’t voice any “Christian” objection to mercy killing. Rev. Smith just sees a religious purpose in his suffering that the doc dismisses.
The writers do a nice job of developing this plot line over the last three or four episodes of Season 1.
I love Rev. Smith’s character and I think he’s meant to embody everything that’s noble and transcendent about Christianity. He reminds me a little of Dostoyevsky’s idiot.
The beautiful irony is that all the other characters and the viewer realize that the guy about as removed from Divine inspiration as you can get. He bores people. He’s weird. He abandoned his wife and child after being called to the Lord/shell shocked during the Civil War.
Eventually, we learn that he’s suffering from a devastating organic brain disease that’s causing him to lose control of his mind and body. Yet, he somehow manages to radiate compassion and consideration for others to the point that he seems like an alien in the hardscrabble world of Deadwood.