Deadwood

[Judd]

If you ain't watching the new HBO moving picture show, Deadwood before shuffling your deck and playing Dust Devils that I'll have to reckon that you's just a dude too damned stupid to work the remote controlling device that rotates them stations.

Shit.

S'like a passle of demons was put in a dusty barrel and left to torture the shit outta each other and we get to watch it go down.

[Matt Snyder]

I've really been wanting to see this show. I've heard mixed comments. But, I just don't have HBO. Anyone seen it? Any Dust Devils reminders in the show?

[Judd]

I've really been wanting to see this show. I've heard mixed comments. But, I just don't have HBO. Anyone seen it? Any Dust Devils reminders in the show?

Its like the whole town is run by its Devil.

Yeah, I think you can clearly see people struggling with what's good in 'em and bad in this lawless frontier town.  I just watched the first three episodes back to back because a friend taped 'em and I'm pleased.

[Tim Alexander]

Hey Guys,

I was planning on dropping Matt a line today about Deadwood. There's not a single character on the show that doesn't have a devil, it's great source material. I'd really recommend you grab the DVDs when they're inevitably released Matt.

-Tim

[Matt Snyder]

Awesome. Thanks for the recommendation, Tim. I will try to pick up some DVDs when available.

Plus, I hear they swear better than sailors. One man's bug is another man's feature. Guess which I fucking think it is! ;)

[Judd]

Deadwood did for the word, cocksucker what the Sopranos did for fuck.

Please, Matt, go get it.

[Tim Alexander]

Plus, I hear they swear better than sailors. One man's bug is another man's feature. Guess which I fucking think it is! ;)

Being the son of a sailor I can certainly relate. I have to admit that it was somewhat shocking at first, and I realized that aggressive profanity isn't all that common in the films that define the genre. It's strange given that the content seems to lend itself to... colorful phrasing.

On another note I've heard that the director is letting it evolve somewhat organically rather than tightly booked. I think I was watching a behind the scenes thing on HBO about it, and the way it was described made it resonate even more with a DD game.

-Tim

[Valamir]

I was just reading an article that suggested the language in Deadwood is actually pretty authentic.  Many of our common curses have references back into 1700s and some into the 1100s.  Victorian era society was defined by the lengths went to distinguish among the classes.  The lower classes cursed so the upper classes purged any hint of cursing from polite society (apparently using the word bull was forbidden due to the sexual connotations of the virility of the bull and when referring to livestock in mixed company "gentleman cow" was the proper ettiquette.

The article indicates that it is likely that cursing among the lower class was just as extreme in the other direction but we have little direct evidence of this because most of the lower class was functionally illiterate and so never actually recorded their lingua fraca.

There is some evidence in transcripts from trials that weren't presided over by "polite society" that includes rampant cussing by all parties (apparently even the judge and attorneys) but few of these sorts of trials even had written records.  Other evidence is references by Mark Twain in his writings to the prodigious ability of certain folk to curse...at one point he referred to cursing as an artform elevated to a higher level in America than anywhere else.  Of course he sanitized most of his own writing so we still don't have direct evidence of the form it took.

Supposedly, however, cocksucker was a very commonly used bit of color in the west.

[Mike Holmes]

Authentic or no, the language use seems very natural to me. Just as on the Sopranos, where it would seem odd if they didn't use the language that they do. That is, it's not forced or for shock value - in fact the opposite. You become quite accustomed to it as part of the entire facade.

It's just good TV.

I agree that this show is Dust Devils all over. In fact, I wouldn't have been surprised to hear that the writers are playing it out in Dust Devils as inspiration. Not that I think they are - just that it's completely plausible. That's how close I think it is. You can actually mark the moments where the characters are adjusting for their Devil.

Mike

[Matt Snyder]

Awesome! Thanks everyone for the insight. MAN! I have got to see this show now.