Tuesday thought.

[hannah]

One of my favorite things is when a TV show or movie gets its swear words censored or dubbed over, and the result is something equally appropriate or genuinely funny. It happened a few times on Mr. Robot - someone saying "I effed up" instead of "I fucked up" is contextually fitting and a way to show that they're so new to crime and breaking the law, they can't even muster up the capacity for that kind of harsh language.

The best example I know is one TV dub of The Thomas Crown Affair, the 1999 one with Pierce Brosnan. There's a scene with Denis Leary near the end of the movie that, as I memorably watched it many years ago, has him saying, "I don't give a hoot."

Hearing Leary say "hoot" is funny in and of itself for the incongruity of the statement. And beyond that, the subtext of him more or less saying "you're not worth the effort it takes to swear" gives it even more humor.

This post brought to you by my wishing I had a sound file of that line of dialogue, because some days, when I see what people post about on the internet, and when I compare some people's complaints to what's genuinely happening out in the world, Denis Leary not even having the energy to swear is usually what comes to mind.

Comments

[rosefox]

I've never seen it be apropos like that! I just remember watching The Rock on a bus between New York and Boston, and the entire bus cracking up every time Sean Connery was overdubbed by someone with a very flat American accent. "Winners go home and date the prom queen."

[brewsternorth]

I'm reminded of the cable edit of "The Martian" where they had to take out just about every swear of Mark Watney's, but the prize one was where, having prepared his "potato field", Mark goes "uuuuuuup yours, Mars" instead of "fuck you, Mars." Though second place surely goes to the "what the fuck? WHAT THE FUCK?!" that you don't hear but can easily lipread through the Rover's windshield.

Though that one from "The Thomas Crown Affair" sounds golden, too.

[akamarykate]

Apparently there's a for-tv edit of Snakes on a Plane that includes the dub: "I have had it with these monkey fighting snakes on this Monday to Friday plane!"