Well what the cuss…
Fantastic Mr. Fox (read my review) does an interesting thing. First, it substitutes a few “bad” words with the word cuss. Well, that’s not too unusual. But then it takes that a step further and figures that as long as it’s using the word cuss instead of real bad words, it can probably get away with substituting just about any bad word, including ones that most stuff for kids wouldn’t touch with a 39½ foot pole. Here’s the most explicit example from the movie (I love this scene, by the way):
Badger: The cuss you are.
Mr. Fox: The cuss am I? Are you cussing with me?
Badger: No, you cussing with me?
Mr. Fox: Don’t cussing point at me!
Badger: If you’re gonna cuss with somebody, you’re not gonna cuss with me, you little cuss!
Mr. Fox: You’re not gonna cuss with me!
[Both start snarling at each other, and then settle down]
Now I don’t know what words you would use in place of the word cuss in some of the lines above, but I know that one of the words I would use would get censored on TV at about any time of day or night. Whether this bothers parents probably depends on their perspective about what makes bad words “bad.” Is it the words themselves, or their context?
In the example above, even though the words have been replaced, the context and the use of language is no different than if the characters were, well… cussing the cuss out of each other.
Of course, if the issue is purely contextual, then what good does it do to say things like shoot or heck? And if the issue is the words themselves, then what the cuss is the difference between one word another?
Personally, I’m of the mind that it’s the emotions being expressed that matter, and what parents really need to protect their children from aren’t the words, but the tension and anger that are often associated with these words. The danger in my mind is that the words themselves can act as something of a red herring, distracting parents from protecting their children from scenes of tension and anger that have no foul language.
Food for thought for parents unsure about to whether to let their kids watch Fantastic Mr. Fox. (My verdict: Cuss yeah, let the kids watch!)
