Billy Elliot the Forum

But not during the hours that children normally watch TV, and not on network TV.

ERinVA wrote:But not during the hours that children normally watch TV, and not on network TV.

George Carlin said "You can pr*** your finger, but you can not finger your pr***".

Okay, that's enough from Carlin. It's a pretty crude quote, even with the asterisks. Let's move on.

I do not consider the quote to be crude, but funny. But that again is saying that different people have different values.

As long as there are parents who will not allow their children to attend BETM, it would be wise to remove all questionable words and gestures from any local productions. All kids should see this production. For some kids, it will be a life changer. There is a lot more to Billy Elliot The Musical than the words and gestures that shock.

accessmenj wrote:I do not consider the quote to be crude, but funny. But that again is saying that different people have different values.

As long as there are parents who will not allow their children to attend BETM, it would be wise to remove all questionable words and gestures from any local productions. All kids should see this production. For some kids, it will be a life changer. There is a lot more to Billy Elliot The Musical than the words and gestures that shock.

I disagree. The teens and preteens that will be mostly helped by Billy Elliot will only respond to a true to life story, not a fairy tale. The story needs the crudness of real life to be acceptable.

Last night on NBC was a good example why Billy Elliot The Musical needs to keep the crude, real-life language. While THE SOUND OF MUSIC appealed to older people, it was way too sweet and sugary to attract teens, especially those pre-teens and teens who feel isolated and victimized by bullys. These kids feel angry, and can only relate to the cursing and swearing of real life. Do not change the dialog to appease the out of touch parent.

ALLMIXEDUP wrote:Last night on NBC was a good example why Billy Elliot The Musical needs to keep the crude, real-life language. While THE SOUND OF MUSIC appealed to older people, it was way too sweet and sugary to attract teens, especially those pre-teens and teens who feel isolated and victimized by bullys. These kids feel angry, and can only relate to the cursing and swearing of real life. Do not change the dialog to appease the out of touch parent.

It is symbolic of life in the 1950s/1960s. When everything was bobbysox and pigtails. But have a look at the bios of the kids who acted in the famous original Broadway cast album; and you will see that the reality of their lives is far more like BETM than any confection dreamed up by Rodgers and Hammerstein.

1968 burst the bubble of 1950s 'innocence'; yet some in America still think that 2013 is 1963. In that regard, BETM is honest, the SOM is not. But, like Werther's Originals, it is comforting (confession: I still pipe a tear or two..).

After all, Georg von Trapp was a commander of a submarine in WWI...where life would have been anything but 'raindrops on roses'.....

I think I understand why Christopher Plummer referred to the film as ' The Sound of Mucus'. Even though it paid him quite well.

Here's a very interesting article about the history of the F-word in English:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-wile ... lp00000009

Personally I think that is a Cock and Bull story. There is a perfectly good latin word that it can be derived from (futuo):
http://www.theatlantic.com/internationa ... re/276397/

Incidentally, I did notice the American versions of BETM i've seen appear to replace good non-blastphemous curses like the above with blasphemous uses of normal words like bleeding -seemed strange to me, as I thought Americans were keener on religious correctness than the English. I guess the meanings differ depending where you come from?

Language IS interesting, and can reflect both culture and mores of an era.

A few posts back was a redacted quote attributed to George Carlin. Yet the very same word was used in Wm. Shakespeare's Love's Labours Lost, Act IV, SCENE 1, in a double-entendre that developed over the subsequent exchange:

Context: Costard, Maria, and Boyet are discussing archery.

Text:

MARIA:

A mark marvellous well shot; for they both did hit it.

BOYET:

A mark! O, mark but that mark! A mark, says my lady!

Let the mark have a prick in’t, to mete at, if it may be.

MARIA:

Wide o’ the bow-hand! I’ faith, your hand is out.

COSTARD:

Indeed, ‘a must shoot nearer, or he’ll ne’er hit the
clout.

BOYET:

An if my hand be out, then belike your hand is in.

COSTARD:

Then will she get the upshoot by cleaving the pin.

MARIA:

Come, come, you talk greasily; your lips grow foul.

COSTARD:

She’s too hard for you at pricks, sir; challenge her
to bowl.

BOYET:

I fear too much rubbing; good-night, my good owl.

I recall the joke was sussed by my CEE English candidates, as we read the play aloud in class - with a lot of muffled sniggering. I, of course, maintained appropriate decorum.

George Carlin had nothing on The Bard.