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- May 31, 2018
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tl;dr: Life is vulgar. While it can be utlized excessively, some degree of vagarity adds authenticity and enhances almost any narrative.
I'm currently having an ongoing debate with a friend about the content of my manuscript that she disagrees with. The story's main character is Christian, but the non-religious characters occasionally say the s-word and allude to intimate situations in their dialogue. The scenes/dialogue in the story do not involve sexual intercourse (nobody is naked or using hands on body parts or speaking in great detail about it). There is a hopefully-humorous scene where a woman in her underwear is pursuing the main character, but she isn't trying to sleep with him (and hopefully it works better in the context of the story than that description implies). Again, clothes on, no intercourse or even kissing. My friend feels that these words/scenes are not proper for a Christian-themed story.
She cites the old movie/tv-shows that told good stories without the use of graphic violence or vulgarity. My argument is that those characters, while memorable, rarely feel authentic (to me). We understand that they are The Bad Guy, but we don't really know how bad because the most we ever see are other characters reacting to the aftermath (describing what happened while looking down at the out-of-frame victim) or shadows interacting behind a curtain. We rely on our imaginations to fill in the details. They lack depth.
Also, visual media is different from literature. A writer simply can't afford to rely on the reader's imagination to fill in some aspects of his/her narrative without risking the loss of emotional impact. Most of the time, a reader must be shown in order to understand. Is it important for a reader to know the details of a sex scene to understand how passionate the characters are for each other? I don't think so. I've never personally encountered a descriptive sex scene in literature that contributed meaningfully to the narrative. In fact, they always feel unnecessary to me. Is it important for a reader to know what level of viciousness the murderous antagonist is capable of? Yes, because it enhances the suspense and makes the hero's victory feel more rewarding. In real-life investigations, it's important to know how many times a murder victim was stabbed. Did the murderer hate the victim for some reason, or did he just want his wallet? Knowing that information is helpful for investigators and, I believe, helpful for a reader in connecting with the story.
I feel like Christian media (speaking mainly of television/film) could use more vulgarity and gore. I'm not talking about Tarantino levels, but the films that I've seen always feel overly sanitized. One facet of my position is that we don't live in a sanitized world. We hear vulgar words and are exposed to grotesque situations to varying degrees on a regular basis. It's part of everyday life for most people. The other facet is that the Bible is far from sanitized (depending on what translation one chooses to read). God did not use vulgar language (at least in the King James Version of the Bible, I don't know about how vulgarity levels in the original Greek/Hebrew texts), but He certainly did not sugar-coat characters or situations. As a result, we have a better understanding of the events and characters that He wants us to learn from. I'm not saying that anything I write would be equal to the Bible, but I do believe many Christians writers overly sanitize their work and harm their narratives.
I'm currently having an ongoing debate with a friend about the content of my manuscript that she disagrees with. The story's main character is Christian, but the non-religious characters occasionally say the s-word and allude to intimate situations in their dialogue. The scenes/dialogue in the story do not involve sexual intercourse (nobody is naked or using hands on body parts or speaking in great detail about it). There is a hopefully-humorous scene where a woman in her underwear is pursuing the main character, but she isn't trying to sleep with him (and hopefully it works better in the context of the story than that description implies). Again, clothes on, no intercourse or even kissing. My friend feels that these words/scenes are not proper for a Christian-themed story.
She cites the old movie/tv-shows that told good stories without the use of graphic violence or vulgarity. My argument is that those characters, while memorable, rarely feel authentic (to me). We understand that they are The Bad Guy, but we don't really know how bad because the most we ever see are other characters reacting to the aftermath (describing what happened while looking down at the out-of-frame victim) or shadows interacting behind a curtain. We rely on our imaginations to fill in the details. They lack depth.
Also, visual media is different from literature. A writer simply can't afford to rely on the reader's imagination to fill in some aspects of his/her narrative without risking the loss of emotional impact. Most of the time, a reader must be shown in order to understand. Is it important for a reader to know the details of a sex scene to understand how passionate the characters are for each other? I don't think so. I've never personally encountered a descriptive sex scene in literature that contributed meaningfully to the narrative. In fact, they always feel unnecessary to me. Is it important for a reader to know what level of viciousness the murderous antagonist is capable of? Yes, because it enhances the suspense and makes the hero's victory feel more rewarding. In real-life investigations, it's important to know how many times a murder victim was stabbed. Did the murderer hate the victim for some reason, or did he just want his wallet? Knowing that information is helpful for investigators and, I believe, helpful for a reader in connecting with the story.
I feel like Christian media (speaking mainly of television/film) could use more vulgarity and gore. I'm not talking about Tarantino levels, but the films that I've seen always feel overly sanitized. One facet of my position is that we don't live in a sanitized world. We hear vulgar words and are exposed to grotesque situations to varying degrees on a regular basis. It's part of everyday life for most people. The other facet is that the Bible is far from sanitized (depending on what translation one chooses to read). God did not use vulgar language (at least in the King James Version of the Bible, I don't know about how vulgarity levels in the original Greek/Hebrew texts), but He certainly did not sugar-coat characters or situations. As a result, we have a better understanding of the events and characters that He wants us to learn from. I'm not saying that anything I write would be equal to the Bible, but I do believe many Christians writers overly sanitize their work and harm their narratives.