Deadwood & Language
I suppose Deadwood is a little too slowly paced for most viewers — since it’s really a Western about power struggles and politics rather than good ol’ boys shootin’ each other up — and a little too family-unfriendly, with Wikipedia reporting that the word “fuck” was used 43 times in the first hour of the show, and that over the course of the series, the word is used 2,980 times. And, of course, there are some pretty crude and bloody scenes; I’m not going to forget Al Swearengen’s operation for a kidney stone any time soon.
The first DVD contained a quick video-clip excerpt of both Season 1 and Season 2, which was brilliant; more series need to do that. Is anyone listening out there? MORE SERIES NEED TO RECAP THE EARLIER SEASONS ON EACH NEW SEASON’S DISK!
Ahem. Anyway, after not watching the show for such a long time, I found it difficult to fall back into the rhythm of the dialog — it’s much like the experience I have listening to Shakespeare. You can’t listen casually; you need to pay attention to all the convoluted sentences and three-dollar words in order to parse out their meaning. A lot of people claim that Deadwood is written in iambic pentameter, but I read a literature professor’s blog that says it isn’t; s/he checked some transcripts and mapped the dialog out. Some of it scans, but only as a fluke; most of it doesn’t. Despite that, however, the dialog is amazing, sweeping back and forth between the foulest vulgarities and the cleverist archaic turns of phrase.
For example, Tom bragging about his latest purchase, a bicycle: “My bicycle masters boardwalk and quagmire with aplomb. Those that doubt me suck cock by choice.”
Or this series of veiled threats between Hearst and Swearengen:
Hearst: Shall I perceive you, then, as dangerous to my interests?
Al: As capable of inconvenience and of some damage and debt to those that would act against my interests, I cannot fucking argue with dangerous. Different from powerful, though, which speaks to potency longer term. I’d not have myself called powerful in your company or the captain’s.
Hearst: Then I’ll hope that your insult is cured, to spare the camp any danger of however brief a duration.
Al: And to look for one fucking instant out of the other end of the telescope — once placated, I’m meek as a babe.
Now, is that Shakespearean, or what? You have to admire the scriptwriters, who must have labored over each word … and the actors, who had to memorize these speeches and make them sound natural.
The costuming and sets are also very high-quality, and the deadly politics and shifting alliances between the characters is very engaging. The series also runs the most amazing songs during the end credits of each episode — I wonder if there’s a soundtrack? It’s unfortunate that the vulgar language and the crudity of some of the scenes (checking the whores for the pox, for example) make me hesitate before recommending the series to others. I suppose that’s why the series wasn’t renewed; too limited an audience. Cheesy sitcoms can be watched by anybody.
drupagliassotti @ August 9, 2007