No single word may be relied upon more in our everyday vernacular than one in particular: fuck.
The word is more than just a curse. It can easily function as an adjective, adverb, conjunction, interjection, noun, pronoun, and verb, just to name a few of the word’s utilization in our colloquial language.
Fuck.
Fuck you.
That’s fucked.
That little fucker.
There’s that fuckface.
He fucked up the whole night.
That fucker took the whole fucking thing.
Where the fuck did he find the fucking time to fuck around so much?
For those who do not hold themselves to some exemplary lifestyle where their word choice does not cross the interminable threshold of swear words, fuck is so commonly utilized that it often becomes forgotten. We use it subconsciously, mixing it into a sentence or tacking it onto a noun where it may have no reason to be there. But, what if we were limited to say fuck just once a day? Imagine if our ability to utilize such a common yet dynamic word was shackled by a higher power, as if some invisible governing body prohibited us from uttering more than a single fuck. In film, this rule reigns supreme.
The MPA—that’s the Motion Picture Association, the organization whose goal since their creation in 1932 revolves around the protection and support of the film industry through an established ratings system, providing artistic freedom to the industry’s creators—holds themselves to this standard for all content they deem to be rated PG-13.
CARA —that’s the Classification and Ratings Administration, the subgroup within the MPA responsible for reviewing and rating films in accordance with the MPA’s Motion Picture Classification and Rating program, basically the group of people responsible for deciding what content receives what rating—identifies their rules for the f-bomb and other words as:
A motion picture’s single use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words, though only as an expletive, initially requires at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such expletive requires an R rating, as must even one of those words used in a sexual context.
So, according to the MPA’s rating system, one fuck is fine and doesn’t push the boundary of the content into the R rating. However, this lone fuck can’t be used in a sexually suggestive manner, and if two fucks are used in a context that is deemed anything beyond organic to the situation within which the expletive is used, then the rating once again becomes R.
Basically, if creators want to accurately portray how a vast majority of society speaks in their content that exists under the watchful eye of the MPA, but still wants to keep their PG-13 label, they’re fucked.
So, regarding a word that we find uttered in our world so many more times in a day than once, the importance of the word’s single use returns back to the context in which it’s used.
If fuck can only be said once, then it becomes all the more important regarding who, when, and why the word is said. While we let the word slip out from our tongues at any instant—when we are cut off in traffic or realize we forgot to send that email—content that is safeguarded by the MPA doesn’t have this liberty. Like a gun with only one bullet, creators must choose to pull the trigger at the perfect moment, aiming to hit their target in order to maximize the emotional resonance of the word, or, risk missing the target altogether, reducing the swear word back to the passive manner it’s often utilized in.
Since the inception of the rating in 1984, various PG-13 rated films have used their lone opportunity to say the word with the utmost skill, timing the expletive at a moment where the audience can genuinely see the word being used in a world where fuck can only be uttered once. Other films have used it as a filler. They’ve mistimed the word or tacked in onto the end of some dialogue in a dismissive manner. But, what follows is a list of five films who slip in their one (or, surprisingly two) f-bomb(s) in a way that transcends the heavily muted and expletive-free world PG-13 films inhabit.
5. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
Everyone knows Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy, and so most should remember the moment when the legendary anchorman mistakenly tells his cherished city to go fuck themselves. Burgundy’s biggest weakness is that he’ll read whatever’s put on the teleprompter, and so when Christina Applegate’s Veronica Corningstone slips in the explicit sign-off over his signature “You stay classy, San Diego,” Burgundy does so without skipping a beat and doesn’t even seem to know the extent of the damage he caused after the cameras turn off. Much like Ron Burgundy, this f-bomb is legendary, and surprisingly plays a vital role in the film’s plot, as Burgundy is fired for what he said. In this case, fuck may have never meant more, and when said on-air, directed towards the San Diegoans who cherish Ron Burgundy, it elicits a shift in the film, one that is brought about by an all-time use of the f-bomb in a PG-13 film.
4. Hot Rod (2007)
Hot Rod’s lone f-bomb stems from the montage that ensues after Andy Samberg’s Rod Kimble launches Operation Fiscal Jackhammer. Outside of the perspectives of himself and his crew, Rod is far from the world’s greatest stuntman, and that perspective is solidified as we see Rod’s numerous near-death failures set to Europe’s Rock The Night, all in the name of money. After scaring some children at a birthday party with a failed Houdini-esque escape attempt, we hear from a mother who politely asks Rod to get the fuck off of her porch. She delivers the f-bomb while still giving Rod his check, with a level-headed tone that a mother who has just subjected her child to a traumatic experience would justifiably have. It’s perfectly timed, right in the midst of a hilarious montage, and doesn’t bring too much attention to itself. A masterclass of f-bomb for a PG-13 movie.
3. Titanic (1997)
What causes this first and only utterance of fuck throughout James Cameron’s historical love epic to make the list is the organic way the word seems to slip out in conversation. Lewis Bodine (played by Lewis Abernathy) vents his frustrations surrounding the research team’s quest to retrace the events of the night the Titanic sank in order to find the coveted diamond that represented Jack and Rose’s love. Lewis plays a small role in Titanic, but his use of the one expletive is natural, and accurately depicts the struggles anyone would have if they too were forced to try and piece together a story from a nearly senile old woman who was being forced to traumatically remember a disaster that altered the course of her life, all while they sift through rubble along the floor of the Atlantic ocean. And, he excuses himself, which maintains a level of realism or self-awareness Cameron may have had for the MPAA system.
2. Barbershop (2002)
As evidenced, rarely is fuck used to carry tremendous weight or reinforce the meaning of an argument, and yet, Barbershop manages to utilize the word in a resounding way. Cedric the Entertainer’s character of Eddie Walker is a wiry-haired barber who hold the values of a barbershop’s environment true to his heart, and one of those values happens to be saying whatever completely ridiculous thought comes to mind on the basis of having a healthy discussion when one is in the barbershop. Exemptions be damned. Nobody is safe. Not even Rosa Parks, OJ, or the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Although everyone else inside the barbershop opposes him on this concept, Eddie doubles down and remains committed to his belief of free speech. The abrupt stretch of silence before Eddie states how he truly feels about Jesse Jackson is truly artistic, and the reaction reinforces the word’s use.
1. Tremors (1990)
Six years after the MPAA created the PG-13 rating, Kevin Bacon offered audiences one of the most genuine uses of “fuck you” in film. Sure, Tremors is ridiculous—worm-like creatures terrorize a small Nevada town—but the lone use of the expletive comes as Bacon’s Val McKee and Fred Ward’s Earl Bassett manage to accidentally-on-purpose kill one of the monsters by tricking it to slam into a concrete aqueduct. It’s the silence, followed by the harmony of sheer disbelief, elation of joy, and Southern drawl of dumb luck in Bacon’s voice as he tells the monster how he really feels that earns it the top spot on this list. And, yeah, what else is there to say after duping a prehistoric worm monster into killing itself? Fuck you is real. Everybody would say it in this context.
Fuck is truly a beautiful word. Its use in real life knows no bounds, and in film, it seems to embody a heightened level of emphasis, especially when it can only be said once. Of course, anything rated PG-13 doesn’t have to say the word. If the creators want to, they can continue to live in a restricted reality where no such word exists, negating the inclusion of one of our language’s most versatile words. But all of this isn’t an indication that the MPA and their guidelines are flawed. Neither is it a condemnation of films rated PG-13, the very ones that comprise a majority of the market. There are content warnings and rules for specific reasons, and not adhering to them would undo systemic structures that content absolutely needs to rest upon.
This list and the examination of the usage of the f-bomb in our lives as well as film is a warning to all creators restricted by the PG-13 label. It’s a reminder that when a word that’s used consistently in real life becomes censored or restricted, this undeniably creates a larger significance on that word, and if/when it’s used in film, it should be done so with that understanding in mind. If we are already meant to suspend our beliefs, then the one instance where reality breaks through needs to be used in a way that fairly represents reality. Again, much like this list, fuck’s use is in various film contexts is entirely subjective. What may be meaningful to me may mean nothing to somebody else. Some people don’t say fuck, but I say fuck a minimum twenty times a day, and thus our perceptions of the word’s significance remain different.
And to that I say, who fucking cares.
A special shout out to two videos in particular that do an incredible job of showcasing the f-bombs in PG-13 films, but explaining the history as well:
And, thanks to Caroline and Zak for the inspiration to dive into an idea as dumb as this one.
Sources:
“How The F-Word Became Common In Pg-13 Movies” – Scott Myers – Medium
10 PG-13 Movies That Perfectly Utilized Its One Allowed F-Bomb – Ali Teske – Collider
Classification and Ratings Rules – MPAA