The industry may have reached a new low this summer, when the film version of South Park received a rare NC-17 rating based on the vileness of its language. He went on to ask rhetorically why critics of his work did not object to the violence, but only the language. That question may tie cultural arbiters in knots, but the answer is simple. Movie violence is fake, no matter how realistic it appears. This is not to excuse graphic violence or downplay its harmful effect, but still, it's fake.
Words are real.
Words possess a versatility, substance, and subtlety that pictures do not. Words are the stuff of ideas, the vehicle of thought, and the essential element of language. Whiz-kid filmmakers insist that it's mere hypocrisy to be more concerned about words than bullets. But vulgar, vicious, and blasphemous words are bullets, riddling the soul. Judging by this summer's output, the entertainment industry is run mostly by spiritual thugs, to whom human beings are only clever animals with a gift of gab.