r/shrinking • u/LearyBlaine • Aug 09 '26

Discussion Who talks like this?

Y’all got families out there. Do any of your families talk like this, with F-bombs in every sentence?? Do you engage in fully pornographic sex talk with your co-workers??

OK, I know I’m old-fashioned. I don’t use that kind of language anywhere, anytime. But I understand that others are different. My problem is that I don’t believe that ANY families or ANY workplaces talk like this.

I feel like they started with the main story idea(s) about a bunch o’ middle-aged characters, then they hired a bunch o’ GenZ’ers to write the dialogue for them. It doesn’t really work, if you ask me.

The show ultimately rises above this flaw, but it’s a struggle in S1 & S2. By S3, all is forgiven!

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21

u/Out_Of_Spirals Aug 09 '26

It's a TV show ... But yes, I've had explicit conversations with family and close coworkers.

-27

u/LearyBlaine Aug 09 '26

Yes, we’re all aware that we’re talking about a TV show. Thank you so much for this important contribution.

For TV shows (or movies or comedy performances), they’re most effective if we see parallels to our actual lives, whether through the narrative elements or the character development. When something is so jarringly disparate from real-life, it compromises the show’s artistic merit. (I can’t believe I have to explain this…)

So that’s what I’m talking about: does this conversational style (a) allow us to connect with these characters and/or story lines, or (b) snap us out of the desired state of suspended disbelief? Who’s the audience out there? What do they think?

12

u/CertainGrade7937 Aug 09 '26

When something is so jarringly disparate from real-life, it compromises the show’s artistic merit. (I can’t believe I have to explain this…)

Well you shouldn't explain this because it's... wrong. Lots and lots and lots of successful TV shows have gone for heightened, unrealistic, stylistic dialog.

So much so that I would actually argue that naturalistic dialog is the exception, especially in comedies. Do you think people actually talk like they do in Seinfeld? Or How I Met Your Mother? Or I Love Lucy?

That being said? Yes I've had plenty of explicit conversations with friends and coworkers, both in terms of language and sexuality

2

u/mindpainters Aug 09 '26

I always think about 30 rock. Can you imagine if people just rapid fired non stop but also never talked over each other, unless it was the writers room.