• crime movies
• expletives
• gangster movies
• swearing
• swearwords

This thesis will focus on swearing in film and TV series. Although these audiovisual forms of communication do not always show reality as it is, when it comes down to language they do struggle to represent a language that is the closest to reality as possible, in such a way as to sound spontaneous and natural. Therefore, they cannot omit or eliminate expletives, but rather chose to use them wisely, exploiting all the shades of meaning that these words can have. Of course, depending on the particular genre of the film or TV series, there might be a difference in the quality and quantity of the occurrence of swearwords. Censorship plays a very delicate role according to the guidelines that every broadcasting company provides. Yet, it is not possible to compile a list of swear words and other words which are considered offensive by the audience. This is because language is fluid and in constant expansion and new terms are invented every day, entering the standard vocabulary on a daily basis. Conversely, the strength of a swear word changes overtime and is subject to inflation; in other words, its overuse tends to diminish the original effect. Through the years though, several words have gone from strong to mild; people have become slightly more tolerant to them, even when they were uttered on television, and this is caused by the overexposure to them in real life. Religion-related and sex-related taboo words were once considered unmentionable, but now their offensiveness has been remarkably reduced due to their abuse in everyday language. At the same time, ethnic slurs or terms relating to physical or mental illness and sexual orientation have become progressively unacceptable to audiences.