The Motion Picture Association of America has rules, and these rules must be followed. But much like the speed limit on roadways, those rules should not be mere regulations, but rather rules that should be adhered to as strictly as possible.
Movie ratings are often restrictions to get under rather than live up to them. Cut this word or that scene and you might get a PG-13 rating rather than the dreaded R. After all, you need the teens to give you that box office boost, right? That’s especially true of a movie franchise like Star Wars, which has fans of all ages. An R-rated Star Wars movie, while intriguing, seems impossible at this point in the franchise’s arc.
Most Star Wars films, in fact, are rated PG. But a few PG-13 movies often have some darker themes of death and a bit of blood. It’s not nearly the blood and gore (and smells) you’d actually experience if instantly-cauterizing laser swords were real, but it can get dark. And that includes the third (or sixth) film in the Star Wars franchise: Revenge of the Sith. That’s the movie where Anakin officially becomes Darth Vader, kills a bunch of younglings and ultimately causes the death of his illicit wife.
There’s a lot going on in there, obviously, but one thing that’s missing that would have fit under the PG-13 banner? An F-bomb. That got one Twitter user thinking and sparked a fun social media experiment: if you had to drop an F-bomb into the already-existing film, where would you put it?
Question for the class: Revenge of the Sith is rated PG-13, and as such is allowed one f-bomb
where would you put it
— Leap Dave Willis! (@damnyouwillis) October 18, 2018
The reactions ranged from genuinely interesting — if not artistic — use of profanity to already bringing up memes created by an internet that loves adding swears to Star Wars.
He, of course had his own once-cannon suggestion.
leaving this here pic.twitter.com/FCeker5KKc
— Leap Dave Willis! (@damnyouwillis) October 18, 2018
As a lot of people pointed out, however, the Star Wars universe already has the perfect actor to drop in well-placed profanity.
https://twitter.com/WillLambert4/status/1053363749292331008
https://twitter.com/Fiery_Sprite/status/1053236573549064192
One favorite answer was a meme that isn’t exactly dialogue from the movie, but was definitely in Obi Wan’s inner dialogue.
https://twitter.com/AmsterQuinn/status/1053015591941013510
Young Kenobi’s character actually got a lot of good suggestions.
“Anakin, I have the high ground. You’re f**ked.” pic.twitter.com/ri59CCehtf
— Baz McAlister (@bazmcalister) October 19, 2018
This is way better as a comedic moment than Jar Jar friggin Binks.
During the opening fight/rescue sequence, R2D2 comes in to see Count Dooku's decapitated body and shouts "Holy FUCK Anakin" in the voice of Gilbert Godfried. This is never acknowledged or addressed by anyone else in the movie.
— Yami ReiRei, JK (@LossThief) October 19, 2018
Padme certainly should have been allowed to drop a confused F-bomb.
https://twitter.com/joegrunenwald/status/1053405039690170368
This one seems a bit more inspired by today’s real world than anything.
— Kleo Ren (@Kleo_Ren) October 19, 2018
This, too.
https://twitter.com/The_Dogcow/status/1053044180438663169
I mean, I thought he was a LANGUAGE droid he didn’t know what was going to happen come on man:
Is it wrong that I want it to go to C3PO? Bail Organa says “have the protocol droid’s mind wiped” and the camera zooms to C3PO: “What the F***?” pic.twitter.com/tgKIsmG6C2
— Melanie (@MelanieMarquita) October 19, 2018
This is a bit dark, but hey still PG-13!
— GIJOE Aficionado and Greenshirt (@skinnyjoefan) October 19, 2018
There are a lot of good ones, but sadly we’ll have to wait for a fan to get mad enough at the current state of the movie and crowd-fund a movie full of our favorite swears. Until then, what we got is what we got.