"Money-shot" term is freezing my brain

[thenannymoh]

Help me hive-mind... More and more, I'm hearing young directors and DoPs using the term "money-shot" for their favourite take.  

 

Now, my old man old school brain seizes every time, as I have always associated that exclusively with adult film production, and I'm thinking every time that other's on set must be feeling uncomfortable (or not?) 

 

I know words and phrases evolve over time... But did I miss the 2023 memo on this, or is still a phrase associated with adult film?  There's still no way I'll use it on set, but should I just chill because I'm the only one who notices? 

[The Immoral Mr Teas]

Well you could always call out that 'Sound didn't orgasm' then reset whilst the rest of the crew has a well earned cigarette break

 

J

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

I think it's evolved slowly over time.  I've been hearing it out of the adult context for years, and I guess I've gotten used to the non-sexual use of it.  I do remember thinking it wasn't quite an appropriate term the first couple times I heard it ... but that was probably over a decade ago.

 

I also think worrying about sexual language on a film set is a losing battle ... I can think of at least two items of equipment on set that are referred to as butt-plugs.  We live in a world where "fuck" is a commonly used adjective in all kinds of contexts.  If anything, I think the language has gotten tamer as sets have become (slightly) more gender-balanced.

 

I also think our attitudes towards porn have changed.  The original meaning of money shot feels so tame now that it's lost a lot of its shock value.  I'm just old enough to have found it shocking when I heard it in Orgazmo (on a high school trip where it was the officially sanctioned movie choice), but comparing a legitimate film shoot to a porn set just doesn't feel that risqué to me these days.

Long story short, I think it's part of the film lexicon, and if anything the non-sexual meaning is starting to eclipse the original usage.

[PMC]

Speaking of old terms, are they still teaching the resistor color code language I was taught in high school electronics class back in the 70's? You know what I'm talking about.

 

 

[The Immoral Mr Teas]

11 hours ago, PMC said:

Speaking of old terms, are they still teaching the resistor color code language I was taught in high school electronics class back in the 70's? You know what I'm talking about.

 

I had a Chinese teacher for night classes at one point who was an electrician by profession. We revised the colours in his order, not the usual rainbow.

 

J

[IronFilm]

I'm not that young, or that old either (am a millennial), but I initially was reading this thread thinking to myself "what the hell is wrong with saying money-shot??" And until I got to the point you said "adult films" it didn't click (and even, I'll admit, it took an extra second until it did). 

 

Sure, I "know" what "the money-shot" means, where the original meaning comes from and even why. But you'd have to specifically prod my memory or ask me before I'd remember the meaning. 

 

Just overhearing it in casual conversation? Nope, nope, would never occur to me as "wrong" or give me any dodgy mental imagery at all. Unless the person makes it dodgy. 

 

I'd just classify it these days the same as any of a million billion other phrases which could have some innuendo to it, you don't really ever see anything wrong with it unless you're trying to (or it is pointed out to you), then it's quite obvious! But otherwise it's easy to be blissfully innocently unware of it. 

[PMC]

IronFilm,

If you were coming of age in the 70's, even the early 80's, this term would be a big red flag for not being germane or professional. If not, then maybe no risqué intention. Attitudes and meanings change a lot over time. I remember when " he is bad" meant he was not good. Now "he bad" means he is awesome.

 

Than again I remember using phrases like "jipped" "off the reservation" "chinese fire drill", etc frequently many years ago without regard to their disperagement of ethnic groups.

 

 

[IronFilm]

2 hours ago, PMC said:

IronFilm,

If you were coming of age in the 70's, even the early 80's, this term would be a big red flag for not being germane or professional

Yup, that's what I'm meaning when I mentioned I'm a millennial, certainly far too young for growing up in that time period, but  I'm also a fair bit older than the younger generations coming into the work force. I'm more or less "in the middle". Thus I'd guess the majority (everyone around about my age, plus everyone younger) wouldn't have it cross their mind there is anything wrong with that language. 

[Michael Render]

7 hours ago, PMC said:

Than again I remember using phrases like "jipped" "off the reservation" "chinese fire drill", etc frequently many years ago without regard to their disperagement of ethnic groups.

We also forget that phrases like “long time, no see” and “no can do” were mocking Chinese pidgin. And how many times do we hear “scum bag” and “bugger” and “sucks” used in everyday conversation. 

[PMC]

Michael, 

Com'on, man. We have to give up all those words too? Lol.

 

I remember as an early teen using the word "bloody" at the dinner table after watching this new import show called "Monty Python." My dad,  WWII vet told me not to use that language. What, I says? He said the Brits he fought with used it like Yanks (Yankee derives from the expression Jan Kaas, literally "John Cheese.") used the "F" word. I almost said, "bugger that."

 

One more interrogative, back in the 80's I used to drive past a big sod farm. I thought their slogan should have been Quint Cities Sod - For All Your Sodding Needs.

 

OP, sorry. I seem to have straied a bit. These things happen when they let me out of the edit suite.

[Izen Ears]

I think it's gross and hilarious, and I make it a point to convey where the term came from.  Pun intended.

[The Immoral Mr Teas]

9 hours ago, Michael Render said:

We also forget that phrases like “long time, no see” and “no can do” were mocking Chinese pidgin. 

 

I'd never thought nor heard of this (and brings my previously 'off-topic' post back on topic, so thank you)! But would it actually be mockery or just working examples of said pidgin? They are just straight word for word translations of simple Chinese phrases into English without the grammar (word order) changed.

 

Back on-topic, I guess the young directors and DoPs of today are just much spunkier than our lot were!

 

J

[Rick S]

I love that someone is pointing this out.

 

A young director announced exactly that yesterday—loudly—on a set full of children with parents nearby.

Gen-Z and younger stood blissfully unaware while a few of us slightly older folks smiled to one another; eyebrows raised, nodding to confirm our understanding.

No one ever corrected him...

[echoMan]

sounds too sad

[Izen Ears]

23 hours ago, Michael Render said:

We also forget that phrases like “long time, no see” and “no can do” were mocking Chinese pidgin. And how many times do we hear “scum bag” and “bugger” and “sucks” used in everyday conversation. 

That's very interesting about "long time no see" and "no can do."  I have never heard of them coming from that. Growing up in Hawaii everyone spoke pidgin, and those phrases fit right in.  I would have never thought they were insulting!  Then again I miss a lot of social cues so maybe it's not that surprising.

 

Word origins are fascinating, and I believe the science that purports that language can be oppressive.  It's funny how it goes both ways.  No one cares about the original meaning of f*ck or b*tch, why is that?  I think it's years and usage.  With much years or much usage, the meanings change.  When none of us older folks who associate Money Shot with porn are left, there will be no other meaning than "the shot that sells the movie."

 

Check out this fella's take on "sucks:"

 

"Besides, it’s not even clear that sucks has naughty origins. We might trace its roots to the phrase sucks hind teat, meaning inferior. Or there’s sucks to you, a nonsexual taunt apparently favored by British schoolchildren of yore. Of course, when a 9-year-old girl walks up to you tomorrow and tells you that “Blue’s Clues sucks,” she won’t be aware of these past usages. But neither will she have in mind (or understand) the much dirtier alternative. The point is that sucks has become untethered from its past and carries no tawdry implications for those who use it. "

 

https://slate.com/human-interest/2006/08/a-defense-of-the-word-sucks.html

[IronFilm]

2 hours ago, Izen Ears said:

Check out this fella's take on "sucks:"

 

Yup, often meaning gets attached to a word after it becomes somewhat popular. That has nothing to do with its original origins!

 

A classic example from our field is "MOS", people have been making up so many different meanings for what "MOS" is, that we've totally lost track of what it really stood for. But imagine if in a few decades time, one of them catches hold and becomes the dominant meaning of "MOS", we might all believe that's the true original meaning of "MOS"! Even though that's false. 

[The Immoral Mr Teas]

3 hours ago, IronFilm said:

 

A classic example from our field is "MOS", people have been making up so many different meanings for what "MOS" is, that we've totally lost track of what it really stood for. 

 

I always knew (heard) the 'origin story' as Mit Out Sound ('with' out sound), being from a German on a (UK? ... possibly US ...) film set. Curious how our German friends here heard of its origin ...

 

Regardless - there's surely only one MEANING to the assignation - a scene shot mute without sound

 

-

 

"Camera?"

"Speed"

"Sound?"

"Sound?"

"Sound!"

" ... ugh, I'm sorry. This really doesn't happen often in our department ... "

[mono]

 

 

 

[Izen Ears]

On 9/4/2023 at 12:44 PM, mono said:

 

 

 

Where did Rich Van Dyke's posts go?  They vaporized!  That is a great thread, just before my time.  Thanks for posting Mono!

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

On 9/4/2023 at 4:49 AM, Izen Ears said:

No one cares about the original meaning of f*ck or b*tch, why is that?  I think it's years and usage.  With much years or much usage, the meanings change.

 

It's a fine point, but I think in the case of fuck, what's shifted is mostly cultural context and not the meaning itself.  The usage of "fuck" as profanity dates back centuries (I seem to recall back to Shakespeare's time, which basically means it's as old as modern English).  During that time, it's kept its status as both a versatile profanity and a sexual descriptor.  What's changed is that as we've lost our inhibitions around talking about sex publicly since the '60s, some of the power and social stigma of its profanity has been lost, and it's power as an insult has weakened to the point where its casual usage is simply considered vulgar and no longer so extremely offensive.  We hear and see the word a lot more now than in the recent past, and we now turn to other words when we truly want to offend someone (we have a new parade of racial slurs that seem to now be at the pinnacle of taboo words).

 

But, I don't think the meaning itself has changed much ... perhaps we use it for emphasis more than previously, but in my opinion, what's changed has more to do with the contexts in which it is socially acceptable than what the word denotes.  I think it's hard to pin down a "literal" meaning anyway.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[Izen Ears]

Have you seen the show Swear Words?  I haven't but I know about it.  Nic Cage hosting a 1/2 hour deep dive into popular curse words.  Fuck is the first episode.  Now I'm curious!  I read that it originally meant to plant a seed, which I think was in the middle ages or maybe later.  So that seems like good timing to become slang in the Renaissance.  I bet the show explains that completely.  "Sucks" is not one of the words!  I wonder if that's because it's never really been a curse word, or if the public has forgotten its taboo origin?  I personally don't see how it could have a sexual origin, the logic escapes me there.  Was it so horrible to engage in oral sex that it became equated to something being truly bad?!!  No one said it to mean that until the 70s right?  I mean in the 50s people were insultingly told to "suck eggs," which I could believe morphed into an adjective to describe anything bad.  "School sucks eggs" becomes "school sucks."

 

I woke up at 2:30a and can't get back to sleep...