Profanity

I went with a friend for my birthday to see Julie and Julia. I LOVED the movie. Meryl Streep is such a wonderful actress. It troubled me, however, that at the end of the movie Julie, the blog writer, felt shunned by Julia Childs. There was never a reason given for why, leaving one to wonder whether Julia felt Julie was "piggy-backing" on her success -- or just what. Afterwards a different friend told me she tried reading the book. I say "tried" because she said the profanity was so bad that she ditched it. As a writer I started wondering if that could have had a bearing on Julia's reaction. There are times that profanity is effective in developing a character; then again, there are times that profanity makes a writer appear ignorant, lacking the knowledge to choose a better word. I didn't read the book but would be interested to hear from someone who did.