Discuss: Who's More Uncomfortable With Onscreen Nudity?
Filed under: Action, Comedy, New Releases
Here's why it's a bad idea to share a house with a Cinematical writer -- your formerly innocent nights at the movies are stored away for discussion, your casual remarks posted for the entire world to see. My apologies to all the family members this involves.My sister and her boyfriend caught Forgetting Sarah Marshall a few nights ago -- a second showing for her, first time for him. When I inquired as to how the boyfriend liked it, my sister revealed that he had actually covered his eyes when Jason Segel dropped that towel.
"Good lord," I said. "Really? Doesn't he see that every time he's in the shower?" I mentioned it to a male friend, and he said he completely understood boyfriend's squeamishness. As I'm writing this, I remember an incident just last weekend with my aunt's wonky cable connection. She's mistakenly been subscribed to all sorts of hardcore porn, and called my cousins in to fix it. The sight of naked men sent my male cousin running for the other room, gagging -- whereas his sister shrugged off the bare flesh and set to work trying to block the stuff. And I'm now realizing all that throat clearing and awkward squirming I heard around me during Eastern Promises wasn't because Viggo Mortensen's back was being sliced open (which is what made me wince) -- it was because his manly bits were visible.
When confronted with the sight of a naked woman, I don't shriek and cover my eyes, and I don't flush scarlet with embarrassment. I don't find it alluring, either. (Dashing all men's hopes, I'm sure.) It's a pretty ordinary sight as, like I posed above, I see a naked chick every time I step out of the shower. And I'm hardly a free-thinking, let it all hit the breeze kind of girl. In my brief jock phase, I played ice hockey, and saw no good reason to strip further than my t-shirt and hockey garter. I came to the locker room wearing my t-shirt and hockey garter. I was one of the few players who had that philosophy.
So, what's the deal? I'm only thinking same-sex nudity here, as there's little question that most people enjoy a gander at the skin of the opposite sex. Are all guys absolutely horrified at the thought of seeing another man's wedding tackle? Is it enough to make you peek through your fingers? Are women as discomfited by same-sex nudity, or are you more blase about it? Or, for the sake of fairness to those of conservative leanings, is it about nudity in general -- you don't want to see anyone, male or female, unclothed onscreen? Bare your thoughts in the comments below!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-23-2008 @ 1:19PM
Mike said...
You seriously have to be joking. A guy can watch Rambo disembowel an Asian army, but can't stand to see another man's one-eyed-Willie?
Save me from these 7 year old idiots. They do not speak for my Y chormosome.
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4-23-2008 @ 1:23PM
Craig Kennedy said...
It's not just audiences, it's the critics too. Most of the reviews of the movie I read featured some degree of freaking out over Jason Segel's penis.
Is it just in America? Do Europeans act like they're 12 years old whenever some guy drops trou? I don't think so.
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4-23-2008 @ 1:37PM
Brian said...
What is wrong with the men around you? God, tell them to grow up. Your cousin was gagging? Was he molested as a child? Is he 8? Has he never SEEN porn...He needs to be studied. We finally found a man who has not seen (and infact, reacts violently) to porn.
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4-23-2008 @ 1:39PM
Maeghan said...
Hockey! Woohoo!
::cough:: sorry, got distracted. I don't see a problem with nudity in film. Maybe it's because I'm a lady?
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4-23-2008 @ 1:46PM
donna said...
I personally think it has more to do with the fact that they can't stand to deal with thier own "short-comings" to put it both sarcastically and politely (THAT takes talent!)
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4-23-2008 @ 1:47PM
ahkaufman said...
I can't speak for other countries, but being American, I was raised with the idea that you don't ogle women; or you do but you don't really talk about it. In the same vein you don't peek over to the stall next to you in the bathroom. Granted, we all ogle and peek, but I think there is a part that knows out of courtesy or what have you that you are not supposed to. Isn't what you are describing just an extension of that?
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4-23-2008 @ 3:45PM
Mr. R said...
What puzzles me about this whole thing is we all come from a penis one way or the other, we all came out of a vagina and we are all naked underneath our clothes. This is the same in visual arts, people find nakedness uncomfortable to live with in a painting, why? Europe museums are filled with breasts and buttocks. I think movies are works of art, let there be tons of nudity, show the world where it came from!!!
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4-23-2008 @ 1:50PM
Liz Newcomb said...
I can't say I have a problem with naked women or men on screen, and I don't think any of the men in my life have issues with full frontal male nudity, but I suppose I'm too busy watching the movie to notice their reactions. I can safely say, though, that no man I know has ever covered his eyes or gagged, at least not while watching a movie with me.
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4-23-2008 @ 1:58PM
blue3345 said...
I would have to say its probably younger males who cover their eyes. Especially in front of their friends. I guess they are still uncomfortable with their sexuality and feel that they may give off homosexual vibes if they don't cover their eyes. I mean that's the way I felt for a long time. But it is in fact just a penis and those I feel who would cover their eyes in order to appease the notions of another may have more problems then just their image.
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4-23-2008 @ 2:07PM
Midnight13 said...
Rarely is male nudity taken seriously in American films. Its played for laughs. "FSM" a perfect example of this, or the scene in "Sideways". Male nudity is so often a joke I think it makes men (and perhaps some women) uncomfortable when its taken seriously like it was in "Eastern Promises". Any viewer couldn't really enjoy the site of a naked Viggo Mortenson because his naked body was covered in blood. Often when women do nude scenes its talked and celebrated about. Natalie Portman's role in Wes Anderson's latest comes to mind. Yet frontal male nudity is still taboo, and still can only be allowed on occassion and under specific circumstances, and only by Viggo Mortenson.
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4-23-2008 @ 2:21PM
Nick said...
I'm totally with you on the scene in Eastern Promises. I was wincing, and not because the full Viggo was on display, but because its brutal as hell, naked or clothed.
The theater I was in during Forgetting Sarah Marshall seemed to mostly find Segel's nudity funny, a couple of guys turned away and said "I don't need to see that," but again, a penis not really a big deal (no insult intended).
Maybe its because I've seen a lot of movies with nudity in them, both serious and comical, but its not really shocking. I'm all for either sex's nudity being frank if it serves the film. Both in FSM, Eastern Promises, and Walk Hard, frontal male nudity either add to the comedy of the scene, or the brutality of it, and the double standard that exists is hopefully being broken because of them.
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4-23-2008 @ 2:21PM
BondsBabe said...
female nudity has never bother me at all, but 'Nude Dude' used to make me more uncomfortable, or laugh out loud, than it does now. I've been trying to broaden my horizons. Like I love Eastern Promises, but when I first saw it (loved it then) I was with my Sunday School teaching sister, now that gets uncomfortable! But the movie wouldn't be the same if Viggo wasn't nude, it makes the scene. Both my sister and I loved it. Couldn't wait for the dvd to come out.
But I have to say you want to get some uncomfortable male nudity that might be mentally scarring so be warned, get the directors cut of Nicholas Roeg's The Man Who Fell To Earth, now David Bowie nude, thumbs up! Rip Torn nude thummbss waaayy down. That my friend is uncomfortable!
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4-23-2008 @ 2:57PM
Aliza said...
I personally think its a matter of acustomed decency. I don't like being ogled, so I don't ogle others. Does it make me uncomfortable to see others naked? Yes. Why? Probably the way I was raised (Aliza, don't stare!!) In any case I'm quite comfortable averting my eyes, I've never run screaming or gagging from a movie because of nudity.
Aliza
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4-23-2008 @ 3:03PM
pete thomson said...
It says a lot about the latent homophobia and largely juvenile attitude that exists towards male nudity -and fear of being mistaken for being gay -in american culture that this is being debated at all. Male nudity is a regular feature in a lot of European movies, we are confident enough and liberal enough not to be bothered by it , we even see it on TV. Course we also have more progressive gay rights and dont resort to teenage representations of mindless car crashes and gun battles to sell our cinema!!!!
"Young Adam" the recent Ewan Mcgregor movie is a case in point. McGregor is a scottish Hollywood actor who has spoken out against mindless violence in US movies, and has no problem getting his ample winkle out on screen. Within the context of Young Adam and many other European films male nudity represents intimacy, maturity and a relaxed, natural, comfortable attitude towards sex and being human.It also reduces the possibility of female actresses being seen as sex objects. Do American women cringe at the endless pointless inclusion of chuff or tits in US films?
Most Heterosexual American men cant really deal with male nudity straight or gay or the ideas of two guys being nude together. Male nudity is a common feature on british tv as is a positive representation of same sex relationships. Maybe if mainstream american movies weren't so juvenile in their sexist depiction of women as whores or girlfriends then this sort of stupid debate would become a thing of the past. Once again Im glad Im not living there we Europeans are far more sorted out in our cinema and our culture.
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4-23-2008 @ 3:04PM
Jon said...
The naked cock is the American taboo. Even more taboo if it's erect. Odd, since so many of our public monuments and obsessions are either symbolically phallic or blatantly so. Probably stems from our Puritan roots, not to mention the patriarchy trying to preserve "mystique" by keeping the All Powerful Phallus cloaked. Believe me: this shit goes deep.
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4-23-2008 @ 3:11PM
Joe said...
Lemme put it this way: I'm attracted to women. I'm not attracted to men. Ergo, watching naked men = awkward. A penis isn't exactly the funnest thing to look at in the first place, either.
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4-23-2008 @ 3:34PM
pete thomson said...
the level of debate being represented here in very shallow. I wasn't aware that movies are to be watched purely to look at attractive women. You lo have some serious issues How would you cope in a European cinema? And yet nobodys complaining about somebody getting there head blown off! Come On uptight Americans you have heads too does it not make you wince when people are shot mindlessly in your movies ....or just in your high schools?
4-23-2008 @ 3:48PM
Joe said...
Thanks for taking a shot at our high schools - very necessary to this argument. And yes, I've seen plenty of European films (not in the theaters - not enough cash to actually visit the region just yet), I've been exposed to plenty of nudity and all that. But, as a straight male, I'd prefer not to check out another guy's jewels. Just the fact of the matter. I don't watch movies to look at attractive women, but if it's there, "hey another pair of breasts" is pretty much my reaction. I can understand a lot of guys would say just about the same thing about a pair of balls - that's just not me. I get irked a tad bit by it, much like somebody's head getting blown off would garner a reaction (but gross generalizations of Americans would say something different, so you're just going to have to take my word for it). I'm not going to run out of the room or cover my eyes, but I'd be lying to say I was comfortable with it, plain and simple.
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4-23-2008 @ 4:13PM
pete thomson said...
sorry m8 dont take it personally you do seem a bit uptight though? Why not run past Blockbuster an pick up some classics of world cinema "Presque Rien" is one, or "Young Adam" or "1900" or "The Piano" or "Son Frere" or "Tell No One" Maybe the knob isn't integral in the last one but if you're skinny dipping with your childhood sweetheart in the middle of the night its naff to wear trunks. Needles to say the French excel at whipping out their knobs in most films it represents their virility and healthy attitude towards sex. Check them out Im sure nobody will think youre gay. If you continue to demonstrate revulsion why not stick tape over the willie part of the screen. Im sure youre a nice guy really.
4-23-2008 @ 3:57PM
RC said...
I assume this new trend of penises in movies is simply for the benefit of ladies. Don't women get just as turned on by wangs as I do for boobs?
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