Lots of tongues wagging this week about how Viggo Mortensen’s naked knife fight in Eastern Promises heralds a new era of male full-frontal nudity on screen. (Exhibits B through D: Emile Hirsch’s nude scene in Into the Wild; Ang Lee’s NC-17-rated Lust, Caution, and over on HBO, that casually explicit handjob on Tell Me You Love Me.) But before you get too excited about this rising trend, remember that we hear similar talk every few years. Back in the early ’90s, indie dramas were showing us every inch of Harvey Keitel, Bruce Willis, Jaye Davidson, and Harvey Keitel again. At the end of the decade, we were seeing a lot of Ewan McGregor, Kevin Bacon, and (in prosthetic form) Mark Wahlberg. Each time, however, the trend would deflate after a few movies, and there would be no penis talk for a long while.
Why the up-and-down cycles? It’s not the actors; every time I’ve interviewed an actor and the subject of full-frontal has popped up, they’ve all said they’d be willing if the script demanded it. So either the filmmakers are squeamish, or audiences are. (Or both.) It could be that we’re conditioned (by four decades of female nudity in mainstream films, not to mention the entire history of Western art) to view female nudity as beautiful and erotic and male nudity as awkward and ridiculous. (See Borat.) Will we become more comfortable watching actors go commando if filmmakers make it more commonplace? Are you eager, PopWatchers, to see your favorite actors in the altogether, or would you just as soon have them keep their packages wrapped?
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The double standard that does not die. I say parity in nudity.
If the script and story justify the nudity and it’s not gratuitous, then there’s nothing wrong with female or male nudity.
I say: Bring on the weiners!
You used the wrong form of “too” up there…it should read, “But before you get TOO excited about this rising trend…” The pun still works, though!
I think male frontal can be distracting because we’re not used to seeing it (and frankly, they’re not the most attractive parts of the anatomy, gay or straight), but I think that with time and audience exposure (no pun intended)they can become a bigger part of the picture (again, no pun intended).
The issue’s that most women aren’t that into seeing a weinus.
Per Elaine in Seinfeld, the male body is more utilitarian than anything else. Thus, the ladies seem to dig on pecks, buttocks and built dudes,which is what most movies show when they got the nudie men on.
Personally, I don’t care one way or the other. I like it when they show a hottie starlet in her birthday suit (and a lot of folks agree with me. How much $$$ did Halle Berry get to show off her goodies in Swordfish?), but haven’t heard from any woman a line like “oh, I wonder what Hugh Jackman’s got under the hood”. If it’s what audiences demand, I say let it happen.
Oh, and Susman, you forgot to mention Tim Robbins who went commando in The Player.
Studios cater to an overwhelmingly strong male box office presence. (i.e. 300 fared better than The Nanny Diaries). Studios for the most part like to put on the screen what guys want to see, and that does not include a face full of dong.
Bring on the men! I’ve seen enough breasts to last me a life time…it’s time for women to have something else to look at.
Hmmmm. I don’t know, 50 foot tall wrinkly bits might leave some folks traumatized.
Because I’m a feminist and strong believer in equality, I’ll say this: BRING ON THE WEINERS!!!!!!!
But it’s Aragorn!!!! Ewwww….. I’d never be able to view LOTR the same way again!!
Show it all!!!
Viggo’s already bared it all in Sean Penn’s 1991 The Indian Runner. It’s nothing new to him.
I’m all for the desensitizing of our culture to the natural condition of nudity. We’re ridiculous.
I’m a straight guy who is a filmlover and I say, “Bring it on”. Why the heck should we shy away from ANY form of nudity? It all seems rather silly to me. If the plot calls for it then run with it. Oh, and let’s hope that the MPAA brings on their “Hard R” which will hopefully remove the theater owners prejudice against mainstream, adult fare. I find that both ridiculous and censorial in nature and hope that the two factions (MPAA and NATO) can reach an agreement sometime soon.
Only in America can people be so freaked out about nudity in general or even quick flashes of it (Janet Jackson, anyone?). Nudity is nothing to be ashamed of. What really bothers me is how 99% of parents would rather their children watch a movie that has hardcore violence rather than one that offers a glimpse of a naked body. What kind of insanity is that? Nudity is natural and beautiful. Violence is ugly.
Female nudity can be just as ridiculous as what was in “Borat” (see “There’s Something About Mary”). I think the reasons male nudity is rarer than female nudity in film are varied, though, and include the patriarchal nature of our society and the film industry, the fact that men are generally more interested in seeing naked women than women are in seeing naked men, males have more protruding sexual organs than women and therefore it’s perceived as more graphic, etc.
I’m sure there are more reasons, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind. There’s also a tendency for women to be sexual and men to be violent in a lot of movies, which is probably related to who makes those movies. At any rate, I’m all for equality in nudity and creating a freer culture that doesn’t view nudity and sexuality (not the same thing) so puritanically.
Sure, yeah, nudity for men. It’s ridiculous to see a sex scene and the woman is completely nude and the man completely dressed or at least mostly. I wouldn’t want to see gratuitous, even though most female nudity is. Americans (and I am one) are far too hung up on nudity. It’s embarrassing the flap over Janet’s flap! C’mon, it’s just a breast (on the other hand, the uproar over Britney’s, um, crotch was just plain gross but she was asking for it).
Viggo…. leave your underwear on!!
I’m a healthy hetero woman, and I’m not afraid to say that the naked male body does not arouse like a naked female body. What arouses a woman is the situation, the action, the tension. Just viewing a “weiner” doesn’t do it. It’s not the most beautiful part of a man.
I would like to add that the Casino Royale scene where Daniel Craig (Bond) comes out of the ocean in his swimsuit is COMPLETELY AROUSING and doesn’t involve nudity. I believe women would want more of that.
Coach’s Mistress is right on this one.
Less is more. Or is it, more is less? Whatever…
Might part of the reason male stars are less likely to show their naughty bits is that they’re afraid their naughty bits will be seen as itty-bitty? Not every guy is well-endowed, even in Hollywood. With clothes on, one can create illusion.
If I were an actor in the position of not want ing to bare my privates, and the director insisted that nudity would be better for the film, I would ask that they do a CGI of it. That way, everybody’s happy….I think.
Is a country where just the title of Timberlake’s Emmy nominated song is censored really ready for this? How many other countries would have cared at all about the Janet thing?
As for movies, several others have correctly mentioned that women don’t generally have any interest in seeing the men naked in the same way men are with women. Having said that, people should be dressed (or undressed) as appropriate for the circumstances. For me though dress a good looking guy in smart white shirt and trousers (hey, I’m British!) and I just swoon …
Male nudity should be fine. There was plenty in Deadwood. I honestly don’t think all male nudity is necessary, but given that practically all female nudity is unecessary that should be fine.
i dont think there should be any nudity, male or female on movies, or in plays because thats like a special thing that should only be shared with your special someone. not the whole movie-goer audience. & i dont want to see naked people anyways…
The male body is beautiful – the more full frontal the better!
Show them – show them – all the time!
I don’t agree with nudity on screen, in theatre, in music videos or in public. There is simply no need for it. However, since for years on end we’ve been bombarded with female nudity, however useless and degrading, I think in the pursiut of fairness and equality there should be more male nudity. By more I mean as much as female nudity. If this bothers people, maybe they should examine why they think it’s ok for a woman to be unclothed and wrong for a man…