Nudity in film
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Nudity in film is the appearance of people without clothing in motion pictures, including both full nudity — a view of someone's entire nude body — and other, more modest versions of nudity.
Nudity abounds in many pornographic films; however, in a softcore film there are limitations; for example, some softcore films avoid depicting any penis.
A film on naturism or about a people where nudity is common may contain much non-sexual nudity.
In other films nudity is so rare that if a film has only a few minutes of nudity, this may, relatively speaking, already be considered "much" nudity.
Nude scenes can be controversial because they can violate boundaries defining modesty. These boundaries vary by culture, and vary depending on who is exposed, which parts of the body are exposed, the duration of the exposure, the pose, the context, and other variables. Regardless, many cultures govern the use of nudity in cinematic film by a tiered system of censorship. Such systems are predominately aimed at limiting access to content that is deemed harmful by the government and/or the movie industry.
For this reason, many directors and producers restrict the use of nudity in their films, as part of a desire to avoid censorship or a strict rating (in countries that make use of a rating system)[1]. Directors and producers may also choose to curtail nudity based on resistance from actors involved, or for a wide variety of other personal, artistic, genre-bound or narrative-oriented reasons.
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[edit] History of nudity in US film
Audrey Munson appeared in the first American film to feature nudity by a leading actor, Inspiration (1915)[citation needed].
Several early films of the silent era and early sound era featured nudity; one standard justification for a nude scene was to include it in a historical or religious context. Cecil B. DeMille, whose later reputation was that of a family entertainment specialist, included several nude scenes in his early epics. Other filmmakers followed suit. Harry Lachman's Dante's Inferno featured many naked women suffering in the bowels of hell. The early Tarzan films with Johnny Weismuller featured at least partial nudity justified by the natural surroundings in which the characters lived. Nudity of natives was also portrayed in jungle epics.
In response to objections voiced by several groups – and at least partly due to the notorious 1933 Czech film Ecstasy, which featured a nude scene by Hedy Lamarr – scenes of nudity were forbidden in films from the major American studios from 1934 until the late 1960s under the Motion Picture Production Code, also known as the Hays Code. During this time, the only acceptable cinematic displays of nudity in the U.S. were in naturist quasi-documentary films and in foreign films. Other portrayals were in early pornographic films which, due to limited means of distribution, were not widely seen.
Nudist films are a genre of films associated with the 1950s and 1960s, although the genre has roots dating back to the 1930s. Nudist films claim to depict the lifestyles of members of the nudism or naturist movement, but were largely a vehicle for the exhibition and commercial exploitation of female nudity within the context of public theatrical screenings.
Famous examples of nudist films are Garden of Eden (1954) directed by Max Nosseck. Other producers and directors active in the genre included David F. Friedman, Herschell Gordon Lewis, and Barry Mahon. Filmmaker Doris Wishman was probably the most active producer/director in the genre, with eight nudist films to her credit during the early 1960s.
The 1959 film The Immoral Mr. Teas by Russ Meyer, in which the main character was overcome with fantasies of nude women, was the first non-naturist feature film to openly exhibit nudity and is, because of that, widely considered the first pornographic feature. The 1964 film The Pawnbroker became the first movie under the Hays Code to show a woman with bare breasts (specifically, an African-American woman). In 1966, the British-Italian film Blowup became the first mainstream English-language film to show a woman's pubic hair, although the particular shot was only a few seconds long. (Some sources, such as Playboy Magazine in their History of Sex in Cinema series, have stated that the pubic hair exposure was unintended).
In autumn 1966 the Motion Picture Association of America unveiled a new Production Code. The new Code replaced specific rules, including those on nudity, with more general principles advising caution in matters like nudity and sexual intimacy. It also gave the MPAA the power to label certain films as "Suggested for Mature Audiences". In November 1968, the MPAA abandoned the Production Code altogether and replaced it with the voluntary rating system. Nudity could then be legitimately included in a commercially distributed film. However, many movie theaters still refuse to show films with X or NC-17 ratings, which is frequently a barrier to commercial success. A few X-rated films, however, have been critical successes, including A Clockwork Orange (1971), Last Tango in Paris (1973), and Midnight Cowboy, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture in 1969.
At present, genital nudity is still rare in U.S. cinema. Anything more than a very small amount of genital nudity, especially in a sexual context, often leads to an NC-17 (or X, in the past) rating. (One notable exception is Porky's (1982), a broad sex comedy with an R rating that featured several full-frontal nude scenes with multiple men and women (though never both together).) In the 2000s, most nude scenes lead only to an R rating from the MPAA, instead of NC-17. Many films that were once rated X have been "re-rated" R.
Few mainstream American films show male or female genitalia (in what is called by many full frontal nudity scene). While it is not entirely uncommon for women to appear in full frontal nude scenes, the female genitalia commonly remains obscured by pubic hair. The cases where a penis appears fully or semi-erected in mainstream films are very limited, in part due to ratings pressure from the MPAA, which finds it more acceptable for a male's genitals to be depicted in a flaccid state. The film Angels and Insects (1996) was given an NC-17 rating specifically because an actor had an erection.
More commonly, buttocks and female breasts are displayed in order to titillate, surprise, disgust, or otherwise amuse the viewer. These types of nude scenes generally lead to an R rating from the MPAA[citation needed], although they may also earn a PG or PG-13 rating, if the nudity in question is not presented in an obviously sexualized context (e.g. a scene of the PG-rated Footloose, in which a minor character is seen from behind while taking a shower after having attended a physical education class).
The tastefulness of nude scenes are hotly debated in the United States. Adding nudity to films may increase both audience interest and publicity. However, some movie critics view gratuitous nudity (that which is not necessary for the plot) negatively. Various actors refuse to appear on film in the nude citing either their personal morals or the risk to their reputation and/or career. Elisha Cuthbert, Lindsay Lohan and Eliza Dushku are among those American actresses which have publicly stated that they will never do a nude scene.[2][3][4]
[edit] Drawings and animation
In animated films, nudity is also limited. The Simpsons Movie (2007) has a brief scene in which Bart Simpson is fully nude, and carries a PG-13 rating. Another famous exception is South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999), which carries an R rating and shows a scene depicting bare-breasted angels.
In the mixed live action/animation film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), during a taxi crash there is a brief shot up Jessica Rabbit's dress, showing a darker coloured area.[5]
The film Superbad (2007) shows many drawings of penises. This may indicate that nudity in drawings in a live-action film is more acceptable than nudity of the characters in an animated film.
Beowulf (2007) shows a fight of a naked man in 3-D, but the depiction is more modest, the seemingly-by-chance obscuring of genitals is carried to the extreme.
[edit] See also
- Depictions of nudity
- List of non-pornographic films featuring nudity
- No-nudity clause
- Nudity in American television
- Sex in film
- List of mainstream films with unsimulated sex
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ In the US the strict rating NC-17 reduces the number of people going to the movie theater not only because it excludes people under 18, but also because few theaters show these films at all.
- ^ 'Girl Next Door' Won't Take It Off For Audiences - Entertainment News Story - KETV Omaha
- ^ Lohan says she'll never do a nude scene - Access Hollywood - MSNBC.com
- ^ Eliza Dushku - Biography
- ^ Urban Legends Reference Pages: Naked Jessica Rabbit
[edit] Further reading
- Jones, Marvin. (1996). Movie Buff Checklist: Male Nudity in the Movies. (5th ed.) Panorama City, Cal.: Campfire Productions. ISBN 1-888211-04-0.
- Hosoda, Craig. (2001). The Bare Facts Video Guide. Bare Facts. ISBN 0-9625474-9-2.
- Mr. Skin (2004). Mr. Skin's Skincyclopedia: The A-to-Z Guide to Finding Your Favorite Actresses Naked. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-33144-4.
- Storey, Mark. (2003). Cinema Au Naturel: A History of Nudist Film. Naturist Education Foundation. ISBN 0-9740844-0-9.
[edit] External links
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