I am flabbergasted that the shower scene from Psycho is being held up as a non sensational or pornographic example of nudism in film. First, Hitchcock is known for his hyspersexualized female leads. Secondly, this is a horror film. The genre requires that women who are sexually impure be killed for their sins. This is what is happening in this very scene. Further, the non melodic score by Bernard Hermann is a direct cue to what is happening: stylized sexual violence. If it was nudity in the narrative, it would be diagetic scoring. This is non-diagetic to push the scene out of the film into something else: a conceit of women's liberation as seen through the eyes of Hitch. This is his anti-beatnik anti liberal anti women statement. It was also the most graphic scene ever filmed and past the censors. The shower curtain mimics the soft focus of the vaseline lens. I can't see how this is normalized but it is iconic.
Prospero's Books https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102722/
It's a fantastical reinterpretation of "The Tempest." Most of the actors are nude at some point; and the extras are nude almost the entire movie. The story goes that the extras were actually recruited from nudist resorts. Hence the natural nudity throughout the movie.
Castaway https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092732/?ref_=nv_sr_1
This is not the Tom Hanks movie. It's about a couple that gets voluntarily stranded on a desert island. They are both nude throughout the movie, which makes sense on a desert island. It is based on the book by Lucy Irvine:
https://johnrieber.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/lucy-irvine-castaway.jpg
Naked Fear https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0943326/
A man kidnaps unsuspecting women, drugs and disrobes them, and then hunts them. An actually very powerful performance by the actress, who not only is nude most of the movie, but still conveys the emotion and vulnerability of someone who is not only naked in the open, but is also being hunted.
Silent films tend to have a few, the best I can think of is the bathing scene in The Big Parade, where the main character is horrified the french girl sees some of the soldiers bathing, but she really doesn't think it's that big a deal. The other if from the first half of Die Nibelungen, where the hero is seen bathing in the blood of the dragon he slew, and is used to show that he has one point of his body that was untouched by the blood, and is vulnerable to attack (he also tells everyone this apparently. No wonder he dies...not saying spoilers here since the movie is almost 100 years old).
For more modern tastes, I can't think of many. For what it's worth, Caligula does feature a lot of non-sexualized, historically accurate nudity at times (notable example being the road workers near the beginning of the film), and it seems the original planned version might been more in line with this way of thinking before it was reshot and butchered.
Also, any movie that has nude witches since it's not only pretty accurate but it's never really an overtly sexual thing. In fact, in the movie The vvitch the witches are downright terrifying until the end, where they just come off as being very free beings who, even if they do bad things, I feel it wasn't a bad ending to the film.
Good uses of nudity? Well if it doesn't specifically have to be nudism, - just not for the purposes of titillation - then . . .
1. Under The Skin.
The nudity here is used for many purposes, at first it reflects a clinical mindset, second it uses it to show vulnerability (albeit in a horrifying way). Thirdly it shows how the body can be used as a weapon, and finally it is the discovery of the inherent beauty within the body. Overall at is an excellent movie, but definitely creepy (it is an atmospheric existential horror though so . . .)
2. Wonder Woman.
This movie uses it in a very practical way. There is a brief scene where Diana walks in on Steve as he is bathing. He's a bit sheepish about it but it makes sense that she would firstly not share his shame and secondly be a bit curious simply because she's never met a man before. It's played for laughs but it's actually fairly appropriate given the subject matter
3. The Faculty.
SPOILER. The plot of this movie is Invasion of the Body Snatchers set in high school. It's a descent sci-fi horror. towards the end, one of the characters is revealed to be the main alien, transforms into a huge monster and chases them about. When it changes back to hunt them through smaller areas, the character is naked because why wouldn't they be? They weren't wearing Hulk pants.
Actions
Back to TopicsReply to TopicShare this topic
Get paid just by sending us users/traffic.
Signup takes seconds, start now!
Signup as an affiliate!