nudity vs. violence in films
i have nothing against violence in films if it tells a story and is important to the action, but i do not know why nudity gets cut or never even put into film when harshviolence is considered acceptable. i am not just talking about sexual nudity. i think that if more naked bodies were seen in films it would take away the stigma. if it was shown as natural, seeing people changing clothes, showering, walking around naked at home, nude swimming, it might make it just feel and seem more ordinary. Our natural state is nude. i get that society is not going to all turn naked with people going to work with no clothes on, but movies could be more relaxed about it and helpt to ease the discomfort.
I agree that nudity needs to be more common in films... In the recent Twilight series several scenes were changed simply to avoid nudity without taking the storyline into acount (ignore the fact that the 'werewolves' lose their clothes when shifting to wolf form or change the scene with Bella's first kill to avoid 'embarassing' damage to her dress...or even the childbirth scene where the book had Bella nude to more easily get at the baby)
Imagine what the censors would do if someone made a nudist version of The Little Mermaid....rated R probably with Ariel portraid by the critics as a prostitute...just because in a nudist version she wouldn't go strait for the rags to hide herself from Prince Eric after she becomes human
I know what you mean and Twilight is a great example, also the TV series True Blood. In both you have werewolves who are nude when tansforming to human form, but at least on True Blood they often show the nudity. I find it so distracting when they go to such lengths as to sacrifice the storyto cover up nudity for what they think is the marketability of videos to young audiences. Producers would do better to just tell the story logically and purely and stay true, even when it is a supernatural theme.
I think that it may have something to do with the way society wants us all to behave ... although if one would consider such, and bearing in mind the number of violent shows on television, we can be lead to think that society or tv producers wants us all to be violent, but nowadays have gone extremely blurred since shows like the now "extincts" True Blood and Spartacus were full of sex and violence. My approach to is that violence has asort of cathartic feel to it, in the sense that once we see so much violence, I think the last thing we think about doing is smashing peoples heads or going on a wild violent rampage. All and all, I think that the secret is not to exploit both things, something that a lot of television shows, sadly, dont know how to do.
One thing I think I hear you saying is that if TV or films use violence or sex they tend to exploit it and I guess I mostly agree. Much of the nudity in American films seems to be designed to titillate or maybe give just a small taste of something exploitative to attract either male or female viewers. What I also notice though, is that sometimes I am watching a film and I get the sense that what would be a natural and normalopportunity in the story to show nudity ends up being cut out so the movie can be marketed more broadly to a mass audience. I think European and South American cinema is so much better at allowing nudity as part of the story.
Well, as pretentious as my following view on this topic may sound, I think that the reason why we, europeans, have a much more laid back approach nudity towards sex is because we, or should I say, some european movie directors, seem to clinge to this idea of lost innocence that I think can be felt throughout the continent. Lets not forget that Europe has been responsible for some of the deadliest wars this planet has ever witnessed, we had countries battling other countries for pieces of land and then the entire world, so I guess that now, were trying to make amends with our past, by showcasing what some may perceive as the purest form of human bondness is concerned (personally I think that friendship is the strongest bond, but sadly such a concept is underrated these days). Its a very random view, I know, but some sex scenes in european shows/filmes are sometimes met with a lot of angst and a certain melancholia. As for americans, I think that it will take some time for peoples attitudes towards sex to change, since when compared to us, the United States is still a "child". Last but not least, I also feel that sometimes when I see sex in some american films, there doesnt seem to be a sort of middle term, its either too raunchy, with low lighting, intense looks and some slow mo, which sometimes makes me wonder if that is how americans have sex, or it can get laughable, like they are trying too much to push the envelope (True Blood and Spartacus are two exemples).
P.s: latins americans have a natural sensuality that I believe comes across in most of the things they do, dancing, singing, love making ....
You do have a point, in fact, there was this other italian director, Pier Paolo Passolini, who also directed a very gross movie that had a lot of nudity and violence, the french are also renowned for making some pretty daring pictures and lets not forget the spanish, but I think that most of those movies are seen as indie or underground, who get some sort of recognition due to status that their directors have achieved. And then, of course, you also have countries where nudity is also seen almost as a tabu, but very often witness the release of some pretty controversial films. In my countrys case, I guess that we used to be a bit more conservative towards sex in movies, I remembre this late director who once directed a movie during which we were constantly being given glimpses of a womans knickers and some pubic hair, it caused a stir, but now, some portuguese directors know that if they want to attract audiences they have to feature lots of sex ... but the way it pops up on screen ... jee louise, sometimes it can get pretty stupid.
Well, as pretentious as my following view on this topic may sound, I think that the reason why we, europeans, have a much more laid back approach nudity towards sex is because we, or should I say, some european movie directors, seem to clinge to this idea of lost innocence that I think can be felt throughout the continent. Lets not forget that Europe has been responsible for some of the deadliest wars this planet has ever witnessed, we had countries battling other countries for pieces of land and then the entire world, so I guess that now, were trying to make amends with our past, by showcasing what some may perceive as the purest form of human bondness is concerned (personally I think that friendship is the strongest bond, but sadly such a concept is underrated these days). Its a very random view, I know, but some sex scenes in european shows/filmes are sometimes met with a lot of angst and a certain melancholia. As for americans, I think that it will take some time for peoples attitudes towards sex to change, since when compared to us, the United States is still a "child". Last but not least, I also feel that sometimes when I see sex in some american films, there doesnt seem to be a sort of middle term, its either too raunchy, with low lighting, intense looks and some slow mo, which sometimes makes me wonder if that is how americans have sex, or it can get laughable, like they are trying too much to push the envelope (True Blood and Spartacus are two exemples).P.s: latins americans have a natural sensuality that I believe comes across in most of the things they do, dancing, singing, love making ....
I don't find that pretentious, I find it insightful and, although I am giving you just my immediate response I think I agree with most of what you said. I'll give it some more thought, but you make some very valid connections that really resonate with me.
Eheh, seems that we disagree on this matter for I think that True Blood did push the envelope a bit, but I may be saying this because I think that a show that had vampires as its main characters, as sexy as they may be perceived throughout history, doesnt really need to have that much sex, I mean, I think that Sookie was perhaps the most "conservative" character, maybe because Anna Paquin has become a renowned actress, I mean, she has even won an oscar for her role in "The Piano" , but generally speaking, especially the girls who fel head over feet for Erik, usually found themselves in some pretty raunchy scenes. But Spartacus, I believe, still remains the most visceral of the lot (Game of Thrones seems to be quite fond of sex as well), I mean, I never followed the show pretty closely, but when I saw it, not an episode went by when we didnt see the most acrobatic, slow motion, almost explicit sex scenes (and some were quite obscene).
I remember when The Queen was released and everyone was talking about the fact that in the past Helen Mirren had starred in some pretty sexually explicit movies, especially one called Caligula, but I guess that even if she decided to appear naked on screen now, she would impress everyone, especially girls who are trying to muster the strenght (?) to appear naked in films. You have mentioned Elizabeth Berkley and I also thought about Denise Richards, who had no problems appearing naked in that movie with Matt Dilllon, Kevin Bacon and Neve Campbell, and then surprised everyone by starring in this very dark comedy about beauty queen pageants: I remember she received rave reviews for her performance, but people avoided the film. I think that it all comes down to what they have to work with, I mean, if the script is good, if everything makes sense, and its not gratuitous, then nudity ends up being perceived as an integral part of the story.
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