Nudity in film

Nudity in film refers to the presentation in motion pictures of people without clothing, whether as full nudity — a view of someone's entire nude body — or more modest versions of nudity.

Nudity in film should be distinguished from sex in film. Nudity of a sexual nature is common in pornographic films. In softcore films there are limitations, such as avoiding depicting a penis. Erotic films are suggestive of sexuality, but need not contain nudity. A film on naturism or about people where nudity is common may contain non-sexual nudity. In some genres of film nudity may be rare.

Nude scenes can be controversial because they may challenge some people's standards of modesty. These standards vary by culture, and depend 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 use a censorship rating system to control content of films, with the intention of limiting content that is deemed by the government and/or the movie industry to be harmful or undesirable, morally or otherwise. Nudity is usually one of the aspects of a film subject to censorship or rating.

For this reason, it has been said that many directors and producers limit nudity (and other content) in their films to avoid censorship or a strict rating, in countries that have a rating system.¹ Directors and producers may also choose to limit nudity because of objections from actors involved, or for a wide variety of other personal, artistic, genre-bound or narrative-oriented reasons.

US cinematography

Audrey Munson in Inspiration (1915), the first non-pornographic film containing nude scenes.

Several early films of the silent era and early sound era included nude scenes, presented 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 between 1960 and 1964. ² In 1961 in the UK Harrison Marks released Naked as Nature Intended starring Pamela Green to box office success.

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 1963, Tommy Noonan persuaded Jayne Mansfield to become the first mainstream American actress to appear nude with a starring role in the film Promises! Promises!. Photographs of a naked Mansfield on the set were published in Playboy. In one notorious set of images, Mansfield stares at one of her breasts, as does her male secretary and a hair stylist, then grasps it in one hand and lifts it high. The sold-out issue resulted in an obscenity charge for Hugh Hefner, which was later dropped. Promises! Promises! was banned in Cleveland, but it enjoyed box office success elsewhere. As a result of the film's success, Mansfield landed on the Top 10 list of Box Office Attractions for that year.³ The autobiographical book, Jayne Mansfield's Wild, Wild World, she wrote together with Mickey Hargitay, was published right after Promises! Promises! and contains 32 pages of black-and-white photographs from the film printed on glossy paper.⁴

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, a expection being in the film Beloved which shows closeup of a woman rubbing her vulva.^{citation needed} In 2007 Judd Apatow announced "I'm gonna get a penis in every movie I do from now on. . . . It really makes me laugh in this day and age, with how psychotic our world is, that anyone is troubled by seeing any part of the human body."⁵ 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^{citation needed}.

Male frontal nudity in a non-sexual context is seemingly becoming more acceptable in mainstream American cinema. The 2007 film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall both featured male frontal nudity in the context of comedy.

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 is 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, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Eliza Dushku are among those American actresses who have publicly stated that they will never do a nude scene.⁶⁷⁸

Drawings and animation

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.⁹

Contents

US cinematography

Drawings and animation

See also

Notes and references

Further reading

External links