Ahhh, the good old-fashioned debate about penises in films. Here's my honest, pedantic, and mostly objective take on it. I agree that penises are way over-used in mainstream American films nowadays. I wouldn't have a problem if it showed up every now and then in a natural setting to enrich the plot. The problem is that it is thrown into every new "raunchy" R-rated mainstream comedy for shock value. And since the viewers are now becoming numb to seeing a glimpse of a penis, the boundaries have to be pushed- whether it's shown for longer periods of time, in more ridiculous ways, excrutiating close-ups with fabulous angles and lighting, fully shaven, or now the en vogue preference, in erect form. Here's a taste of the new movies I am alluding to: Fifty Shades of Black, The Night Before, Dirty Grandpa, Vacation, Spy, Unfinished Business, Get Hard, Hall Pass, Bruno, Borat, The Hangover films, Saving Sarah Marshall, Wolf on Wall Street, and so on. Whether it's a prosthetic or a real penis is irrelevant given the super realistic new age cinematic dongs being used. When I speak of erections, you will conveniently find them in Spy (more in unrated), The Night Before, Wolf on Wall Street, Bruno, Under the Skin, and many non mainstream films not worth mentioning. When will the exploitation of the male body end? And why must it be so ubiquitous in comedy films, many of which are intended for the male viewer?
The MPAA has clearly demonstrated that the penis is no longer off limits for R-rated films, and that it's inclusion no longer requires adequate justification. Indeed, the penis scenes have become just as common as the topless scene, albeit in different contexts. One could even argue that it has surpassed the almighty breasts in terms of exposure. This should raise concerns, or at the very least, curiosity, about the significance of this paradigm shift with respect to cinematic nudity, and exactly what this means for the future. Some may argue that this makes up for the decades of exploitative full female nudity, often meant to titillate the male viewers. There are others like myself who believe I shouldn't have to be surprised by a penis every time I want to see an edgy R-rated film. The debate surrounding this topic is heavy and common ground is often elusive. This brings me to my next point: where's the vagina?!
Where IS the vagina? When was the last time you actually saw any hint of the female genitals in a mainstream R-rated American film? Think of one now...can you? I doubt you can, at least one with verifiable exposure. Sure, you'll mention Basic Instinct, but the problem is that the lighting was so poor, and the pubic hair so thick, that even relying on slow-mo with a quick pause of the remote, you still question whether there's even a sliver of labia major. Then there's Knocked Up with the birthing scene where an unmistakable baby's head is exiting the birth canal. But do you see any detail surrounding the head? The clitoris is simply MIA (missing in action)! Leave it to the human mind to embellish what it thinks it saw, and ridicule the opponents. Take the film, Harold and Kumar Escape from Guatanamo Bay. There's a bottomless party scene where all of the women lack undergarments and appear to be well-trimmed, if not fully shaven. The problem is that no matter how hard you look, you simply cannot see any pudendal cleft, labia, clitoris, or anything else (for reference, a pundendal cleft is seen in natural, standing position: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pudendal_cleft). There's even a close-up scene where the camera pans down the front of a bare female to the pubic region, but you still cannot see any hint whatsoever of the genitals. Why is that, you ask? In an effort to protect the sanctity of the almighty vulva, a thick merkin was place atop the sensitive region to fully conceal the details. Why even have a scene like that if you have to hide what's naturally there? And back to the myriad bottomless women at the party- they all wore either skin-colored merkins or were later photoshopped to be perfectly smooth and bereft of genitals. Some have argued that the cart-wheeling female did indeed show the cleft, but I had difficult discerning any detail. This is nothing new. You will see the same treatment in the film Wolf on Wall Street with the fully nude and "shaven" women in the hot tub scene (not one vulva is revealed). Hell, even a person associated with that movie's production crew admitted that the MPAA demanded the removal of any and all female genitals, hence the photoshopping, merkin use, and whatever it took to reach compliance. Don't mind the masturbation seen where an erect penis was seen on Jonah Hill before and after he was beat by his girlfriend... To be fair, the vulva has made an appearance in some lesser-known films such as Trance, Code 46, and a couple others I can't think of now.
Let's get this over with now: I may be a pervert and may have spent an unhealthy amount of time concerning myself with this seemingly innocuous cinematic phenomenon. Call me what you will, but I do have a psychology degree and a healthy curiosity of the natural world around us, including human sexuality.
In conclusion, it has been almost a decade since I witnessed the paradigm shift in cinematic nudity, and it has piqued my curiosity ever since. I think it's the dichotomous perceptions of those experiencing the new form of male exploitation that is the most interesting. Sure, a penis is only a penis, but what does it mean? People like me and the OP so clearly recognize a trend or a double standard, while others either don't see it for a number of reasons, or simply don't appreciate the gravity of the situation. Either way, this is an unfolding scene in the movie industry and one that may take some interesting turns in the future. There's nothing wrong with either the male or female body, and nothing to fear with either. Let's just poke fun at both of them equally without discrimination, hate, fear, or jealousy. Let's all move to a position of understanding and move beyond it. But first, let's recognize that the elephant in the room is not the beastly display of the penis, but instead the utter absence of female genital exposure in any form, and the common fear that goes along with it. That my fellow movie-goers, is the real travesty here.
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