This is actually a good topic to discuss and I'm glad you brought it up. If you are (North) American, then the nudity of both Winstone's and Jolie's characters will have a different meaning than it will for, say, Western Europeans and others. Breasts aren't hardly sexualized in many countries as they are in the U.S.. What the average non-American would perceive as sexual were the shots of Grendel's Mother's groin nude. In most places in the world, a woman's breasts aren't overtly sexual, but a man or woman's genitals are. The hip area aside, the filmmakers did cover Grendel's Mother's nipples and areolae with the gold mud/paint/ectoplasm stuff, probably because it was a PG-13 movie. They also covered her pubic region with the same, though it still is considered sexual in America if it is not covered. I would imagine the exclusion of Winstone's character's genitals was a decision not to raise the homophobia of the target demographic (13-25 y.o. males of the western world) and possibly significantly undermine box office in the process. Yes, I think showing the female character's uncovered genital area and not treating the male character the same IS sexist in that it objectifies women, but we're talking about a film made on a sexist planet, here. And no, I'm not gay. I could make Angelina Jolie see eternity if I could get her to forget about Brad Pitt for 10 hours. :)
What are your thoughts?
dboh
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blikst
15 years ago
I wouldn't really say Angelina's character had her genital area uncovered. She looked more like a Barbie doll painted in gold than anything. It would be harder to generalize a male "area" in the same way.
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dboh
15 years ago
I can see your point, but a woman shaved looks like that. Personally, I don't consider the gold stuff as coverage...she's just painted. Yeah, you're right, it would be harder to generalize a male area the same way! Maybe they covered Beowulf strategically for that simple reason! lol
dboh
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blikst
15 years ago
Even a shaved woman's "area" wouldn't look as "Barbie dolled" as that if you are going to portrait it accurately. Anyway, I just didn't think it was such a big deal. Thought they probably could have avoided the scene where the camera travels over the demon's body as the demon walks out of the water to avoid some controversy. But I bet it was one of the main reasons for drawing people into the theaters, so I guess the production company would have minded. ;)
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varealtor1
15 years ago
Actually, I thought there was a tier with nudity and ratings
PG - Bare male chest
PG-13 - Bare female chests but there's a tendency to hide the nipple.
R - Full breast shots, brief frontal nudity. Although when it comes to frontal nudity for women, it's just hair not an actual genitalia shot.
X & up - Anything goes
Anyway, based on that. I would say the ratings system seems to be more concerned about protecting our children from the female form.
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