Any self-respecting person would be indignant if asked to peep through a keyhole to watch people having sex. Yet no one grips at the millions peeping at sex scenes in blockbusters movies. Men, women, and children, young and old around the globe sit with glazed eyeballs glued on nudities and even perverse sex on their screens and no one bats an eyelid, as Shylock movie directors rake in billions at box offices. But there are hidden costs and sometimes actors and actress pay dearly for it. Marvel superhero, Evangeline Lilly freshly revealed that nudes she did 20 years ago still haunt her.
Lilly did partial nudes on a hit TV show called “Lost” that ran from the mid-to-late 2000s. She said that at 20, she was pressured by cutthroat directors who told her in no uncertain terms to bare it or lose it. She added that she will never do nudes again now that she has control over her career. She said hated those scripts casting her as a sex object.
“I did throw scripts across the room when I’d read them,” she scoffed.
And she is not alone. Famous actress, Mila Kunis, was once told she would have to pose half-naked on the cover of a men’s magazine to promote a film. When she refused, a producer reportedly threatened her by saying, “You’ll never work in this town again.”
With executioner’s axe hanging over their contracts, young actors and actress debase themselves on camera; years afterward, it returns to haunt and humiliate them, their families, and their friends.
Even though no one talks about it and no advocacy groups fight their causes, it is without a doubt that no one should be subjected to this shamefulness. Normal people cherish their privacy. Few sane men invite their bridge club to watch them making love to their wives or post videos of their bedroom antics online for every eye to see, so it shouldn’t be surprising that many actors and actresses deeply detest these roles.
“I can’t ever imagine myself doing nudity in a film,” superstar Magan Fox told MTV News in 2009. “It lives forever, especially now, with the Internet. I just can’t. I just can’t…Literally, all I have left are my private parts and I don’t want to also share them with the world. I’d like to keep them private. That’s why they’re called that!” Read more
It is funny that in backwater Africa, only criminals are paraded naked on the streets, it appears that in the more “civilized societies”, stars are paraded naked. Though they drape a cloak of glamour over it, when the wind blows, it exposes the wrecked lives underneath.
Due to the emotional distress and shame involved in shooting these sex scenes: the presence of an entire crew of camera people, set people, makeup artists, and directors barking orders at you–while you’re butt naked and cavorting—many established actresses opt-out and many more insist on “no nudity clause” in their contract.
Pundits scoff at the adverse effect of nudes. They claim it is just like any other job and that most sex scenes utilize body-double, computer-generated images (CGI), and nude-colored underwear to provide the illusion of sex, and that there is nothing wrong with it. But blockbusters don’t come with a rider that sex scenes are CGIs, nor do they deny that in many movies sex scenes involve real sex before the camera crew and that a body double is still someone’s body.
Actors and actresses are professionals but they aren’t immune to the effects of nudes, they are humans, with emotions and passions. It also disrupts social, and family ties. Superstar, Julia Robert, a mother of three, feels it is inappropriate for her to do nudes as a parent.
Nudes and sex scenes could account for the unusually high marital infidelity in Hollywood with an average divorce rate of celebrities at 52%, which is 2 times higher than the general population. Female has a 62% divorce rate, while the divorce rate of male is 50%
When all is said and done, no one can deny the evidence that nudes add to the objectification and exploitation of women by the industry, the recent case of Harvey Weinstein whose historic abuse of actresses working for him is still emerging. But the millions of people who watch these movies without discernment contribute indirectly in this objectification.
Furthermore, studies show that watching nudes harms young adults as well. Teen and young adults who watch pornography do less well than their peers in school.
According to brietbiet.com, the Hollywood directors who forced Lily to undress have apologized, but this hardly goes far enough. Hollywood should take responsibility for what has been going on for who knows how long now.
They should thank Lily for bringing it to light, take a cue from it and learn their scripts: featuring nude scenes can and does violate people’s dignity! They should stop making box office earnings and profit their only consideration and encourage people to opt out of nudes without retributions.
Government and regulatory institutions shouldn’t be silent either. They should see to it that movie directors and movie houses do the right thing and initiate changes and those who don’t should pay punitive fines and have their licenses revoked–a good deterrent for those who wish to act like pimps and sex traffickers– brutally degrading the dignity of their employees for profit.
Perhaps next time you are tempted to watch a nude scene, you should look behind the scene to see the tears and anguish of men and women scared for life be their forced debasement for your enjoyment.
By Chinwuba Iyizoba
Authors-choice: Hope & Revival 