Dispatches from Left Field: It's Just a Penis, Get Over It

TNG Contributor Matt wrote this piece.

I went to see the new film Watchmen on Friday. I thought the film was well done for the most part, but it seems that many critics have trouble moving past the penises. One of the main characters of the film, Dr. Manhattan, is quite the nudist. At first, viewers are shown this with brief shots of his nude hindquarters and shots of his calves. Later the camera reveals his muscled upper-body with no indication of garments where a waistband should be.

But then suddenly, without prelude, Dr. Manhattan appears in all of his blue-shaded glory. The sudden onslaught of full-frontal, computer-generated male nudity sent a giggle and a nervous gasp rippling through the audience.

I think that this is indicative of the American uncomfortableness with male nudity. We seem to have little compunction about showing actresses parading around the set with their breasts exposed. When it comes to men, however, don't let us see anything interesting. When I was in high school, my friend suggested that someone should invent "L" shaped sheets for movies, since there is clearly a double standard for nudity. In movies, the more nude actresses are, the larger the fan base, whereas the more naked the actors, the more uncomfortable the audience.

At some level, I think we're conditioned to associate penises in the media with sinfulness. America's puritan roots, while loosened by the sexual revolution of the 1960s, still have a strong hold on us. Europeans are not nearly as up tight when it comes to nudity in advertising and the media. Censorship might play a part in keeping mainstream America uncomfortable with nudity, but I think it goes deeper. I think it is bound up in our national psyche.

Watchmen certainly pushes the envelope. American films mostly limit male nudity to bare buns and those views are usually brief. This movie not only includes the penis, it shows it frequently and in long scenes. No attempt is made to camouflage or hide his genitalia. It hangs around like a wallflower at the prom, not really participating, but visible nonetheless. Honestly, I've seen straight porn with less penis screen time.

The display of Dr. Manhattan's penis in Watchmen actually has nothing to do with sex. The character is just nude. When it comes down to filming, the director could shoot around Dr. Manhattan's implied nudity, which is the typical response, or he could shoot the film as if the nudity didn't matter - as it doesn't to the characters. Since Watchmen was filmed using the latter technique, the audience faces some discomfort, but the director didn't sacrifice the nudity of Dr. Manhattan called for in the graphic novel.

Regardless of what the FCC thinks, nudity occurs everyday. It is as much a part of our story as other things commonly portrayed in movies without objection. Films portray life, they portray stories of fiction and truth, they portray struggles to understand things beyond our comprehension. These portrayals have to deal with the same things we do in life in order to make them relevant. One of those things is nudity. To pretend that it doesn't exist is dishonest, but to overrepresent it runs the risk of being gratuitous.

Honestly, I'm not sure if Watchmen is too gratuitous or not, but I am sure that they didn't dodge the issue. I hope that this represents an improvement the typical knee-jerk reaction to male nudity in the media. But America just needs to get over it. It's just a penis. Half the population has one and just about everyone over age 18 has seen one. Films shouldn't pretend they don't exist. And Americans shouldn't freak out when they are shown on the silver screen.