Discover productions that broke the stigma of male nudity and understand a little of what has changed in recent years.
Part of a taboo that surrounds several tricky themes, nudity in audiovisual productions always generates surprises and shocks for many spectators. Usually, when a character is about to appear naked, the narrative is about anticipating the scene with a couple making out or even with the sound of water falling in the shower. But when it happens out of nowhere, the heart beats of many pick up speed.
While the female body could be seen in its fullness in several series and films that predate the digital age, seeing naked men in such projects is rare, something that is a new flow of transformation within the cultural industry. Whether for the freedom of nudity, for deeper narratives, for daring directors or for the change of the audience, this movement has been allocated on small screens and big screens mainly in the last two decades.
Until 1993 male nudity was barely seen in movies and series. Everything changed after the replacement of the Hollywood Film Production Code, which allowed the incursion of such images in certain contexts. Today, the creative freedom of streaming, which can deliberately have its productions for adults (with the right to parental control), can be pointed out as one of the factors. Respected ratings, of course, also contribute to a shift in stigma from male frontal nudity to productions that fit the adult target audience.
This list brings some unusual productions with such sequences, but just to mention, other well-known series and movies (and even more obvious in this matter) also fit into this selection. We can mention Game of Thrones, Sense8Sex/Life, Sex Education, Normal People, among others.
Recently, Jesse Williams was the subject of controversy after videos of the play Take Me Out leaked online. In the images, the Grey’s Anatomy actor is seen naked on the scene. On the matter, the artist was punctual: “Everyone makes something great out of it, [mas] it’s just a body.”
Among an infinite selection of cinematic curiosities, here is a list of movies and series in which there is male frontal nudity.
euphoria
If you’ve ever watched an episode of Euphoria, you might remember the graphic level that the series relies on. This not only in the style and direction, important traits of the series, but also in the sequences of sex, drug use and violence. The HBO production has no qualms about showing male nudity throughout the plot. It’s always good to remember that, despite the story being directed towards teen dramas, the production is intended for adult audiences.
love hangover
The romantic comedy starring Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Jason Segel follows the character played by the How I Met Your Mother star on a journey to get over his girlfriend. Shortly after the opening credits, the couple separates as Segel gets out of the shower. The impact causes him to drop the towel and, thus, the actor remains the way he came into the world on screen.
Eurotrip
Between the late 1990s and the early 2000s, Hollywood produced a series of lame comedies, the so-called “bullshit”. From this furnace came parodies such as Everyone in Panic or one of the greatest exponents of this genre, American Pie. Eurotrip is in that selection. The nude scene in question takes place in an appropriate place, let’s say. The four main characters go to a nude beach expecting to find naked women, but they end up running into other naked guys.
the wolf of Wall Street
With a stellar cast, The Wolf of Wall Street is an intense film in many ways. The feature starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie has its similarities with Euphoria when we quote the truths of the characters on the scene, with the right to sex, drugs and violence. A moment of quick male frontal nudity, which may have gone unnoticed by many, involves Jonah Hill’s character during a party.
Minx – One for Them
One of the new bets of HBO Max this year is the series Minx. Irreverent and acid, the plot soon anticipates the reason for being on this list. The production presents the backstage of the first erotic magazine aimed at the female audience. In a thirty-minute episode, 38 penises appear on screen. So it is!
The White Lotus
While many of these scenes are sexually involved, the male nude sequence in The White Lotus steers clear of that stigma. At one point in the beginning of the season, Steve Zahn’s character Mark shows his wife his penis when talking about his fear of having some form of cancer, as his testicles look different.
the boys
A lot of people saw it last week. In the opening episode of season 3 of The Boys there is a scene that left many with their mouths open. The audience meets Termite (Brett Geddes), a super who has the ability to change size, just like Ant-Man. At one point in the chapter, the character shrinks in size to the point of entering his partner’s penis.
Peaky Blinders
The series that has just arrived in its sixth and final season had several moments starring Cillian Murphy without clothes. The actor often went completely naked for the plot’s sex scenes and this can be seen in the series.
A Stranger on the Lake
Alain Guiraudie’s insightful cinema can be seen at its fullest in A Stranger on the Lake. The feature that mixes eroticism with growing suspense has several scenes with male nudity, as it spends much of the plot on a lake used as a nudist beach by gay men.
trainspotting
Starring Ewan McGregor, who returns to the cosmic Star Wars saga in Obi-Wan Kenobi, Trainspotting follows the lives of four former heroin addicts. Like other productions on the list, here male nudity can also be seen in intense sexual scenes.
