Many Film Forum readers and visitors to my own film-review site persist in telling me that Christians have no place at R-rated movies, due to the prevalence there of bad language, violence, and nudity. Yet others find many "restricted" films to be as meaningful and challenging as films that fall on the "safe" side of the line. It's an important subject, raising questions about the purpose of art, the responsibilities of artists and audiences, the demands of parenting, and the state of the current film ratings system. It also calls into question the proper definitions of various terms— pornography, erotic, sex, and lust, to name a few.
Nudity is a timely and volatile subject to explore first. Recently, the action flick Swordfish was celebrated by the entertainment press. Half the film's press coverage dished on the apparently monumental news that the supporting actress was going to appear topless. The film, more commercial entertainment than art, did big business. The studio shamelessly used the nudity as one (two?) of the movie's hottest selling points and even teased us with it in the ads. Rumors flew that Warner Bros. had paid an alarming fee for her to drop her dress. Whatever happened behind the scenes, Hollywood has learned its lesson well: sex sells, and Hollywood is not afraid to capitalize on it. Do such reckless Hollywood directors, producers, and actors spoil the freedoms of artists who have more integrity, and who might use nudity in a film appropriately? Or is there no appropriate case for birthday suits on the big screen? Critics in the religious media were generous in sharing their carefully phrased opinions. It pains me to abbreviate any of their well-rounded arguments; all of them had worthwhile contributions. (So far I've heard from only one woman.)
Here is a brief sampling of what they had to say, followed by a few excerpts from Film Forum readers.
Critics Bare Their Thoughts
Ron Reed—playwright/actor/Artistic Director of Pacific Theatre in Vancouver, B.C.—defends free use of the human form in art. "The human body—and human sexuality in general—should not be excluded from film," he says, "nor should such art be avoided by Christians. God gave us the arts as a way to explore all aspects of humanity and divinity, to consider what it is to be human as well as what it is to relate to God. The individual believer is the one who is responsible before God to decide what works of art they should or should not experience at what season in their life. But being timid and overcautious about what we experience—whether in art or in life—isn't necessarily more likely to lead to spiritual health than is the opposite approach."
Steve Lansingh, Webmaster at The Film Forum, offers a personal testimony: "One of the great lies American Christians tell our men is to stay away from nudity in order to avoid sexual temptation. As a teenager I had no idea there was any other way to deal with lust other than avoidance, and the effects of that tactic still haunt me today. I developed a sort of detachment to life, trying not to let the physical world around me affect my mental or spiritual state. To this day I'd rather write about a problem than help someone with one; I pray intellectually rather than experientially; I remain Gnostic in practice if not in principle, and must fight it every day. Trying to reunite mind and body has been the most helpful tactic for me in fighting the visual sexual temptation of the movies; the more I'm conscious of sex as both physical and mental, the harder it is to be aroused by a mere image. The more I'm aware of God's design of the sexes for each other, the easier it is to see the human body as God's glory rather than Satan's tool. To understand who we are as human beings, and who the God who created us is, we need to address the sexual life. I don't know if it can be done properly without nakedness."
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