Nudity In Storytelling

Nudity in entertainment, like nudity in life outside of entertainment, can convey everything from vulnerability to sensuality to apathy towards social norms.  Since vulnerability, sensuality, and the need to refuse societal conditioning are important parts of human existence, it should come as no surprise that whatever communicates these things can be used to great effect in storytelling.  Fantasy and horror have particularly been used to relay philosophically charged ideas about the nude body.

Indeed, some of the most notable examples of nudity in entertainment that is not portrayed in a context that has anything to do with arousing the audience are in recent horror movies.  In the A24's The Witch, the main character's naked body confirms that she has embraced the norms of the witches, and she is seen approaching a fire in a clearing as a group of similarly nude witches dance around it.  Her nudity is not about anyone's sexual pleasure, but the sincerity of her eventual commitment to darkness.

In Saw III, the nudity of a woman placed in one of Jigsaw's games highlights her helplessness as she is sprayed with water in a freezing environment.  The protagonist must decide if he should help her or allow her to be murdered, initially unwilling to help because of her involvement in allowing the drunk driver who killed his son to walk free.  Again, this nudity is not about sexual titillation; it is about telling a story effectively and not shying away from the unjust viciousness that can result from a desire for vengeance.

Last year's Doctor Sleep repeatedly features the spirit of a nude woman who seeks to torment the young Dan Torrence, her nudity and ghastly appearance being used to frighten Dan even after his traumatic experiences at the Overlook Hotel.  Then there is Midsommar, which uses the full frontal nudity of a male character to emphasize how he has been victimized by predatory pagan women (he is drugged and then raped by a local girl as other women watch, and his girlfriend is then stupid enough to act as if he has cheated on her).

In only one of these cases is the nudity related to sexuality, but even then, it is not used to encourage anything sinful.  Midsommar's male nudity, even if not intended this way by its director and writer(s), presents a blatant cinematic example of female-male sexual abuse--something that is desperately needed in entertainment, as many people allow misleading tropes in movies, TV or streaming shows, and video games to shape their own prejudices about men and women.

There is nothing sinful about putting unconcealed nudity in entertainment (Deuteronomy 4:2).  There is nothing sinful about seeing the nudity of an attractive character of the opposite gender, experiencing physiological or psychological sexual arousal, and intentionally entertaining sexual thoughts about the person in question.  However, there is far more to utilizing nudity in storytelling than sex appeal and even nonsexual sensuality.