Harry Potter Gets Naked
Reaching for new horizons -- Picture courtesy Wikipedia
by blogSpotter
To steal a line from Friends: Oh... My ...God! Harry Potter, aka the 17 year-old actor Daniel Radcliffe, is appearing nude in the London play Equus. He plays a stable hand, obsessed with horses. The topic was discussed on NBC's Today Show this morning. Matt Lauer aptly pointed out that people who object do not have to see the play. Others of a more Puritanical bent (mostly passerbies interviewed on the street), thought that the whole Potter series including an upcoming movie should be boycotted.
What to say? Daniel is the captain of his own ship -- maybe he didn't want to be typecast as a pimply teen wizard. Imagine if Kirk Cameron or Debbie Gibson had done something meatier and more daring early in their careers. Maybe they wouldn't be footnotes on Where Are They Now? Maybe they wouldn't have been trapped in roles that are unreal and unrelenting in their wholesomeness. Liz Taylor began her long career playing a wholesome teen. We can thank our lucky stars that she turned it all around vamping in roles like Maggie the Cat in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Who among us has not imagined how our career might be advanced by taking off our clothes? OK, well to be honest I haven't. As a programmer, there are no situations that call for nudity. And even if there were, nudity would probably get me a demotion. I have to say double standards are at work; a man who gets naked is testing his acting chops -- a woman doing so is more likely to be seen as a naughty girl. If the nude work is artsy (think Looking for Mr. Goodbar or for that matter Equus) the actor or actress has more of a naked leg to stand on. If it's characterized as soft core pornography, it can be career-ending -- there is a thin line to walk. It's not so much that the thespian looks immoral, but rather he looks like he's desperate for a role. "What? You couldn't get a bit part on Boston Legal? A cameo on Desperate Housewives?"
I haven't read any Potter books nor have I seen any of the movies. I wouldn't know a Voldemort from a finger wart. Daniel Radcliffe has stayed squarely on the artsy side of the line, and his move should free him from the bondage of kiddy flicks -- maybe to other forms of bondage. We should be hearing more from the lad in coming years -- at 17 he has many more films to make and we know already that he has a wide acting range.
© 2007 blogSpotter
posted by blogspotter @ 12:04 PM
3 Comments:
I didn't even know the actor's name until you mentioned it, but I do think that Radcliffe and his family or his advisors were slightly naive in thinking that appearing nude onstage at this point in his career was a good move...or at the very least, not be enthusiastically welcomed by all.
Not so long ago, even Annette Funicello was dropped by Walt Disney himself after she appeared in a "Beach Party" movie.
Many actors, especially today, seem desperate to seek attention in almost any way they can. Considering the hoopla, this is obviously one of those cases.
I've never seen a nude scene in a film that did not bring the story to a screeching halt unless, of course, it was "Deepthroat" or something of that nature.
I recall seeing a play about ten years ago called, "Frankie and Johnny in the Claire DeLune" in which the male character wandered around onstage totally naked for a few minutes. The scene was purely gratuitous and added nothing to the experience except a few childish giggles from the audience.
Predictably, people always use the "art" excuse. I recall visiting some "art" houses in my past, but their fare was rarely reviewed by the local theater critics.
"Equus" was written and produced at a time when people were pushing the envelope as to what could and could not pass for "edgy" material on social issues and whatnot. Frankly, I think it was just an excuse to get nude onstage and to make some extra cash while giving the finger to the traditional theater "establishment" along the way.
If being nude in a play should not be an issue, then I would suggest running the play without the nudity and see if the play still stands up on its own (no pun intended).
For example, I could just as easily exercise my freedom of speech in this public venue and suggest that Radcliffe was a motherfucking cocksucker for making such a decision at the age of seventeen. Would that be a gratuitous comment or would it be an expression as to how I truly felt?
More shall be revealed.
Good lord! Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed, and I'll bet he was wearing pajamas. :-)
I'll admit that the nudity sometimes adds little to the plot, but sometimes it gets the point across faster.
There's a whole ball of entertainment 'wax' -- we see movies to see what we don't see ordinarily. Violence, language, car chases, explosions, comical repartee, big musical numbers, etc. Sex and nudity (tastefully presented) are a big part of that draw -- I probably won't go see a movie that mainly shows a chubby geek typing at a computer.
I will go see a movie that has a little gratuitous sex -- the older we get, the more it seems unusual and yes, strangely fascinating.
This is a fun topic. It has given me an opportunity to express my strange views on sex - by today's standards anyway.
I'm all for sex, but it really doesn't do anything for me while sitting in an audience with hundreds of other voyeurs. I like the "behind closed doors" approach. I think that the problem with our society is that very few personal things are private anymore, but out in the open for all the world to see. That has had a de-sensitizing effect, which probably takes away from things that might otherwise be enjoyed or appreciated more if it was less available.
I'm not so much against gratuitous sex and nudity as I am against seeing so much of it. For example, as far as going to movies to see what we don't see ordinarily: I would suggest that sex and nudity are the norm. Sex and nudity are what we ordinarily see. I can't think of one situation comedy on television today (with humans) where sexual behavior/habits/jokes are not the main theme to every episode.
I challenge anyone to come up with an episode of any current TV program that does not allude in some way at some point to sex.
It gets very old after a while and illustrates an incredible lack of imagination coming out of Hollywood and other places.
The challenge is finding entertainment that does NOT contain sex and nudity. As an 83 year-old acquaintance once said, "Every generation acts as though they are the ones who discovered sex."
No pajamas last night.
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