Pop Culture

Grimaldi: Nudity on television should be used to improve content

American television has a problem with naked women.

Nudity on TV isn’t particularly new. HBO is known for it and since the premium channel began operating in 1972, nearly all of its original programs have some form of nudity.  Notably, naked women outnumber naked men on these shows by a landslide. Naked women tend to only appear on television to arouse or disgust — there are few examples of naked women presented in more natural ways.

This year, two HBO shows, “True Detective”and “Girls,” are criticized for their conflicting representations of nudity. First, “True Detective” is criticized for naked women being objectified and anonymous. Emily Nussbaum wrote a notable editorial for the New Yorker on the subject of the sexist imagery. She rightfully called out the show’s flagrant putting-on of female nudity as artistic, when it was really nothing more than set decoration.

On the other hand, “Girls” and its creator Lena Dunham have been attacked and insulted because some people perceive her character’s nudity as being “for no reason,” which Tim Molloy said during a January Television Critics Association panel.

You would think that by this time, a media critic like Molloy would realize a reason for nudity in cinema, television and narratives is to portray intimacy and honesty, which Dunham has stated in many interviews. This idea has been referred to as European, where nudity on television is more frequent. Molloy stated that he understood the nudity on another current HBO show “Game of Thrones” as titillation, so he just “didn’t get” the nudity on “Girls.”



The problem of naked representation can also lie with the people behind the scenes. The sense of titillation saturates media today and the natural nudity in shows like “Girls” is somewhat of an anomaly. Not only does titillation seem to be an ever-present factor on HBO and other pay TV channels, but “True Detective” creator Nic Pizzolatto referred to it as a requirement. On March 6, he told Buzzfeed  “There is a clear mandate in pay-cable for a certain level of nudity.”

It’s true. From “The Sopranos” to “Boardwalk Empire,” shows walk their characters through the same places filled with anonymous naked women, who act as set pieces rather than important parts of the stories. This kind of nudity fails to tell audiences anything new or intelligent about sex.

On “Game of Thrones,” sometimes the show tries to portray naked women in a positive way but ultimately falls back on standard objectification. The negative outweighs the positive because the show frequently utilizes breasts and sometimes vaginas, to make the male, straight viewer pay attention while important exposition is explained.

Not only does this practice — not unique to “Game of Thrones” — insult the viewer’s intelligence, but it creates a double bind for women. A strong, naked woman, who takes an active role is criticized for her nudity being gratuitous, while one in a more passive role is considered part of the status quo.  Frankly, it’s misogynistic.

American television clearly struggles with issues of representation in a lot of ways. TV should stop using women as props and abstracting them to the point that they’re nothing but eye-candy.  If they ended this played out visual tactic, shows might even help audiences to understand when nudity is used for naturalism and start doing some actual storytelling, rather than trying to get 18–49 male demographic off.

Cassie-lee Grimaldi is a senior television, radio and film major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at [email protected] and reached on Twitter @cassiegrimaldi.





Top Stories