Stargate and Nudity

[ykickamoocow]

I just think that if the script calls for a character to be naked (which does happen sometimes in Stargate) they should just show them naked.

They should stop using those often strange film techniques designed to make sure the audience doesnt see anything (for men and women characters).

[Daedalus-304]

They should stop using those often strange film techniques designed to make sure the audience doesnt see anything (for men and women characters).

What do you mean strange, they use these techniques all the time. This allows viewers to know that they are nude, but in a way that they don't see anything embarrassing.

[ykickamoocow]

What do you mean strange, they use these techniques all the time. This allows viewers to know that they are nude, but in a way that they don't see anything embarrassing.

I have listed a couple of these techniques in this thread but i will say them again

- When a Character is naked but there are always completely random objects in the way to prevent to audience seeing anything

- Not so much a technique but scenes after 2 characters have sex, the male has his chest in full view of the camera but the female has the sheets up to her chin. If you have just had sex with someone why would you bother covering up as they have already seen everything there is to see.

[SG66]

personally, i find the weird when they use odd camera angles.

[ToasterOnFire]

As for the casting issues...I found most guest stars of either sex attractive, and there were older women as well as older men not so attractive. I do find the unending line of young pretty women frustrating, but that's an inherent part of our culture and I don't expect Stargate to change the world.

That's probably the biggest bias that SGA perpetuates in regards to objectification of women vs. men. Larrin is the leader of the Travelers. She's young, pretty, and wears tight leather outfits. Oberoth is the leader of the Asurans. He's older, balding, and overweight. Equal? Please.

While there have been male guest stars that are attractive, there have been plenty who do not fit into the standard definition of beauty (Lucius, Woolsey, Oberoth). In contrast, almost every female guest star has been young, thin, and attractive. And after 4 seasons I don't see this changing.

[KindlyKeller]

That's probably the biggest bias that SGA perpetuates in regards to objectification of women vs. men. Larrin is the leader of the Travelers. She's young, pretty, and wears tight leather outfits. Oberoth is the leader of the Asurans. He's older, balding, and overweight. Equal? Please.

While there have been male guest stars that are attractive, there have been plenty who do not fit into the standard definition of beauty (Lucius, Woolsey, Oberoth). In contrast, almost every female guest star has been young, thin, and attractive. And after 4 seasons I don't see this changing.

Very, very true. Larrin is just... well, let's not get started on her.

[Daedalus-304]

I have listed a couple of these techniques in this thread but i will say them again

- When a Character is naked but there are always completely random objects in the way to prevent to audience seeing anything

- Not so much a technique but scenes after 2 characters have sex, the male has his chest in full view of the camera but the female has the sheets up to her chin. If you have just had sex with someone why would you bother covering up as they have already seen everything there is to see.

I don't have a problem with these techniques, especialy the top one. Actually this is not a recent technique, this was used a lot in church art, where you would have Adam or another nude figure, that had a random leaf that covered him up so you couldn't see anything.

Also with these techniques you can still have nudity, but without the audience getting embarrrased and changing the channel.

With the second technique you could have sex scenes without them being pornography or borderline pornography.

[MerryK]

While there have been male guest stars that are attractive, there have been plenty who do not fit into the standard definition of beauty (Lucius, Woolsey, Oberoth). In contrast, almost every female guest star has been young, thin, and attractive. And after 4 seasons I don't see this changing.

Not so. Teyla's grandmother figure in Critical Mass, for one, and many similar characters on SG-1 were respected figures (occasionally double-crossing) and also women over 35. There are less of them overall because there are less women in lead roles, and we usually meet new leaders of some sort. That's a realistic statistic, however sad, and not something I think worth complaining about. When it comes to the young folk who guest star...I can only think of a few of either gender that were not somewhat attractive (and I do pay at least a little attention to that, though I more often focus on character). I mean, look at what's his face from Sunday—such a vapid character, he didn't even have a name, just there to be eye-candy for Weir. Or Aden Corso in SG-1's Forsaken...or Orlin...yeah, they had characters, but that's equal pandering to females as a few Anises, Larrins, and Chayas. So yes, as equal as Hollywood allows.

And anyway, would you really want a female Lucius? A female Woolsey? A female Oberoth? I like it that the female characters are almost never used as comedic relief in such a fashion.

[KindlyKeller]

I feel like a juror. I've now been swayed by the rebuttal. I must escape this thread.

[PG15]

While there have been male guest stars that are attractive, there have been plenty who do not fit into the standard definition of beauty (Lucius, Woolsey, Oberoth). In contrast, almost every female guest star has been young, thin, and attractive. And after 4 seasons I don't see this changing.

Just to make sure; you do realize that this isn't inherently a fault of SGA right? And that pretty much the entire entertainment industry is like this?

It's not so much "after 4 seasons I don't see this changing", but rather "after a century I don't see this changing"

[Blistna]

The point isn't that we're all a bunch of nudists over here - believe me, I'm British, they are as prudish as they come - but that we don't go into collective meltdown at the accidental site of a boob (with the nipple covered up)

My point still remains the same. Why is it that when an artist decides not to have nudity, that people feel weird? Honestly, what raised a hair on my chest is that Showtime insisted that they had nudity. That they had no choice in the matter. I understand, it was 11PM at night, but even still -- sex sells, and they obviously thought Stargate needed some boodies to sell.

And yes, a lot of people were upset about that Janet Jackson thing...I just thought it was funny. :-D

And for the record, I thought it was weird that Children of Gods had nudity. Not that I am against it, like in The Matrix Reloaded, it felt right...but in Stargate? Thats like putting boobs in Harry Potter just to make it sell. I mean, you do realize thats why they did it? Because Showtime wanted it to attract to their viewers that late at night...so to sell it, they slapped some hooters to make those late night watchers happy.

And it just doesn't feel right.

[ykickamoocow]

My point still remains the same. Why is it that when an artist decides not to have nudity, that people feel weird? Honestly, what raised a hair on my chest is that Showtime insisted that they had nudity. That they had no choice in the matter. I understand, it was 11PM at night, but even still -- sex sells, and they obviously thought Stargate needed some boodies to sell.

And yes, a lot of people were upset about that Janet Jackson thing...I just thought it was funny. :-D

And for the record, I thought it was weird that Children of Gods had nudity. Not that I am against it, like in The Matrix Reloaded, it felt right...but in Stargate? Thats like putting boobs in Harry Potter just to make it sell. I mean, you do realize thats why they did it? Because Showtime wanted it to attract to their viewers that late at night...so to sell it, they slapped some hooters to make those late night watchers happy.

And it just doesn't feel right.

My point when starting this thread is one of those "artists" insinuated that violence is acceptable on tv but nudity is not.

If you beat someone up (either in public or at home) your likely to spend years in gaol but nudity in real life is far more acceptable as there are nude beaches and if someone walked down the street naked they would most likely get some intersting looks from the general public and maybe a small fine from the police.

I have no problem with the violence levels on Stargate but i do have a problem with people saying that nudity is more damaging to a society than violence which is simply not true. If people can accept torture, beheadings and the killing dozons of Jaffa in a matter of minutes then why cant people accept the occasional nude scene?

[scififan1]

i totally agree with your perspective on this very touchy subject, i personally would love there to be nudity in the show, i love the chararcters, and all the years i have been watching the episodes, have i yet too be wowed. (nudity)
i have many of my own opinions about the show.
one of them is I believe that watching a Gould take a host, (common enough, for the show) is better than looking at a naked HUMAN body. (NOT) I WOULD MUCH PREFER TO SEE IT ALL.

[Major Clanger]

My point still remains the same. Why is it that when an artist decides not to have nudity, that people feel weird? Honestly, what raised a hair on my chest is that Showtime insisted that they had nudity. That they had no choice in the matter. I understand, it was 11PM at night, but even still -- sex sells, and they obviously thought Stargate needed some boodies to sell.

And yes, a lot of people were upset about that Janet Jackson thing...I just thought it was funny. :-D

And for the record, I thought it was weird that Children of Gods had nudity. Not that I am against it, like in The Matrix Reloaded, it felt right...but in Stargate? Thats like putting boobs in Harry Potter just to make it sell. I mean, you do realize thats why they did it? Because Showtime wanted it to attract to their viewers that late at night...so to sell it, they slapped some hooters to make those late night watchers happy.

And it just doesn't feel right.

I believe I've already mentioned, since it's pretty much a non issue with me, that I didn't know until I read this thread that the nudity was against the wishes of TPTB. In that case it was wrong to force it in just to increase ratings - rather shooting themselves in the foot anyway since there was (next to) no nudity for the next 10 years.

I also don't think it's weird not to have nudity in TV. However, having taken part in various military exercises I also know that getting your oppo nakid for interrogation or general demoralisation purposes is very very effective. I'd expect, for example, the Wraith to use that more. I am also fully aware that it's not really practicable so I don't care one way or another how it appears on my TV.

I think we've pretty much all dealt with the COTG nudity issue now.

As for costumes. OK. If a guy (say, for argument's sake, MS or CJ) spends a lot of time working out, part of that is to get a body that is pleasing to the eye, no? (certainly seems like that at my gym - the guys who go to improve their cardio-vascular system tend to run)

In which case a director (or whoever makes the decisions) asking/telling them to wear a nice muscle shirt, or a tight t-shirt, isn't asking them to do anything they probably don't want to do. I notice that when the guys wear their normal black t-shirts they tend to roll up the sleeves so we can see their biceps.

I'm a letcherous old biddy so I'm all for that.

When you see the old biddy Tok'ras in their long gear, then Anise shows up in what looks like Raquel Welch's outfit from 1 Million BC (only with a haircut) it gets a bit suspicious. Since when did the Tok'ra dress like that? Hathor? Yes. Tok'ra? Not on your nelly.

As for Teyla's outfit - it's not really practical. However I'll give them that as long as we get to see Ronan Dex's biceps just as much.

Sex sells. The only surprise for me in this whole thing is that women still don't get to dictate terms. It is our sex that sells, we should be getting more of the benefit.

There. I'm a card carrying member of the feminist movement. Well... what do you expect from an old biddy like me?

[KindlyKeller]

The only thing I'd say, Clanger, is that we don't know that it's Michael saying to himself, "I'm going to wear a shirt that's too small for me." In fact, I'd imagine it's not. I do, however, agree that the odds are... slim... that Teyla's wardrobe comes from Rachel's closet.