It seems like Kevin Bacon has reached that point in his career when he doesn’t really care what people think of him.
Case in point: the Apollo 13 actor recently posted a video of himself calling for more male nudity in Hollywood (#FreetheBacon). Game of Thrones is the first program he brings up, and while it’s all very tongue-in-cheek, you can decide for yourself if he has a point.
Okay, so obviously Bacon has never seen the show—I don’t think he’d be offering to play a “naked wizard” if he had—but the point he’s making is one that’s been made before. The show features a ton of female nudity, but precious little of the other kind. Both Jack Gleeson and DeObia Oparai (Areo Hotah) have voiced their support for more male nudity on the show, and Natalie Dormer put out a call for it when the Daily Beast asked her about the male-female nudity ratio on the show. “I think Thrones has been better than your average show with the equality,” she said. “ut they could definitely ramp it up! Absolutely.”
Even Anna Kendrick got in on the debate with this very pointed tweet earlier this year.
Madonna kissed Drake, Hilary's running for president, but HBO STILL hasn't shown this dude's dick?? #FeministPriority pic.twitter.com/wPH7IZdIDf
— Anna Kendrick (@AnnaKendrick47) April 13, 2015
Is there anything to these pleas?
Personally, I don’t think nudity of any kind is needed to make the show good, although I’m not opposed to it if it’s used tastefully. If there’s a sex scene, for example, it makes sense for the characters to be naked. In that case, having them mysteriously clothed actually takes away some of the realism.
I have, however, occasionally been creeped out by the way Game of Thrones leers at female bodies just because it can, a concern that’s backed up by some behind-the-scenes stories. Whenever this topic comes up, I always remember an interview with Neil Marshall, who directed the Season 2 classic “Blackwater,” in which he revealed that producers were breathing down his neck urging him to film nudity. At the time, Marshall said:
"This particular exec took me to one side and said, “Look, I represent the pervert side of the audience, okay? Everybody else is the serious drama side—I represent the perv side of the audience, and I’m saying I want full frontal nudity in this scene.” So you go ahead and do it."
I think the solution to this problem has less to do with objectifying male bodies and more to do with only filming nudity when the story actually calls for it, but I do know that I never want to hear that kind of story again.