Prosthetic penises on TV

 

More penises are appearing on TV and in film – but why are nearly all of them prosthetic?

https://theconversation.com/more-penises-are-appearing-on-tv-and-in-film-but-why-are-nearly-all-of-them-prosthetic-146906

If you’ve noticed an uptick of male frontal nudity in TV and in movies in recent years, you’re onto something.

 

In 1993, I studied patterns of male nudity in my book “Running Scared: Masculinity and the Representation of the Male Body.” After the old Motion Picture Production Code was replaced by a new ratings system in 1968, frontal male nudity in Hollywood movies in certain contexts was permitted. “Drive, He Said,” directed by Jack Nicholson in 1971, was an early film to include such a scene, while Richard Gere’s nude scene in 1980’s “American Gigolo” helped to transform the young actor into an international sex symbol.

 

Yet female nudity remained far more common in movies, and there was no frontal male nudity on mainstream television as of 1993.

 

Since then, a lot has changed. Directors and audiences are becoming more and more comfortable showing male nudity.

 

But nowadays, while we’re much more likely to see penises in mainstream film and television, they’re seldom real. Prosthetic penises – once used for exaggerated effect – have become the norm.

 

To me, this says something about the unusual significance we continue to grant the penis, along with our cultural need to carefully regulate its representation. In a way, the use of prosthetic penises maintains a certain mystique about masculinity, preserving the power of the phallus.

The obsession with size

The prosthetic penis gives filmmakers total control over its representation, and some have used its flexibility to directly address this issue of size.

 

Take the 2015 romantic comedy “The Overnight.”

 

Penis size is first introduced in the opening scene, when a couples has awkward sex due to the husband’s small penis. Later at a dinner party with another couple, penis size becomes the big issue again when a wife swap between the two couples is discussed.

 

The other man, played by Jason Schwartzman, has an extremely large one, while the man from the opening scene, played by Adam Scott, has a much smaller one, and becomes uncomfortable with the idea of being “exposed.” During a protracted skinny dipping scene, viewers get to see each actor’s prosthetic penis. Within the conventions of the romantic comedy, both couples are united at the end and committed to saving their marriages.

Toward a more honest representation

“The Overnight” and “Euphoria” strive to critique our culture’s obsession with the penis, as do movies like “Boogie Nights” and TV shows like “The Deuce,” both of which are serious explorations of the pornography industry.

 

Yet by making the penis a central theme, these films and TV shows continue to grant it an aura of mystique and power that existed long before prosthetics and weaker regulations.

 

In the end, the use of prosthetics comes at the expense of the most mature thing filmmakers could do: show diverse, real penises in a manner that holds no special meaning for the character or plot.

 

While “Spartacus” would lead you to believe otherwise, all gladiators did not have big penises. Nor did their penis size and shape have anything to do with their strength, power, masculinity or sexuality.

 

Although apocryphal, Sigmund Freud supposedly remarked, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar,” which was meant to suggest that cigars are not always phallic symbols.