Lady Chatterley's Legacy in the Movies: Sex, Brains, and Body Guys

7. “Why Do You Say That as if It Were a Weakness? It’s Not.”

161 The opening scene of Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) got a lot of press from film critics, primarily because of the frontal male nudity. Indeed, the film may be a first. When penises appear in movies, most reviewers don’t even mention them, let alone grant them detailed attention. Significantly, with this film the reception context began preopening, when the film’s star and screenwriter, Jason Segel, talked in great detail to the press about his nude scene: And then I had this thought about the difference in nature between male nudity and female nudity. That, for men, they like all sorts of different types of women. They like fat women, skinny women, women with big breasts and small breasts, and blonde hair and brown hair. There aren’t that many women out there who, like, love a small penis. [LAUGHTER] And so the judgment is very particular when you’re doing male nudity. You’re just gonna be having your junk examined. So, I was then terrified. And I was acutely aware of the ratings issue. So that I knew that I had to be flaccid, obviously. But you don’t wanna be totally flaccid. (“Jason Segel Interview”) Referring to several of his recent films, producer Judd Apatow happily contributed by claiming that all his films would henceforth include a penis shot since “America fears the penis and that’s something I’m going to help them get over” (“Apatow Makes Penis Promise”). Most viewers were thus primed for the now-infamous opening sequence where Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) walks in on her naked boyfriend, Peter, to announce that she is leaving him, something Segel told interviewers was based on an actual experience in his life. How humiliating to be caught with your pants down, so to speak, at such a moment. Indeed, Peter refuses to cover himself while he hysterically grieves for the remainder of the scene, linking the display of the penis to vulnerability and humiliation. The critics got it wrong, however, incorrectly describing the scene. Peter is not caught with his pants “Why Do You Say That as if It Were a Weakness? It’s Not.” chapter 7 h Ch007.qxd 6/10/10 6:58 PM Page 161 down. Sarah actually walks in on him as he comes from the shower with a towel securely wrapped around his waist. When he sees her, he happily pulls the towel open and lets it drop as he swivels his hips so strongly that we hear the slapping sound of his penis hitting his thighs before we finally see the first notorious penis shot (figure 39). What’s the big difference whether she walked in on him when he was completely naked or if he dropped his towel upon seeing her? We have argued throughout this book that the common display of the body guy’s penis is part of a widespread pattern of increased emphasis on the penis over the last three decades. We’ve also argued that the repetition and seeming embrace of the body guy is a backlash against women who have empowered themselves in the workplace in jobs previously reserved for men, affirming the spectacle of the penis as a privileged sign of what they have and women can never have. Women can have high-paying careers and rise to the highest levels of leadership , but they can never have a penis. They must come to men to get that prize if they want it. And it is precisely this that Peter thinks the professional woman Sarah has come for. He drops his towel to proudly display his penis and further emphasizes its presumed impressiveness by setting it in motion, creating a suitable slapping sound to accompany the swinging spectacle. Far from being caught naked, he creates the nude spectacle on the mistaken assumption that when Sarah sees what he’s got, he’ll get what he wants. But she is unfazed, as if there was nothing there—nothing to see. The ultimate dread—it goes unnoticed , has no impact, and might as well be invisible. In this chapter, we look at Forgetting Sarah Marshall, 2 Days in Paris (2007), and Lady Chatterley (2006), three films that opened during 2006 to 2008, to see lady chatterley’s legacy 162 Figure 39. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Ch007.qxd 6/10/10 6:58 PM Page 162 what is currently happening in...