POV: Dan and Dakotta, and Morality

[Steve]

"Shaun Hately" <drednort at ...> wrote:
> ...
> 
> The thing is... you are in the US, Leeann. Daniel 
> Radcliffe isn't - and I think that does make a 
> real difference here.
> 
> ...
> 
> I mentioned 'Kes' recently - it's one of my favourite 
> films and it is a classic of British cinema. And it 
> contains fairly graphic nudity of a boy in his early 
> teens. It's there for a reason - and that's important. 
> (It's)...not... sexualised nudity, or nudity for the 
> sake of nudity - 
> ...
> 
> Context is what counts. And that includes the cultural 
> context.
> 
> Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
> Shaun Hately ...

bboyminn:

I looked up the movie 'Kes', which is short for Kestrel (a small
falcon). The first thing that caught my eye was the rating.

Certification: Australia:PG / Germany:12 / Sweden:11 / UK:PG 
(video rating) (1987) / UK:U (original rating) / USA:GP / West Germany:12

I suspect the 'USA:GP' should be 'USA:PG' (Parental Guidance, but no
age restriction).

Here is an excerpt from a review of "Kes" for Internet Movie Database-

"The best thing about this film are all the characters that surround
Billy. All have had all spirit hammered out of them at an early age
and are damned if any one else is going to have any. The teachers
casual and resigned brutality living what remains of their dreams by
playing against the boys on the football field and imagining they are
Bobby Charlton (and still losing)..."

The part I want to emphasis is the '...teachers casual and resigned
brutality...'. 'Kes' was made in 1969 and takes place in the '60's. In
this school in Northern England, frequent caning (beating) is common.

So, not only is their nudity in this movie, but it is also a brutal
and dark movie. Yet, 'PG', and '11' and '12' ratings.

Another movie I mentioned  is 'Now and Then' (1995), a sweet romantic
movie, in which Devon Sawa who was then 17, though playing a boy of
much younger age, and several other younger boys appeared nude while
swimming in a remote lake (quick, from a distance, and slightly out of
focus). The girl, who are the central characters of the story, steal
their clothes, and the boys have to run after them nude. The rating
for this movie was PG-13, not for the nudity but for 'adolescent sex
discussions'.

So, I absolutely agree with Shaun, /context/ is the determining
factor. There is a clear, real and valid context in the 'Equus' play.
Further I feel that nudity will be incidental to the intense emotional
drama of the characters and the story. That's where Dan will shine or
not, in the emotional portrayal of the story. I think regardless of
whether he flies or fails in the role, he will grow tremendously as an
actor and be a better person for it.

There is one additional /context/ to Dan in the 'Equus' play, and that
is the producer, director, and the other actors in the play seem to be
the cream of the British crop. I don't think a very well supervised
and professionally produced play like this carries the same risk as
some low budget basement production.

Just some additional thoughts.

Steve/bboyminn