Of late, Hollywood movies and television shows give much attention and focus to the male reproductive organ. And some of the most recent talked-about phallic displays are from Benedict Cumberbatch in the Oscar best picture nominee The Power of The Dog with his member, thinly covered with mud.
Bradley Cooper’s submerged family jewel did not disappoint in Nightmare Alley with screen scene partner Toni Collette having the chance to touch it.
Many male characters, with their penises in their flaccid or erect states, in various sizes and girths, are all over the palace in the polarizing teen drama Euphoria, too. Thus, I cannot help but wonder if this parade of the penises is the manifestation of Tom Cruise’s character’s mantra in Thomas Paul Anderson’s Magnolia, wherein he portrayed the motivational guru who urges his predominantly male believers to “respect the cock”?
These prime examples of full-frontal scenes are now hailed as an integral part of a motion picture’s narrative. It is not just a wanton display of the male appendage. It is more of a showcase of the confidence and vulnerability of the character that the actor breathes life and gives feelings and morality to, all within the context and story arc of the motion picture.
Will we see this male full-frontal trend soon in the Philippines?
Case and point, in all the Vivamax movies shown so far, the female artists and the characters they portray, are objectified to the hilt.
The sexual congresses that transpired in these movie offerings intended for the online public’s consumption, female body parts go through the motions of adult foreplay with the “for art’s sake” and “art imitating real life” as the justification for it.
The male actors, however, are more protected. We get to see are their naked bodies, buttocks, but the display of their genitalia, almost never as it immediately covered by a pillow, a blanket, or a well-blocked thigh to cover it.
The sight of a Filipino penis becoming the object of shrieks and ridicule, was captured best during the mid-December UP Oblation Run, a rage during the pre-pandemic years. With the media coverage given to it, exhaustive and extensive are the proper adjectives to describe this rite of passage of masked college men who did the deed because it was part of a brotherhood initiation.
Movies about men engaged in the flesh trade, full-frontal scenes are givens with the likes of Sean de Guzman and Paolo Gumabao taking on the “it’s just a penis, you know” challenge.
What always amuses, is the level of discussions and debates about the phalluses on-screen, thirsty to know if it were the real deal, or covered and enhanced with prosthetics.
Why penises always become the subject of cheers, triggers the imagination to go ballistic or become the source of disappointment, especially to the size queens and those who claim they have bigger endowments, means that there is more to it than just a body part for procreation and yes, to cover it with a fig leaf does not give it justice.
Now, do our local actors ready to do a Benedict Cumberbatch and Bradley Cooper on screen? As audiences, can we handle it?