American actress Jennifer Aniston, an Emmy and Golden Globe winner, who ranks among the top 10 paid celebrities in Hollywood, and frequently appears on various lists of the “most beautiful people,” still felt it necessary to perform a pornographic striptease in her latest film: “We're the Millers.” The stills from the film, that I saw, were completely horrendous. Frankly, I do not understand what she is trying to do: throw-off her clean image from “Friends?” Or, perhaps, the pornographic fantasy has become so ingrained in our culture, that it is no longer taboo. Back in 1963, when Jayne Mansfield became the first main-stream actress to appear partially-naked in a major film; that decision effectively ruined her career forever. Later in the 1960s and early-1970s, other famous actresses tried to restore some of the luster in their fading star-power by appearing in a soft-core sex romps or in Playboy; here, I am thinking of Brigitte Bardot, Farrah, and Mamie Van Doren; among others. Then, it was a sign of desperation. A hopeless plea for publicity and attention. Today, it is a false form of liberation. A-list actresses take it all off, and get paid and applauded. The audiences have changed. What was once a stag-film, is a now multi-plex blockbuster. We have accepted deviance. We have no one else to blame, but ourselves.
↧