MovieChat Forums > Forrest Gump (1994) Discussion > Why was Jenny's strip club nudity necess...

Why was Jenny's strip club nudity necessary?

posted 9 years ago by gra05
58 replies | jump to latest

Okay, I am not a huge prude when it comes to nudity in film. I realize there are a lot of films where it serves a purpose. I would prefer it not be in films at all, but I can easily tolerate it if it isn't gratuitous or there was some purpose to it. I realize that Jenny's nudity in the strip club scene was very limited and was probably one of the most tame nude scenes ever, but I find it also to be one of the most disturbing and unnecessary nude scenes in any film ever. Let me explain.....

1) Forrest Gump is a family film. Everybody has seen it. It is very popular. This movie would have been just as good minus the nudity. Next time you watch Forrest Gump, and you get to the strip club scene, think about how much of a family film this is, and the nudity in that scene will seem over the top and a little too much when thinking in that context. It is not like this is an R rated film that has nude women as one of its main themes.

2) Why was it necessary for us to see Jenny's bare butt during this scene? The previous stripper who is on stage before her is wearing a full bikini bottom and it is implied she is topless but we don't see anything. That is all that is necessary to get the point across in a family film like this. It was obvious to us that Jenny was topless and covering herself with a guitar. But they had to go further and show us that shot from behind showing part of her thong "covered" butt crack sitting on a stool. That shot was way too long by the way. But then that wasn't enough . They had to show us her entire bare butt in another scene when she is storming off the stage. I can understand that maybe they wanted to show us she was in only a thong to show her vulnerability in this scene which is fine. But we got the point already when they showed the behind shot when she was still sitting and singing. Why was the next scene where she storms off the stage necessay? Not only do we see more of her butt here in a gratuitous manner, but we see a lot of side boob, plus she is standing up and walking here while appearing to be completely naked if your eyes miss the flesh colored thong. Way too gratuitous for a family film.

3) In the Alabama football shower room scenes they go through great lengths to make sure no male bare butts are shown in the background. Also, when Forrest has a bandaged butt later, we see a quick fuzzy glimpse of his crack. It is obvious that this movie was careful to hide any male butt nudity. So why did we get a nice long look at Jenny's butt earlier?

4) Because of what I mention in points 1 and 3 especially, I have always felt sorry for this actress and I have always wondered if she was pressured into doing that scene only to regret it later. This actress has stated publicly that she doesn't like nude scenes and I have noticed that her other nude scenes are very quick and tasteful and tend to be limited to obscure movies that most people won't see other than a small percentage of women. Forrest Gump has shown her bare butt to the entire world for no reason. Also , I really hope they respected her privacy during shooting that scene. During the part where she storms off the stage naked you only see the heads of four men in the audience so I really hope most of the room was cleared out when she had to get off the stool and walk naked.

5) Jenny was abused as a child. By showing her naked body as an adult is seems they are putting the joke on her instead of her father. Just seems disturbing and exploitative in my opinion.

[–] eeriebass 9 years ago

"Okay, I am not a huge prude when it comes to nudity in film." I kinda disagree... the fact that you bothered to put a lengthy post about how unnecessary a temporary 5 second flash of a woman's bare ass is "one of the most disturbing and unnecessary nude scenes in any film ever" really goes against your first sentence in a big way. Then I looked at your post history, all arguments against nudity in film!

Why was her bare ass shown? You need a reason. Well, she was working at a strip club. (BTW, note number 5, a lot of strippers suffered some sexual abuse growing up, sad fact) She didn't want to be a stripper though, she wanted to be a singer. A strip club doesn't want their pretty girls singing and playing guitar, they want them stripping. Clearly a deal was cut with the establishment, yes you can perform your music, but you have to be nude. It was a incredibly tasteful shot.

I'm going to go ahead and guess you're a mother. You are really pushing this as a family film and that's great. So lets do a quick analysis of your family film: Child abuse, war which leads to men blowing up, legs being amputated, implied drug use, suicidal thoughts during Jenny's coke days, alcohol dependence, a fair amount of profanity. So this is all fine for you, but somebody PLEASE save the children from Robin Wright's ass for 5 seconds!!

You need to reASSess what you consider to be "disturbing" and a "family film." If I had any kids, I'd rather them look at a woman's bare butt than see someone blown up in a war!

[–] gra05 9 years ago

I appreciate your response even though you overreacted. Some people on here are disturbed by violence, others by nudity. We are all entitled to our opinions and I can be offended by nudity and ask about it as much as I want.

You must not have really read my past posts. I am only offended by three types of nudity 1) child and infant nudity that is on the screen for too long, 2) nudity that has nothing to do with the plot and is unnecessary (Forrest Gump) and 3) nudity that is pornographic (shows genitals).

I am surprised you didn't lecture me on how they "do things in European films" which is common on here from the pro nudity crowd. Well, this is America...not Europe, and I really hope our movies don't get any more vulgar than they are. We don't need to be like Europe when it comes to film nudity. You realize that Europeans are the only people in the world who are that permissive about nudity right? Not sure what good it does them. Other civilized people like the Japanese are conservative about nudity.

Anyways, you made some good points. Perhaps Forrest Gump isn't a family film. Seemed to me like everyone was letting their kids as young as 8 watch it which I don't agree with.

[–] eeriebass 9 years ago

If you feel I overreacted, I was just joining the party: You called 5 seconds of nudity disturbing. It's true, you can react to anything however you want, and if you so choose to share your opinion with an online community, I can react to your reaction however I choose. That's how this whole thing works.

It's true, I didn't read your past posts, I just noticed it's all you want to talk about in film is nudity. That's... weird. It's OK, I'm weird too... I'm not your therapist though, I'm not here to dig.

Child nudity, if sexualized, is unforgivable. Pedophilia is one of those things that makes me see red, that's straight up death penalty stuff right there. But your first complaint you've issued to the movie going public is you felt a diaper changing scene went on too long! I've got nieces and nephews that run around naked sometimes, it's what kids do. You can debate this all you want, but clothing is not natural which is part of why it's such a chore sometimes to keep it on a kid!

Nudity that has nothing to do with the plot: Uh... she was in a strip club, she was a stripper... hence the nudity. And it wasn't glorified, the piggish behavior of the patrons made sure of that. (Not that it matters, but I'm a straight male and I hate strip clubs)

Genitalia = porn? This is new to me. The line between porn and nudity has always been a debatable grey area, but for you, flipping through a medical book may be the equivalent of flipping through a hustler.

You seem to think I'm heated/upset discussing this with you, more confused and to be honest, slightly concerned for you: In all this pointless debating, I do hope you're OK! This being a family film is everyone else's strange perception, I'd allow an older kid to watch this, some dark topics come up... but that's life!

[–] gra05 9 years ago

If you notice, I have only been posting on here in regards to this whole topic for about a week unless there were posts a long time ago I forgot about. It is not like I have been on here for years complaining about nudity. I do like to use this website though to check out parents guides sections for different movies.

I am the type of person who will get a topic stuck in my head that concerns me but then a week later or so it passes over. And yes, like a lot of other Americans my biggest concern in movies is nudity. I am not sure why that makes me odd. Most of red state America is right there with me. But it is not like I worry about this all year. It comes and goes and gets triggered by something in a movie I see that bothers me and then one thing leads to another.....I start thinking about all similar scenes in other movies that bother me, and then I come to a website like this and let it all out in about a week or so. That isn't odd either....most of us on here wasting our time discussing movies are more than likely over analytical.

As for what offends me, I think you took my three points way too literally. Child nudity even if it is just a baby, should only be brief and there is no reason for it to be prolonged on screen. Why does it need to be? The reason that hits a nerve with me is because the kid doesn't get a say in it. What if they are humiliated when they get older? Just because you think child nudity in the right context is innocent, it isn't up to us to come to that conclusion. What about the poor baby that gets put in a scene against its will and then is mortified as an adult. I myself would go crazy.

As for genitals, if you haven't noticed, that has always been considered taboo in American films and in many cases warrants a debate about an NC-17 rating. What do medical books have to do with that? I am not stupid.

As far as whether nudity is necessary in Forrest Gump, that might be the one response I slightly agree with you on. All I was saying before was that I thought it could have been avoided. That is all I meant. I get that she was in a strip club.

You have to understand that I was young when that movie came out and very embarrassed in front of my strict father during that scene when we saw it as a family at the theater. I grew up in a prudish home. My dad stopped seeing my sisters and I naked when we were five or six. My husband and I want to raise our kids the same way and especially teach the girls about modesty. To each their own . A lot of American families aren't like this but many are.

[–] eeriebass 9 years ago

Well I think you summarized it best by bringing up Red State America vs. Commie Pinko long-hairs like myself. It's the sort of thing at the end of the day, we'll never agree upon. We could back and forth until the end of time and neither of us will change our minds.

The only thing I really wanted to directly respond to was your questioning why I brought up medical books: You quite literally said genitals = porn, genitals are found in medical books. This whole topic can be summarized, from my perspective, nudity is all about context and intent.

Example: The original Bad Lieutenant starring Harvey Keitel (not a family film, BTW!), there is a scene where he's fully naked that is hardly intended to be sexual. He's all strung out on heroin, corruption, shown as a man falling apart.

Another Disney Classic, the 1991 version of "The Pit and the Pendulum." A woman is prisoner of the Spanish inquisition and during her evaluation, she is stripped bare. Although a few of the inquisitors, these servants of God, are a little too happy to do their job... the intent of the film here was in no way to arouse! It was to show how horrible these men were and for the viewer to be sympathetic and scared on behalf of the poor woman, fictionalized and the sicken fact that this sort of behavior really went on! In spite of the fact that the actress is beautiful, the intent is repulsion. It's one thing to say these sickos would do something like this, it's another to show it.

Neither of these are family films (again, neither is Gump), but I'm discussing intent. I'm positive there are far better examples, nudity is far less jarring to me, so I don't have a list in my mind where there is full top to bottom nudity. But all I'm saying is, to me, pornography is nudity with intent to arouse, not just presenting genitals and saying "Ta da, porn!"

Like I said, we will never see eye to eye on this: So I'm done. If you reply, I'll gladly read it as this has been at the very least, interesting: But to carry on further, I'd just be repeating myself. But I know one thing we can agree on 100%, it is up to the parents to decide what their children can and cannot watch. Where a parent draws the line is up to them. It's a shame Forrest Gump was presented as a family film as it has some real darkness to it. Thankfully in the modern age, parents can do quite a bit more research online before taking their family to the theater. Good talking to you, take care.

[–] gra05 9 years ago

Wow. A Disney movie had full nudity in it? I will have to look that up.

You are right. Genitals have been shown in R rated movies recently. It is one of the vulgarities of modern times. But what is odd to me is that it is mostly male genitals. ...females are usually covered in pubic hair. A lot of men on here get upset over that and I really don't blame them. Quick far away shots don't bother me but what is shown in some of these movies? Wow!

One closing point I will make is that Europeans are currently the only people in the world who seem to be relaxed about nudity CURRENTLY. Parts of Latin America are the same way mainly because they are an extension of European culture. America is too, (an extension of that) but we were more influenced by the Puritan English as were the Australians and Canadians who are in many ways more similar to us about nudity. The British themselves are too. They are an anomaly of Europe. I find it interesting that outside of continental Europe and its offshoots, the rest of the civilized world is prudish about nudity. The Japanese and Chinese are even more prudish than Americans yet they seem to be doing pretty good right now. It just makes me wonder what Europe's laid back views of nudity really accomplishes.

Just a thought. Enjoyed talking to you too!

[–] hakan_lovdahl2 8 years ago

Sigh **

WWW, the first part of the internet adress stands for: World Wide Web.
This is not an American board. Anyone from anywhere can join and
take part of the discussions. Hence a lot of people will concider
you a prude, selfrighteous, moral imposing, my opinion is the right
one, kind of person. You sound a lot like a typical christian who feels
the need to shove there opinion of moral down the throat of others.

-Ohhh,
i see skin.. PANIC.. we can't have that in a movie.. NOOO.. yes i know
they shoot eathother and piles of dead corpses are all over the place but..
NUDE !!! NOOO WAY... ITS DANGEROUS.. OUR KIDS WILL BE DAMAGED FOR LIFE!!!-

It makes me wonder what Americas laid back views of violence and wars
really accomplishes.

But ofc, nudity has killed sooo many more people right? ..
Ehmmm.. Wake up! Please .. Wake up!

---------------------------------
* My God!.. Its Full of Stars! *

[–] Gipshaw 8 years ago

The OP has been respectful, and in no way trying to force his/her views on anybody else in this thread. In fact, the only self righteous person in this thread is you. Get over yourself.

[–] hakan_lovdahl2 8 years ago

The OP states a lot of really narrow minded opinions on here. Like this ..

Well, this is America...not Europe, and I really hope our movies don't get any more vulgar than they are.

First of all this is not America. This is a world wide web movie site.
Second, everyone here has a right to whatever opinion they want. (yes this includes OP)
On a forum however you open yourself to anyone else opinion. It's public.

Third part is about how the OP pictures American movies to be a beacon of moral values the rest of the world should follow. OP seems to have a clear view on how dekadent and vulgar the European film industri have become. Like showing nudity.

After a view of something like "August Underground's Mordum" the statement on how wrong a short nude scene is, might get stuck at the back of your throat. Ofc i understand if OP never heard of AUM. (Hardly in the main stream so to speak) But as they say.. Ignorance is blessed.

---------------------------------
* My God!.. Its Full of Stars! *

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 8 years ago

LMAO. Great answer. Definitely overreaction on the OPs part.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

[–] ThatOneChickEmmy 9 years ago

It's just a butt, we all have them.

Kids know what butts are, they're not going to be horrified and shocked by one unless you teach them to be.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] butfullstarz 8 years ago

that is the thing a butt. if we don't tell children to hide their butt and not to see others butt then they are not safe because for them it is just a butt and someone will take advantage of that thing. same thing goes for other body parts. so a butt is not a butt a butt is a butt. keep children safe.

[–] RoadSideAssistance 8 years ago

WHAT!? Are you implying that a MOVIE should teach kids what is socially acceptable? This is the problem with parents these days. "OMG MY PRECIOUS CROTCH FRUIT WILL BE HARMED!" How about you TEACH your children the proper context and socially acceptable actions instead of planting their fat ass in front of a TV 24/7?

[–] Moonlighty 9 years ago

You are definitely making a big deal out nothing.

-
Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that I'll be over here looking through your stuff.

[–] LukeLovesFilm28 9 years ago

Are you a Mormon Christian or something?? Jesus. THAT was not nudity and to tell Jenny's story, what we did see was necessary. Grow up and deal with it. You were born naked. Does that make you, your mother or god evil?

[–] gra05 9 years ago

I can come on here and complain about nudity as much as I want. I am starting to get fed up with how the briefest and most innocent male nude scenes generate complaint after complaint from men on this website whereas female nude scenes aren't even criticized half the time and when they are criticized by women, the women get scrutinized the way I am now.

[–] hakan_lovdahl2 8 years ago

You know we're all born naked right?

Nudity is the most natural thing there is. It's mostly religious nerds that think it's evil (or wrong in the eyes of the Lord) to be seen this way. I'm sure no kid in the history of the world has ever been hurt by seeing a naked grownup.

So what brings a grownup to panic about nudity in movies?

If it's sexual in nature i get it. Just like violence we don't want to
expose our kids to that so we have a recommnded age for movies.
But why panic about the most natural thing in the world, that we are
all naked under the rags we use to cover ourselves?

I have no clue. We live in a world where poor people are starving.
Crimes on the streets increase by the minute and in some areas there
is still wars going on.

The moral panic people out there outta move to an island and leave the
rest of us alone to anjoy movies the way we like them.
Full of REAL human beings that sometimes get naked... ( Buuhaaa scary right?? )

---------------------------------
* My God!.. Its Full of Stars! *

[–] redapple-47749 8 years ago

You worry about it too much

"Think of it. 90% of the population united against a common enemy. We'll be unstoppable!"

[–] !!!deleted!!! (3437671) 9 years ago

It showed that Jenny was a damaged woman, how she was never able to fully gain control of her life after the abuse she suffered as a child, and offered a scene to show Forrest's dedication to their friendship and his desire to save her.

I awake to do the work of man.

[–] mark-1589 9 years ago

Are inane boards objecting to nudity in film EVER necessary.

We have a novel thing called the rating system. If you want to avoid nudity and other such objectionable things, stick to G.

[–] gra05 9 years ago

I will continue to complain about nudity as much as I want. Do you decide the rules on who can be offended about this and that? I find it pretty absurd how I am getting scrutinized over this when it is pretty normal for Americans to be prudish about nudity . If this were a website only for Europeans or West Coast Americans then I would be keeping my mouth shut over this. Why do women get scrutinized for complaining about nudity on here as rarely as we do while it seems to be accepted and sympathized with when men do the same for EVERY movie that has male nudity on here?

[–] mark-1589 8 years ago

What do you mean by "scrutinized"? Do you mean that people respond to you in a critical fashion? Well, that is what discussion involves. Yes, you can complain as much as you want, and others can respond that they feel your complaints are absurd, childish, prudish, etc. etc. It's called freedom of expression, and it isn't a one way street. You are telling others what you think should be the norm, and others are responding to you in kind with their views. I don't see why you find this so troubling. If you want to engage in such debates, you should lose the thin skin.

By the way, if you want a shocking example of nudity in a Walt Disney classic, try watching the opening frames of the film, Polyanna, which show very prominently the backside of a young boy as he swings on a rope swing then jumps into a river.

[–] gra05 8 years ago

I notice that people on here have a tendency to dodge my main points when responding to me. My main point above in response to you had nothing to do with ME myself getting scrutinized. It had to do with the fact that EVERY movie on here with male nudity attracts petty complaints from men whereas half the female nudity in movies goes unnoticed, but when women actually do complain about it, we get treated how I am getting treated now. You missed the main point of my response to you.

[–] gra05 9 years ago

And still there is one point I made that nobody is addressing. If her nudity was innocent and part of the plot then why did they go out of their way to hide similar make nudity? They showed an Alabama football shower room scene for goodness sake but made sure that the bars on the window separating the coaches from the players showering, were going right across where their butts were? That wasn't an accident. Why was that blocked since it had to do with the plot? Same with Forrest's bandaged butt. They showed as little as possible. While we are at it, why didn't Forrest just pull his pants down all the way instead of just showing President Johnson one butt cheek? Wouldn't that have been funnier? Or is nudity only important when it has to do with the plot if it is female but if it is male it is offensive?

[–] gra05 9 years ago

Meant to say "why did they go out of their way to hide similar male nudity".

[–] doctor_dickenstein 8 years ago

i took note of another poster's mention of nudity in a disney film...a disney film with full frontal female nudity (if you can believe that!), albeit very briefly, is "dragonslayer" (1981) with sir ralph richardson, peter macnicol and caitlin clarke...it's an underwater shot but you do see her swimming in the nude. i wouldn't say it's a kid's film per se but i remember when it came out and going to the theater to see it, i was only 6 or 7yrs old at the time. i had been exposed to nudity in film so it was no shock, really, but i was kind of surprised that it showed the lower front half of a woman...that was something i hadn't seen before. at least not in a movie. "A co-production between Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Productions, Dragonslayer was more mature and realistic than other Disney films of the period. Because of audience expectations for a more family-friendly film from Disney, the film's violence, adult themes and brief nudity were somewhat controversial at the time, even though Disney did not hold US distribution rights, which were held by Paramount" (wikipedia).

"i like your movies man, you got a great penis"

[–] gra05 8 years ago

Thanks for your response. I actually misunderstood the first guy who was talking to me above. He wasn't saying the Disney version had nudity. He was saying the remake of a Disney movie did. I also looked up the movie you just mentioned and the parents guide section says nothing about full female nudity. It says you see male and female butt and partial boob briefly. Still odd for Disney but not as extreme as full frontal.

I think when people say they see a woman fully naked in a film they could mean all sorts of things. 97% of the time you really can't see anything other than pubic hair or a shadow. That is why movies have been more tolerant of showing women from the front over men.

[–] doctor_dickenstein 8 years ago

oh, well then i guess i misunderstood him as well. in either case, like i said, there is female full frontal but it's very, very breif and not super clear...as i stated, it's an underwater shot. like you said tho, it's nothing more than a quick shot of boobs and pubes. trust me, it's an all-time favorite film of mine i've seen it a lot. however, the nudity is nothing like that shot of the totally nude hippy girl/woman in "the doors" movie (i'm sure you know the montage i'm talking about). idk how old your kids are but if they're boys, i'm sure they'd like the film, if you're willing to let them watch it. it was ground-breaking as far as special effects relative to the dragon...pretty cool stuff!

"i like your movies man, you got a great penis"

[–] eeriebass 8 years ago

Haha, I was just looking through some old posts and came across this discussion. I'm the guy who talked about the nudity in "The Pit and the Pendulum." Apologies, sarcasm doesn't translate well over the internet. I called "The Pit and the Pendulum" a Disney Classic sarcastically, I felt it absurd enough a statement that nobody would take it seriously. Even if not familiar with the fact that it's a Poe story, the fact that I explained that a woman was stripped in front of the Spanish Inquisition while they prodded at her would kind of clarify the sarcasm, no such luck.

Using sarcasm online always goes suuuuper well for me!

[–] doctor_dickenstein 8 years ago

Lol...nice work! to my defense, i only skimmed past your post halfheartedly, i didnt read it thoroughly.

[–] doctor_dickenstein 8 years ago

oddly enough, i just finished watching dragonslayer with my twin boys.

[–] 8 years ago

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