The Massive Weight of Industry Pressure
Positive testimonies of onscreen sexuality, part 4
Actors being sexualized for audiences isn’t exactly a new trend in Hollywood. In fact, it’s been a component of the world of film almost since its inception. One factor that seems to be more prevalent in the recent past, though, is the critical and institutional praise heaped on actors—women in particular—for sexualizing themselves.
In an ironic post-MeToo twist, actors are receiving more commendation for succumbing to the demands of our pornified culture. This lends a greater sense of legitimacy to acting roles that would have, at one time, been considered less glamourous and more degrading.
A few examples are in order. Let’s look at three films, one each from the previous three years.
Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)
In this film, Emma Thompson plays a retired teacher who decides to employ the services of a young male prostitute. Film critic James Berardinelli writes that the actress “sheds her pretentions along with her inhibitions”:
The decision to bare all was Thompson’s – she could have done the scenes clothed or with more of a peek-a-boo approach – and, although she admits to having been nervous and uncomfortable, it never shows. Calling her performance “brave” feels condescending, but this is an example of an actress showing a willingness to do what she believes is necessary for the role (rather than something contractually mandated).
Thompson’s performance in the film was heralded as “impressive,” “amazing,” “glorious,” “moving,” “fearlessly raw,” “extraordinary,” and “better than ever.”
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande received over 30 award nominations from various institutions, including several for Emma Thompson: Best Leading Actress (BAFTA Awards), Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical or Comedy (Golden Globes), Most Daring Performance (Alliance of Women Film Journalists)—and even Best Female Orgasm (Girls on Film Awards).1
Emma Stone, Poor Things (2023)
As a female version of Frankenstein’s monster, this movie follows the emotional—and sexual—development of a suicide victim named Bella (Emma Stone) who is reanimated with the consciousness of an unborn child. The film explores Bella’s sexual exploits with explicit and gratuitous abandon.
To quote Berardinelli again, Stone’s nudity in the film went “well beyond what we normally see from mainstream actresses, not to mention those ensconced on Hollywood’s A-list.” Similarly, Christian critic Paul Asay claimed the movie might have had “the most skin in any film I’ve ever reviewed.”
I’ve noted previously,
[S]ources like Observer, National Review, and actor Mark Ruffalo [who plays one of Bella’s lovers] have compared the film to pornography. Even IndieWire, while denying the pornographic nature of the film, ponders how “this brazenly sex-crazed movie” escaped an NC-17 rating.
Stone’s pornographic performance was nevertheless praised by critics as “fearless,” “magnetic,” “remarkable,” “uninhibited,” “absolutely tremendous,” “extraordinary,” and “courageous.”
Poor Things received over 400 award nominations from various institutions, including several for Emma Stone: Best Leading Actress (BAFTA Awards), Outstanding Performance (Screen Actors Guild), Best Performance by an Actress (Academy Awards)—and Female Orgasm Award (Girls on Film Awards).
Mikey Madison, Anora (2024)
The protagonist of this film is a stripper named Ani (Mikey Madison) who accepts a marriage proposal from one of her clients in what turns out not to be the whirlwind romance she’s hoping for. Madison is “unashamedly naked throughout the first 45 minutes” of the film, which consist primarily of “nonstop party and sex scenes.”
In an article for Variety, Madison explains how she prepared for the role: “I did quite a bit of pole training. I did this stripper boot camp where I was taught how to give lap dances, how to twerk.” Her training on how to sexualize oneself for clients ended up making all her hypersexualized scenes in the movie feel “normal”:
“Those scenes were fun to shoot and all of the lap dance scenes were very fun to shoot as well because the environment on set was very comfortable,” Madison continued. “After a little bit, I was almost too comfortable in those situations, especially walking around the club. All the women are naked, and I was too, and it was normal.”
Madison’s performance in Anora has been lauded as “electrifying,” “fearless,”2 “irresistible,” “extraordinary,” “mesmerizing,” “star-making,” and “[a] tour de force.”
Anora has received over 200 award nominations, including many for Mikey Madison: Best Actress (Critics Choice Awards), Breakthrough Performance (Toronto Film Critics Association Awards), Best Actress (Academy Awards), and Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical or Comedy (Golden Globes).
A Trio of Caveats
For clarity’s sake, there are three points I am not attempting to make here. First, I’m not saying these actresses lacked any thespian skills in the films above. For the purposes of this piece, their acting abilities are ultimately beside the point, seeing as how their performances were inextricably linked to sexual objectification.
Second, I am not attempting to show that these actresses faced pressure to expose themselves for the camera. In the first two examples especially, that appears to decidedly not be the case.3 They all give the appearance of accepting—and even embracing—the requirements of their respective projects.
Third, my point isn’t even that our pornified culture is making performances like these normal and acceptable. That’s a legitimate point—one I’ve made numerous times over the years. But it’s tangential to the point of this piece in particular.
With Great Praise Comes Great Pressure
What, then, is my point? That these three examples (and others like them) are contributing to the pressure placed on all actors—particularly women—who may have reservations about sexual objectification being a necessary part of their job description. If the entertainment industry is a highly competitive field (as I argued last time), and if actresses wish for any decent level of success in Hollywood, any resistance to self-objectification will be considered a liability and a detriment.
As more accolades, nominations, and awards are handed out to women who sexualize themselves for the camera, it reinforces industry-wide hypersexualized norms that MeToo was supposed to help dismantle. If Thompson and Stone and Madison are lauded for disrobing and sexually acting out, it sends a clear message to the tens of thousands (at least) of other actresses in the Screen Actors Guild: “If you want to be acknowledged for your acting chops, your clothes and inhibitions need to go on the chopping block. These are the kinds of performances we regard, respect, and reward.”
I’m reminded of a quote from the ScholarDay blog about Margot Robbie’s rise to fame as a result of her hypersexualized role in The Wolf of Wall Street:
What also makes Robbie’s story so tragic is how interviews and glossy mags talk about her decision to grin and bare it all as if it was the best decision she made in her career. . . . If young, aspiring actors see over and over again stories spun in this way, then it will always be the status quo.
To quote another writer, “Status quo is the pressure to keep things the way they are.” There is a torrential river of pressure placed on actresses to “grin and bare it all.” It would make sense, then, that at least some of those grins—some of the positive testimonies of onscreen sexuality—don’t represent the actor’s true sentiments, but rather their succumbing to the pressure of the status quo.
UPDATE (1/23/25): The stats for Anora have been revised, now that the Oscar nominations have been announced.
Previous entry: “Hollywood Flattery Culture Cloaks Reality”
Next entry: “Actors and Press Tours: A Perilous Tightrope”
I’m not sure how long this award has been around, but it’s existence only furthers the pressure placed on serious thespians to imitate a porn aesthetic.
Elsewhere, James Berardinelli admits that describing a performance as “fearless” is “a code word for ‘she has nude scenes.’”
Mikey Madison (age 25) certainly gives every appearance of willingly subjecting herself to the sexualized material required of her in Anora. It has been pointed out, however, that director Sean Baker made Madison herself decide whether or not the film hired an intimacy coordinator. In a Variety piece on the matter, intimacy coordinator Jessica Steinrock is quoted as saying, “When framed as ‘Do you want this support or not?,’ it makes sense to me that someone might opt out.” Marci Liroff (another intimacy coordinator) agrees: “It is next to impossible for a performer to say no to someone who has hiring and firing power. You don’t want to seem needy. You don’t want to have to spend more money — we’re a new position on set, so we’re a new line item on the budget.”
I briefly listened to the acceptance speeches of Mikey Madison (Best Actress - Anora) and Sean Baker (Best Director, Best Original Screenplay - Anora). Both acknowledged the sex workers that helped with the context of the film. But that's just lip service ; lip service that will just stop right there. They aren't concerned about the physical, spiritual and mental health of the sex workers that they supposedly respect and advocate for. I bet not one sex worker that was consulted for Anora was invited to the ceremonies as a guest.
Come to think of it, we have a name for structures that control, oppress and objectify women, and brainwash. They’re called cults.