Stars Bare All

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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• depict
• over-the-top
• full-frontal
• trend

• graphic
• NC-17
• risque
• push the envelope

• buzz
• gratuitous

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Nude scenes in movies have been around as long as films themselves. And so has the debate about just how much skin directors should be allowed to show. In the U.S., all movies are assigned a rating based in part on how much nudity they contain. If there’s a lot of graphic nudity in a film, it may earn an NC-17 rating, meaning that nobody under 18 is allowed to see it. Movies with an NC-17 rating are considered very risque and usually don’t get shown in most mainstream movie theaters.

But film-makers often try to push the envelope when it comes to nude scenes, in part because films with a lot of nudity in them tend to draw moviegoers’ curiosity. Find out how Marni and Beren feel about this controversial issue.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Marni

Beren

Marni:  Beren, I was watching a film the other day and it was an older film, and you know, there’s a lot of nudity in it, and I happened to be watching the movie with my mother, and I noticed how uncomfortable I was getting because of all these nude scenes. And, you know…

Beren:  Was it graphic nudity or was it mostly implied?

Marni:  It was fairly graphic. And, you know, I feel like there’s sort of this push in films, a real push for like more gratuitous nudity, and…

Beren:  It’s uncomfortable.

Marni:  It’s so uncomfortable! Right.

Beren:  It’s really uncomfortable, and I think it depends on what’s being depicted in the movie, like if it’s, you know, over-the-top nudity and it’s nudity in a somewhat risque situation, that will make me more uncomfortable if I’m with my parents.

Marni:  Sure.

Beren:  But even sometimes in comedies they’ll have the full-frontal shot and it’s just like, “Woah!” And it makes me uncomfortable.

Marni:  Right. And I’m noticing that more and more. It seems to be a trend. It’s like let’s get some laughs by showing a naked man. And there’s several films that are coming out in the next few weeks that are really specifically…the buzz is about these nude scenes. Like I’m thinking specifically of that movie Love and Other Drugs with Anne Hathaway, and the whole buzz is that she’s naked a lot in it. It just seems like directors and film makers are really pushing the envelope with this and trying to get people in. You know, sex sells. But there’s films where it seems appropriate and films where it doesn’t.

Beren:  Definitely.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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