In the early 1990s, ABC’sNYPD Blueregularly made headlinesfor its boundary-pushing nude scenes— always carefully cast in shadow. It was a very different time from today, when cable and streaming platforms regularly put out content so explicit the MPAA would blush if it were being released in a movie theater. Thus, it takes special effort to stand out when it comes to putting naked people on screen, the way the new Hulu dramaNormal Peopledoes.
Normal People,in its trailer, could only begin to hint at the level of nudity contained within the series, focused on the complicated relationship between Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Paul Mescal). Initially acquainted while growing up in their small Irish town, their teenage spurts of casual hooking up eventually evolve into a very sad love story that stretches over years — one with an awful lot of sex in it.
This includes the final taboo of on-screen nudity — male full-frontal. The newRyan Murphy-producedNetflix dramaHollywoodmight include a few scenes where nude men frolic poolside, but Mescal is fully exposed on a semi-regular basis. How much people bring this up originally surprised him,who told The Daily Beastthat he hadn’t thought the topic of nudity would be so popular. This is because, he said, “me and Daisy became quite used to filming the scenes and we felt quite safe in it, that they didn’t feel like massive events when we were filming. It was just kind of part of a week’s work.”
Game of Thronesused to receive a great deal of criticism for its relatively flagrant implementation of nude scenes — however, that’s because many of those moments were gratuitous and unnecessary. (It’s likely none of us will ever forget Lord Baelish delivering exposition while simultaneously observing a prostitute training session).
Meanwhile, Edgar-Jones and Mescal have plenty of sex over the course of the season, but their nude scenes together (filmed with guidance from an intimacy coordinator) occur more often after their love scenes. When actually having sex, the camera keeps its attention on their faces, not on their bodies, with close-ups capturing the sometimes confusing emotions that come with this particular act. Only in the complicated afterglow, when they’re negotiating their way through the feelings about what has just happened, they’re additionally exposed in some way.
Especially towards the middle of the series, too, the casual use of nudity is just an additional indication of their comfort with each other, on-screen evidence of years of familiarity. What stands out about how directorsLenny AbrahamsonandHettie Macdonalduse nudity is that if you’re bingeing, by a certain point its impact almost seems to fade away. Instead, what’s really stripped bare on screen are the emotions. Marianne and Connell aren’t just physically naked in their bedroom (or otherwise) scenes — their characters are vulnerable and raw with each other in a way that only happens when you’re seeing true intimacy on screen.
One of the most sexually charged moments in the entire series comes when the naughty bits of both parties involved are covered. Now in college, Marianne and Connell, their relationship on the precipice, are at a pool party. They’ve been fighting over a number of things, including how Connell won’t touch her when they’re in public, but then, in full view of all their friends, he leans over to place a gentle kiss on her neck.
Everyone wears some kind of armor, to some degree, except with those they trust enough to see them without it.Normal Peopledoesn’t aim to titillate. Instead, it wants to make us feel what that means, to be exposed, and loved for it.
