Naked truth

CHRIS LEE writes as if both Judd Apatow and Jason Segel are pioneers of some sort because they’re actually showing a man with full frontal nudity in their movies [“Letting It All Hang Out,” April 16]. Oh, my god, I am soooooooo shocked.

Actually, what this reader is really shocked about is Lee’s opinion that these gentlemen are indeed pioneers when in actuality they are far behind the times. Foreign and independent films have long shown that simply showing male genitalia is oh, so last year (if not longer).

Apatow is a very funny filmmaker with a great ear for dialogue and character, but he is not a pioneer. He and Segel are doing no more than playing catch-up; and when they do catch-up, they’ll still have a long way to go.

Howard Casner

Los Angeles

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TWENTIETH CENTURY pundits noted that women showed more flesh during times of war as their hemlines got shorter. For those of us who weren’t around for the World Wars, there’s a more modern correlative: When Americans go to war, male genitalia shows up in movies.

The frontal nudity in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is really not “unprecedented”; it’s a direct descendant of the rampant nudity that pervaded films of the Vietnam War era. From Malcolm McDowell and Jan-Michael Vincent to Rudolf Nureyev, Anthony Newley, every man in a Warhol flick, and that near-iconic wrestling match between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed, almost every guy challenged the Establishment by getting out of their trousers.

The semiotics of both eras are the same. With thousands of troops again fighting in a misguided war, popular culture is sending a message to the conservatives that led us into these altercations by flashing its crotch.

Hooray for Judd Apatow, whose art challenges this era’s questionable morality. I hope streakers come back into fashion next!

James Roman

Los Angeles