It was not only Oppenheimer who had an Oscar winning streak. John Cena did it too. And some Christians were outraged.
Of course they were. You can always count on a small but vocal group somewhere to be absolutely angry.
At last week’s Academy Awards, lovable idiot and wrestler-actor John Cena did a skit with host Jimmy Kimmel while they presented the award for Best Costume Design. As part of the skit (a tribute to an actor from the 1974 Oscars), Cena appeared on stage, conspicuously naked, covering his private parts with the announcement envelope (it was a big envelope, and it’s relevant , not a compliment).
Backstage, Cena pretended to procrastinate over his decision to take off his kit, allowing for a wonderful dialogue in which Cena declared, “The male body is no joke!” and Kimmel replied, “Mine is!” »
Spot minor laughs at the naked man’s deadpan discomfort and big laughs at a solidly written gag.
Why get angry? GOOD.
Sticky and offensive
Some Christians, the ones I have to shower with the lights off in case they see anything unusual, were offended by the “nudity.” To be clear: at no time have we seen more of Cena than on the beach, in the wrestling ring, or at a nudist camp for extremely shy people. Legs, chest, abdomen? Yes. Below? You can’t see John Cena’s.
But, as any woman who has been dress-shamed knows, you don’t have to reveal much to be judged. In this case, the judgment was that the gag was “cheesy,” an appeal to shock value. Of course, the only people shocked by this sort of thing are those who use the term “shock value” in angry letters to the Beeb (or even our own Aunt Prem).
Was the scene really a “satanic humiliation ritual” imposed on Cena?
And “cheesy” is a rather subjective term. The idea, however, seems to be that Christians should dress “with dignity.” You know: like the famous televangelists or those who are right muscular, oiled men who tear telephone directories in half before making an altar call.
Setting aside the obvious (but historically ignored) arguments against the bizarre insistence on non-Christians adhering to religious rules to which they never subscribed, it seems a little strange that This This is the part of the Oscars that people found problematic.
Bigger problems
This doesn’t really sound like an overly dramatic movie trailer, but: In a world where countless people are starving while food is wastedan event where obscenely rich people walk red carpets and discuss clothes that are more expensive than essential surgeries and unaffordable for ordinary people, maybe the lack of clothes isn’t the cheesiest thing going on.
And to be fair, some opposing Christians didn’t care about the nudity itself. They cared about “feminism.” Yes. Feminism is to blame, not because John Cena took off his designer kit to make us laugh, but for double standards. To be honest, it is difficult to determine what these standards are. After all, it’s not as if, even at the Oscars, men are chosen to show off in a sinister flesh market. This pressure is still strongly exerted on women.
Christians should dress “with dignity.” You know: like rhinestone televangelists
But perhaps it’s a little more reasonable to say that if a woman had been in (or even out of) Cena’s spot, it would have caused more furore. Except, right? The “uncomfortably naked for comedy” trope is a trope precisely because it was so common for women to be depicted in this situation, sometimes for pure comedy, more often to titillate the male gaze and objectify the actress by question. There is also a nice tradition of men being represented in these positions, so perhaps the suffragans could leave this particular issue aside.
But hey, maybe there’s some sense to the idea that men’s bodies are seen as funny and women as objects of desire, and I’m sure that points to a problematic power dynamic at play. But hey Was this sketch really the problem? Is nudity (itself an abstract, post-fall concept for human beings who are all, shockingly, naked beneath our clothes) that important?
A hill to die on
Most of us would accept that this is an issue on which we can happily disagree and remain in communion. Most from U.S. But. Browse the comments on articles and videos about Cena’s skit and you’ll find naked truthers explaining that the scene was not funny at all but, in fact, a “satanic humiliation ritual”, imposed on Cena by the elites adjacent to the Illuminati for occult purposes. reasons that I cannot guess without my own vision of Patmos.
You can’t make this stuff up. Except, obviously, people do.
And as the growing number of Christians sent into the wilderness conspiracy theory communities is alarming and probably terrible for our witness, at least it’s comforting to know that there are worse reasons to be outraged at a gag at an awards ceremony than to see a man appear shirtless.
How nude is too nude? Writer Lizzie Hutchison and Simon Ward, former London Fashion Council operations director, talk to Esther Higham about the Prime Minister, John Cena’s nude stunt and what biblical modesty really looks like. Listen now on premier.plus
