A Netflix series has sparked a massive online debate after its explicit content left viewers with jaws on the floor.
A Netflix mini-series has come under fire for a controversial scene that doesn’t shy away from full-frontal male nudity.
The series, A Man in Full – rated TV-MA (for viewers 17 and older) – does come with a warning for ‘sex, language, sex reference, sexual images, injury detail,’ but it falls short of mentioning the explicit nature of its sixth and final episode.
In that episode, actor Tom Pelphrey’s character, Raymond Peepgrass, is under the effects of Viagra when he lets his bedsheet slip, exposing himself to Charlie Croker (played by Jeff Daniels) in a manner that’s hard to overlook.
While many fans took to social media to commend the mini-series, there was a notable amount of discomfort surrounding the graphic content of the sixth episode.
Mary Killen, a columnist for The Spectator, expressed her disapproval: “I don’t want to see graphic sexual images when I’m watching a drama. There is too much already and it is reducing us to no better than barnyard animals.
“Viewers shouldn’t be forced to see pornography. This trend will end in tears as it’s depressing, unmysterious and taking away some of life’s magic.”
Jen Chaney from Vulture commented: “Right now you are probably feeling shocked, flabbergasted, disgusted, profoundly confused, or some combination of all of these emotions. That is okay.”
Politician Alexander Stafford criticized: “If Netflix is serving up this sort of low-grade, pornographic rubbish, we need to give Ofcom full oversight of the streaming giant’s output as soon as possible.”
Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, does have guidelines, but they are not as strict for streaming services.
Ofcom states that ‘material unsuitable for children should not, in general, be shown before 2100 or after 0530’ and adds, “Broadcasters must ensure that material broadcast after the watershed, or made available on BBC ODPS, which contains images and/or language of a strong or explicit sexual nature, but is not ‘adult sex material’ as defined in Rule 1.18 above, is justified by the context.”
Since Netflix is a streaming platform, it isn’t bound by the same rules as traditional broadcast TV, notes politician Sara Britcliffe.
Meanwhile, a Reddit user brought up the disparity in how male and female nudity are treated on screen.
They pondered, “That explicit male nudity scene in A Man in Full was not a first. Why is explicit male nudity OK to show in TV-MA series but female not?”
A Netflix spokesperson mentioned that ‘100 percent of [the streaming service’s] UK catalogue is certified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)’.