When faced with everyday problems (such as the fact that you might be hanged) everyone knows that the best thing to do is rip off your shirt and start mining in a frenzy that shows off your sculpted pecs to their very best, sweaty advantage.
That's what the creators of Poldark probably reckoned when they decided to include an artfully grime-smeared follow-up to the topless scything scene, which had won the first season such critical acclaim, when series two arrived.
That it took just 15 minutes into a new 10-part series for Aidan Turner's Ross Poldark to disrobe is a sign of just how crucial his er, chiseling, is to programme-makers. While tourism in Cornwall might have benefitted massively from the adaptation of Winston Graham's novels it isn’t just beautiful scenery that 5.9 million viewers have been been gawping at.
Industry folk used to say there was no money in the objectification of men, but the drama proved otherwise and prompted a slew of new shows boasting tantalising torsos and more.
A TV adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace was dubbed “Phwoar and Penis” by lascivious critics eager to point out that Andrew Davies’ production contained more men and women in various states of undress than you might expect for Sunday night viewing. Twitter users shrieked “naked willies on the BBC!” and “prime-time penis” after a much-reported incidence of full-frontal nudity in an episode when a soldier walks out of a bathing pond – his penis having no discernible relevance to the plot.
James Norton, one of the few stars of War and Peace who managed to keep his clothes on, has admitted that the Poldark-effect has left male actors feeling pressure to stay in shape.
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“That Poldark shot made me feel incredibly inadequate and emasculated,” he said. “There's always been a body-beautiful thing with television, but the focus has been more on women over the last however many decades. So it's probably right that the tables should turn, but I don’t know if it's a healthy pressure. There is now a sort of expectation on men.”
Another Brit who has been lauded for his booty almost as much as his talent in a manner ordinarily reserved for women is Tom Hiddleston. BBC drama The Night Manager propelled the actor on to the world stage as a double-agent to rival 007. But, despite the brilliance of his overall performance, a sex scene where his bare bum took centre stage stole the limelight.
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A photo posted by Jason Momoa (@prideofgypsies) on Aug 6, 2016 at 2:38pm PDT
It isn’t just European TV. You can barely write the title Game of Thrones without having to add “bare boobies, bloodshed and dragons”. But this year programme-makers apparently listened to one of its stars, Emilia Clarke, who complained that while female actors are often seen entirely naked the men keep their trousers on. She demanded in a TV interview that the showrunners “free the penis” – a request they took so seriously that in one episode of the HBO show, a man's genitalia fills the entire screen, if only for a few seconds.
So, should telly be objectifying men to make money and draw audiences? The issue here, as usual, is equality. I don’t think the talents of any of the men discussed in this article are being belittled as a result of their aesthetic appeal. Which is not something you could say of many female actors. If the actors are happy and the audiences are happy, then why not? – The Independent