Slate: Lena Dunham Often Nude Because 'Larger Context'

This dumb controversy might all be a ruse to help boost the humiliating ratings of HBO’s “Girls,” but beyond my comprehension is how a ton of publicity around the fact that a not-very-attractive woman is frequently nude on the show is supposed to draw viewers. Regardless, the heat is still on the Wrap TV critic Tim Molloy, who questioned the need for Lena Dunham’s frequent and random nudity. Now Slate has piled on to explain that the critic is a pig and that the nudity is necessary just because:

His question was not a question; it was a rambling statement of his own inability to understand how Dunham uses nudity in the show, followed by a statement that the choice is “random” and there is “no reason” to justify it. The only legitimate reason for nudity that he purports to understand is its use for titillation purposes. That statement may not reveal Molloy to be an outright misogynist, but given the intensive and wide-ranging critical discussion of the use of nudity in Girls over the past few years, it does reveal him to be willfully naïve to Dunham’s work and its larger context.

Molloy is not only getting blistered in Slate, but “Girls” executive producer Judd Apatow was so incensed he insulted Molloy by asking the critic if his girlfriend likes him:

The conversation continued its personal turn as Apatow asked if I had a girlfriend.

“Sure,” I said.

“Does she like you?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s see how she likes you when you quote that with your question and just write the whole question… and tell me how it goes tonight.”

Actually, my girlfriend has wondered about this, too. Here’s why.

Apatow also called Mollow “sexist,” “misogynist,” and “offensive.”

We have truly reached the final frontier of elitism when the media has to pretend that a show unable to reach a million viewers is a phenom and that there is something wrong with anyone who does not want to see an unattractive woman naked — which is how I think Apatow and Dunham defensively interpreted Molloy’s question.

For his part, Molloy was simply asking about a creative choice.

Obviously, no one has a good answer.

 

Follow  John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC