Oppenheimer spoiler alerts incoming.
Florence Pugh stars in Christopher Nolan's latest film Oppenheimer as Jean, a young, brilliant student who begins an affair with Cillian Murphy's J. Robert Oppenheimer. Pugh, surprising no one, portrays the cameo role with her usual emotional nuance and sophistication of thought. But that's not what many people on the internet seem to care about.
Instead, social media is filled with comments about — sigh — Florence Pugh's body. In the film, Pugh and Murphy have a sex scene which features several nude shots. "I think they were vital in this in this movie," Murphy told GQ of the scenes. "I think the relationship that he has with [Pugh's character] Jean Tatlock is one of the most crucial emotional parts of the film. I think if they're key to the story then they're worthwhile."
It turns out, some men have opinions about Pugh's appearance in the nude scenes. Should we really be surprised?
In one TikTok video, a man called Charles Peralo goes into detail about Pugh's body, describing her alleged measurements, her previous comments about her weight, and claiming that many viewers thought “she had too much belly fat when filming the role.” While Peralo goes on to stand up for Pugh, the video is, quite frankly, a little creepy.
On Twitter, there is more of the same. Numerous people have taken Pugh's nude scenes as an opportunity to comment on her appearance, saying she has a ‘mid body’, and hurling deeply offensive and triggering insults which we won't be repeating in this article. (If you want proof, they're sadly not difficult to find, but we advise against it).
Like us, many fans of Pugh have, quite simply, had enough of all of this discussion about Pugh's body.
“I'm so tired,” commented one woman on Peralao's TikTok video. “Honestly y'all… I'm so tired of being a human,” wrote another. A third wrote, "Why are we still talking about women's bodies? Let women live, Jesus." On Twitter, one woman wrote, “This is getting ridiculous guys.”
The fact that Pugh's turn in this film is being largely reduced to discourse surrounding her body is, frankly, exhausting. Pugh is a respected actor with one Oscar nomination already under her belt. It's in stark contrast to the reaction to Murphy's role in the film, with his performance being praised as ‘enigmatic’ and ‘searingly good’. The only comments about his appearance in Oppenheimer have been gushing about his character's style – despite being the man who invented the atomic bomb – and how much weight he lost for the role. Comments about the latter are inextricably tied to his craftsmanship and dedication to his work; not how ‘attractive’ he is to the opposite sex, as is the case with Pugh.
So why are so many people still fixated on the shape of her body rather than the quality of her performance?
As this latest round of body shaming discourse makes the rounds on social media, I can't help but feel — well — a little fed up. Pugh is not plus size. She is, one would normally assume, the ‘beauty standard’. But no matter her size, her body is not up on screen for your enjoyment. It's there to be a part of a larger story. If your take away from Oppenheimer is that Pugh doesn't look the way you wanted her to look, then you are the problem.
Pugh said it best herself last year when, surprise, yet another round of body shaming discourse took off thanks to her sheer Valentino dress. “What's been interesting to watch and witness is just how easy it is for men to totally destroy a woman's body, publicly, proudly, for everyone to see,” she wrote on Instagram, later adding, “Grow up. Respect people. Respect bodies. Respect all women. Respect humans. Life will get a whole lot easier, I promise.”
As this latest slew of body shaming comments reminds us, men will always have something stupid to say about women's bodies. To echo many of the Pugh defenders, I am also very, very tired.
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