Just saw the movie “Watchmen,” the director’s cut.
The blue guy is completely naked throughout the movie. You see everything; quite natural, and not at all sexual in any way. So, maybe it is possible…
There are two other naked scenes in the Trilogy I think everyone forgets.
The first is in “Out of the Silent Planet” during the journey to and from Mars. Basically, we could put this down to the obvious fact that C.S. Lewis and most other Englishmen of the time could never even conceive of the idea of air-conditioning and so this nakedness could probably be ignored.
The other is at the end of THS when the bad guys strip before the Head. This would be an important scene because it demonstrates nakedness before the devil and the ugliness, weakness and helplessness of the human body – at least in the mind’s eye of the beast – as he sees us.
Also agingjb, you are right about the idea of the “actress” concept in Perelandra but I think Lewis meant this idea more in light of the Greek Tragedy.
“…Definition: Tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some combination of hubris, fate, and the will of the gods. The tragic hero's powerful wish to achieve some goal inevitably encounters limits, usually those of human frailty (flaws in reason, hubris, society), the gods (through oracles, prophets, fate), or nature. Aristotle says that the tragic hero should have a flaw and/or make some mistake (hamartia). The hero need not die at the end, but he / she must undergo a change in fortune. In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or recognition (anagnorisis--"knowing again" or "knowing back" or "knowing throughout" ) about human fate, destiny, and the will of the gods. Aristotle quite nicely terms this sort of recognition "a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate…" (http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/Tragedy.htm)See what I mean. So – yes – real actors could be used.
Is anyone working on the screen-play? If not, perhaps we should figure out a way to do it here, as a collaborative effort. What do you think?