"It's just a penis."

A scene with Viggo Mortensen from the 2016 film "Captain Fantastic".

We've probably all seen it – Viggo Mortensen's full frontal in the 2016 film "Captain Fantastic", in which Viggo's character, Ben, appears naked in the setting of a US camper park and utters the immortal words, "It's just a penis. Every man has one."

It seems Viggo himself is not massively adverse to appearing naked in films, as he had previous done so in "Eastern Promises" in 2007. Oh, and "The Indian Runner" in 1991... and quite possibly more before that.

And hats off to him; there aren't that many Hollywood actors who have done, or would do, the same. Viggo is sort of normalising nudity, including male full-frontals in film. But I use the phrase "sort of", because here's the thing; it's kind of problematic.

Within the framework of the film, it's not just a penis? It's a penis, which fellow campers would not expect to see in the context of a non-nude camper park in the US. If only the sight of a penis, and nudity in general, was really that commonplace in the US! Every man may have one, but not everyone expects to be confronted by a naked man without warning, and not every man is prepared for others to see it.

Also within the framework of the film, the character Ben, although he is naked, specifically singles out his penis, assuming that's what the couple are looking open-mouthed at, implying that he is perfectly aware what he's doing - once again, it's not just a penis. He specifically mentions his penis, rather than saying, for example, "It's just a naked body. Everyone has one."

Outside the framework of the film, it's not "just" a penis either. We have already mentioned that full-frontal male nudity is relatively rare in Hollywood, and this is because the studios know it's not just a penis and are reluctant to get themselves in any unnecessary controversy; and for the actors' part, many probably prefer not to record their manhood on celluloid, or its digital replacement, for all eternity.

But it seems Viggo is happy to do this and once again bring male nudity to the big screen! He knows perfectly well there's a whole lot more to this scene, and others, than "just a penis".

A still from the fight scene "Eastern Promises" (2007).

Viggo's reflection in "The Indian Runner" (1991).