‘GLOW’: Unpacking Alison Brie’s Two Big, Rebellious Topless Scenes

Netflix’s brand new comedy GLOW is chock full of delights. It’s got laughs! It’s got heart! It’s got a brilliant and diverse ensemble cast! It’s got wrestling! It’s got roller skating! And — SPOILER ALERT — it’s got a topless Alison Brie.

The beloved actress goes fully topless not once, but twice, in the very first episode. It’s noteworthy because Brie has been openly shy about onscreen nudity in the past. A few weeks ago, she made headlines confessing about a time when she was asked to take her shirt off (with a bra top still on) for an Entourage audition and just the other night, she joked on The Late Late Show with James Corden about her very real nerves heading into her first real sex scene in Sleeping With Other People. The moments are also striking because of how they fit within the themes of GLOW as a series since GLOW is a show about women struggling against sexism.

So why is Alison Brie topless not once, but twice, in the very first episode of GLOW?

I think it’s important to look at the context of nudity onscreen. I know that might sound in equal parts both perv-y and pretentious, but hear me out. For years, I’ve covered entertainment with a specific focus on the original television being produced by streaming services and premium cable channels. That means that I’ve seen a lot of nudity depicted in a lot of different ways and, quite frankly, I don’t find nudity by itself shocking or titillating anymore. What does interest me is how a show or film uses (or doesn’t use) nudity as a valuable storytelling device. In Gone Girl, director David Fincher only stripped his actors down when they were trapped in moments of utter emotional vulnerability. In The Handmaid’s Tale, we didn’t get a whiff of actual pearl-clutching nudity until the first true sex scene, which became a moment of passionate, emphatic rebellion. GLOW is a carefully constructed show with a lot of smart things to say about a lot of very heady topics. So, I asked myself, as I ask myself often I’m reviewing a show these days, “Why now? Why this nudity?”

So let’s break these moments down and look at them in the larger context of GLOW — because, trust me, there’s a point to them.

The first time Brie’s character Ruth is nude, she’s changing in a women’s locker room. The strip down happens literally after her friend (played by Betty Gilpin) teases her for once being such a prude she couldn’t get changed in front of other people. So, this bold bit of nudity is a bit of an ironic punchline. It’s also a nod to a lot of the voyeuristic nude scenes of the ‘80s. GLOW is set in this time period and is fully aware of that time period’s comedy trappings – which usually catered to what we call the “male gaze.” Remember all those horny teens and college co-eds sneaking peaks of girls changing? That’s what this scene feels a bit like, and yet it’s shot in a casual way. It’s the everyday female experience pushing against the sketchy conceits of ’80s culture. GLOW is kind of deconstructing this tried and true trope for what it is: a sneak peek at an innocent moment.

The second topless scene is during an ill-advised sexual encounter. The nudity is far more natural and far less flattering. This is Ruth at her rock bottom. The sex is equal parts heartbreaking (because Ruth is reminded of her shortcomings) and silly (because of the sheer baseness of it). The nudity is sexy and yet embarrassing at the same time. The character is at her most exposed, literally and figuratively. This, too, is a scene that could have been shot far more salaciously, but instead, the point of the scene is Ruth’s embarrassment. She has to confront the criticism she’s hearing in her professional life repeated in this one moment of potential release. The sex scene is shot to highlight her frustration and that frustration is seeded in how she feels limited by how she looks to other people.

What’s interesting is how these scenes hammer home that GLOW is indeed a show about women struggling within the confines of the male gaze. Sexism doesn’t just loom over the scenery like a shadow, it is straight up commented upon and railed against. And as the season unfolds, the power dynamic between the genders flips. The women begin to take charge and the men in positions of power start to stumble. Eventually the show gets to the point where the male characters are stripped down in humiliating ways. Also, the way women use their bodies changes over time; They take back agency.

Over time, the show also adjusts how the female wrestlers’ bodies are shot by the camera. Initially, there’s a salacious bent to the angles and close ups, but by the end, the shots begin to display the characters’ strength. There’s even a beautiful speech in the season finale when one character explains that she likes wrestling because her body belongs to her, and no one else, when she’s in the ring. To get to this point of liberation, though, we need to start in a place where we see the women’s bodies trapped by the traditional male gaze. That’s where I think these topless shots come in. We’re seeing Ruth ensnared by a system of misogyny that she’s going to attempt to triumph against.

Then again, maybe the showrunners just thought it would be fun to show boobs. Maybe that’s all there is to it!

(But also I think GLOW is trying to deconstruct the male gaze.)

Season One of GLOW is now streaming on Netflix.

Stream GLOW on Netflix