Love's First Awakening

'The boy grows tall. The girl beautiful. When their love happens, it is natural as the sea, and as powerful.'

When I was looking for information on the Romeo and Juliet lawsuit, I ended up on one my favorite sites, author and creator Matthew Rettenmund's Boy Culture.  After posting about Hussey and Whiting, Rettenmund posted a contrasting story linking to Brooke Shields podcast, 'Now What'.  I didn't even know Shields had a podcast, but headed over to listen to her and co-star Christopher Atkins discuss their experience shooting The Blue Lagoon.

Longtime FH viewers know I love me some Christopher Atkins, and have written before about my experience watching The Blue Lagoon.  (HERE:) I was too young to see the film when it first hit the theatres, my introduction to Atkins came a few years later, in the from an image. on the cover of an old copy of People Magazine.

I remember first seeing the issue in a pile of old magazines in my neighbours basement that I was getting paid to help clean. I was hypnotized by the image, and kept looking for moments to take a peak. I so wanted to steal it, but was nervous, and an opportunity never arose. 

I remember making up an excuse to go down into the basement a few weeks later, plan set to find the issue, but that pile of magazines was gone, most likely thrown out in the clean up. Months later however, I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy at the bottom of a pile of magazine in my dentist's waiting room.

Of course went on to rent the film on VHS and paused and rewound Atkin's nude scene over and over and over again. In Shield's podcast, she and Atkins seem to have fond memories of their time filming, despite the nudity and odd circumstances during the filming.  Shields was just 14 at the time, and the oddest story was that her mother was trying to couple her up with the 18 year old Atkins.

She seemed to feel if they got together romantically, it would help with their on-screen chemistry and Atkins also recounts her mother wanted to shift her daughters passion from horse to boys.  Even though they moved Atkins into the hut Shields shared with her mother, it doesn't appear anything but a friendship developed. 

One of the most interesting lines to me in the  interview was Atkins recalling being told my a man that his role in the film was confirmation that he was gay.   I've read this many times on-line, and it seems quite a common thing from many guys who watched the film when they were young.  I'm not sure Atkins actually confirmed my sexuality, that came years later, but I think he was the first embodiment, nude embodiment, of my then hidden desires and preferences. 

You just have check out the scene and caps in this post.  They are the first two plus minutes that Atkins appears in the film.  Prior to this scene, the characters of Richard (Atkins) and Emmeline, (Shields) were played by younger actors.  Shields underwater scenes, and any on-screen nudity were done by a body double.  But Atkins, as well as the younger actors playing Richard and Emmeline did all appear nude in the film.

Atkins first two minutes was an almost unimaginable fantasy sequence for a young, gay or confused kid.  Tall, lean, blond and beautiful, completely naked swimming in a tropical paradise.  The music, the underwater ballet, the lingering scenes of his skin and body, including frontals of an 18 year old Adonis.  The fantasy wabbled slightly when the actor was talking, and out of the water, but below the surface he was a big screen stimulus for so so many.  I'm glad that Atkins and Shields shared mostly happy memories from their time making the film.  It would be a difficult to enjoy the movie, and the nudity, if their memories were not as fun and positive.