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It’s a moment that would have been many a teenage boy’s first glimpse of on-screen nudity, as Britt Ekland’s character danced naked to seduce a policeman in the The Wicker Man.
Yet the scene from the classic 1973 film has now been given a trigger warning as woke university bosses fear it may be too much for today’s sensitive students.
The movie is on the syllabus of a master’s degree in folklore at the the University of Hertfordshire. But students on the course – typically aged over 21 – have been told they can skip it if they are worried about the ‘depiction of nudity’.
Last night, the Swedish actress branded the decision ‘absurd’.
Ms Ekland, 82, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Excuse my language but it’s b******s.
‘In 52 years, I have had many comments [from men] that was their first experience of seeing someone of the opposite sex without clothes. I have never ever had a comment saying “you disturbed me for the rest of my life”.
‘I doubt any young person in their 20s will be shocked or dismayed or unable to function for the rest of the day, or the week or the month because they are watching The Wicker Man with one minute of me nude.
‘The whole thing is absurd. If they are going to put warnings on this, they should put them on the television before any awards show or premieres where people are actually wearing less than I did.’
Britt Ekland has branded the decision to slap a trigger warning on her iconic scene in The Wicker Man as ‘absurd’
Students taking a master’s degree in folklore at the University of Hertfordshire have been told they can skip the classic 1973 film if they are worried about the ‘depiction of nudity’
‘I think it can only happen in England. I can’t imagine it happening anywhere else.
‘England has turned very woke in the last couple of years and it seems that no one stops it.’
The Wicker Man, which also stars Sir Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward, has a 15-certificate from the British Board of Film Classification and is regarded as one of the finest British films ever made. It was even celebrated in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games.
Yet Hertfordshire students have been told they don’t have to watch it if they are worried about its depiction of ‘nudity, sex and violence’. Those with ‘concerns about watching it’ are urged to tell their tutor, who will then suggest an alternative film to watch.
The Wicker Man tells the story of a virginal police officer Sergeant Neil Howie, played by Woodward, who arrives on the remote Scottish island of Summerisle to hunt for a missing schoolgirl. A devout Christian, he is stunned to discover that the island’s residents are pagan worshippers who take part in sexualised fertility rituals.
In one scene, Ekland, who stars as publican’s daughter Willow MacGregor, drives the hapless Howie to distraction when she sings a seductive song while dancing around her bedroom naked.
Details of the university’s warning, which is issued to students taking part in a workshop called Folklore On The Big Screen, were obtained under freedom of information laws.
Ms Ekland, 62 (pictured), said the decision was b******s and ‘can only happen in England’
The film was X-rated when first released, but downgraded as suitable for those aged 15 or over when it was re-released for home viewing in 2002.
A spokeswoman for the University of Hertfordshire defended the warning. She said: ‘The wellbeing of our students will always be our utmost priority.
‘It was following requests by students that we added a content warning to our screenings of The Wicker Man and an option to opt out of watching it if preferred.
‘As yet, no student has opted out of viewing it.’
