Bob’s Burgers Bare Beach Episode Gets It Right (Almost)

I am a huge fan of the popular cartoon sitcom, Bob’s Burgers. The show is about a family that runs a typical burger joint named after the father. Parents Bob and Linda Belcher are raising three children: Tina, Louise and Gene.
The show is funny, first, and most surprisingly, sex-positive. (The sex-positive attitudes show through the three youngsters characters along with the parents’ attitudes towards sexuality.) The show is now entering its 5th season on Fox, and I wanted to review an episode from season 3 that is especially important to us nudies. It’s called “Nude Beach.”
In this episode, Bob has issues with his eatery health inspectors and at once, a bare beach opens up in town. It starts out with Hugo, his customary nemesis health inspector, who gives bob’s hamburgers a “C” evaluation after Bob fails to reveal his “hand washing certification.” The family asks Hugo and his partner who they’re going to harass next when the subsequent dialog ensues:
Hugo: “Well Bob if you must know maybe you have heard our town is now home to some disgusting bare beach! There have been reports of vendors there serving food while n-n-naked.”
Tina: “That is how the vendors served food in the Bible.”
Hugo: “Do not bring religion into this!”
The Bible comment is amusing, but I know it does not look like we’re off to a great start. We’ve got the typical “ew, gross” comment about naked people at a unclothed beach. But it gets better!
Linda seems happy about the nude beach and asks Bob when they will get to go. Bob replies, “Nude beaches are full of heavy, out of shape old bodies and I don’t wanna go t here and realize I look just like that.”
A lot of times folks are uneasy or express disgust with naked bodies because they are embarrassed of their own naked bodies. (Of course this is still propagating the myth that everyone on the unclothed beach is old and hideous by society’s standards, but you can find more body-positive moments to come.)
Tina wants to go see the unclothed beach and offers to opt for her mom Linda for a fun “mommy daughter nudity day.” But Bob says he is fairly sure children are not permitted there.
Linda ends up going to the strand with her friend Gretchen. They come upon a sign that says the beach is for age 18 , and this is a odd premise, as most naked beaches don’t have an age restriction. It’s also unfortunately reinforcing the notion that naturism is an “adult” action and not appropriate for children. (In reality many families and kids frequent naked beaches.)
American television can not even free the nipple on animations. Sad. Image: Fox
The playa scene is otherwise an exact portrayal. There is a number of individuals sunbathing, playing sports, socializing etc. But even though it’s a cartoon, they avoid showing any genitals. Additionally , I found it a little surprising how they show male nipples but not female nipples. All the backdrop characters supposed to be girls are covering their chests in some way or they are strategically blocked. We are talking about two flesh-coloured dots. Is the Fox network afraid to lose their sponsors over two dots? Or is this the FCC shielding everyone from cartoon dots? It is rather ludicrous either way.
Meanwhile, Tina, Louise and Gene go to take a look at the sand from a space. They hash-out an agenda to carve out an overlook on the cliff with a view of the naked beach and sell “nudity tours to adolescent boys.” Gene says, “It Is like the Internet but outside!” This can be a fine wink to the fact that children aren’t allowed at the playa, but naked folks and even pornography is so readily seen online.
As Gene and Tina blaze a trail through the bushes (so they could reach a point where the naked beach can be seen) Louise proclaims, “We Are gonna be the Lois and Clark of nudism!”
Gretchen points out the hot guys in the drum circle at the unclothed beach. Pic: Fox
They spot a drum circle and Linda is shocked to recognize one of the drummers – it is Nude Hugo! The health inspector discovered he adored the nude beach. He even takes a leave of absence from his job to pursue his new found love for nudism.
Back at the restaurant, Linda tells Bob about Hugo, and the children casually reveal their strategies for making money off the naked beach. Here the parents express their tacit approval of the children seeing nudity. While they abide by the strand’s 18 rule, they have no difficulty with the kids looking from a distance. Bob simply wishes them good luck.
At school, the children work on enticing their classmates into seeing the naked folks at the nude beach. They also acquire a new partner, Daryl, who has a telescope they can use. The next day they will have a line of kids ready to pay $1 each to get a peak.
Louise sells her classmates on “nudity tours.” Pic: Fox
Nevertheless once the other children get a peek, they’re disappointed in seeing “major” old people. Louise takes charge of the situation and changes their perspective with an excellent sales pitch: “You guys! You wanna see nice bodies, get a magazine. That is real, people! Have a look at that guy! What’s that, is that the liver spot? Is that the birth mark? Who knows! You can’t write this crap!”
Her pitch revives interest, and the young customers line up to see real life naked folks. The action is still a bit voyeuristic, but now the children are excited to see the nude bodies they don’t get to see otherwise. Typical nudity in films and magazines is confined to one body type and one fake homogenized appearance. Here, ironically, the children need certainly to observe a naked beach from afar and through a lens to see real bodies.
The Belcher kids and their classmates view the unclothed beach through a telescope. Image: Fox
Back at the restaurant, Bob is fighting with the new health inspector who shuts him down and begins blackmailing him. Bob figures his only hope to fix everything will be to get Hugo to return to his job. He ends up competing with Hugo in the “Nudecathalon” – their bare Olympics at the nude beach, with 27 tasks that comprised a two-legged race, long jump, tug-a-war and wrestling.
Up on the cliff, the Belcher children get a surprise in seeing their own father nude on the plage. They view it as punishment for “playing with fire.” Louise is upset and dramatically covers her eyes. Tina remarks “I think father seems quite great considering he’s had 3 children.” But they keep watching the Nudecathalon and shortly they are swept up in the excitement and cheer on Bob to win.
Bob and Hugo wrestle in the closing Nudecathalon activity. Image: Fox