“It’s strange, but it’s wonderful”: Doris Wishman’s Nude on the Moon

This chapter presents a narrative and genre analyses of Wishman’s Nude on the Moon to forward how the film flouts traditional conventions of the science fiction and nudist genres in a way that critiques hegemonic gender norms. In doing so it provides a contextual analysis of the film attuned to the history of second wave feminism and gender constructions in the 1960s. Resultingly, the essay provides a starting point for re-evaluating the film, which is one of Wishman’s rarely studied works. The chapter provides ample textual evidence and analysis for the film’s relationship to science fiction and nudist films while narrating critical industrial information on the film’s production.