Art is subjective, which means tastes in movies are subjective. No movie is going to please everyone, and no one will agree with all themes discussed in it. However, with movies like the new Netflix release, “Cuties,” we need to denounce it as a society.
The current description of this film reads “Eleven-year-old Amy starts to rebel against her conservative family’s traditions when she becomes fascinated with a free-spirited dance crew.” However, this is not what it always said.
It previously said “Amy, 11, becomes fascinated with a twerking dance crew. Hoping to join them, she starts to explore her femininity, defying her family’s traditions.”
The old description was much more problematic, especially paired with the old movie poster which features young girls wearing very revealing outfits, positioned so they were showing off their bodies in a way children should never be.
Netflix tweeted a response to outrage over this on Aug. 20, before the film was released on Sept. 9, apologizing for both the description and the photos representing the film. Netflix has remained quiet about the film since the update, despite people signing petitions to stop the release of this film beforehand. I interpret their lack of response as them standing behind this film, which is absolutely disgusting. Senators, other political leaders, internet personalities and countless others have responded as well.
According to an opinion article from the Washington Post, Ted Cruz said he is calling for the Justice Department to “investigate whether Netflix, its executives or the filmmakers violated any federal laws against the production and distribution of child pornography.”
The author of the column, Daniel Drezner, pointed out these claims caused them to check out the movie for themselves to see if Cruz’s claims were merely exaggeration. Drezner discovered the girls involved in the film had not been sexualized, saying Cruz should apologize to his constituents for a “misplaced set of priorities.”
I decided to watch “Cuties” for myself, resolving anything remotely inappropriate would prompt me to turn it off. I should have read Cruz’s letter before watching this film because it would have saved me time and a very uncomfortable viewing experience.
To start off, this film does explore an important message regarding the sexualization of women, particularly young women and girls, and the role social media plays in theat issue. But it was done completecompletely wrong.
In an interview posted to YouTube by the Netflix Film Club, director Maïmouna Doucoure discussed how these children imitated what they viewed on social media sexual behavior from older women in order to get likes and attention. You can see this in one of the earliest scenes where the main character takes a photo of herself on social media and gets incredibly happy when she sees she got likes.
The full letter from Cruz states the film “sexualizes young girls, including through dance scenes that simulate sexual activities, and a scene exposing a minor’s bare breast.”
Some argue the scene of the minor’s bare breast was so quick on the screen it wasn’t enough to sexualize the children, including Drezner, which is completely ridiculous. Showing a minor’s private areas is, at the very minimum, sexually explicit, no matter how brief it is.
This is the scene when I turned off the film because I couldn’t stomach watching something so disturbing.
Plenty of clips from videos of others discussing the film warranted the opinion that the film oversexualized children.
In a video by YouTuber D’Angelo Wallace, he mentioned how the camera angles in the film zoomed in on the minor’s bodies while they were twerking and how there was a scene where one of the main characters is shown in her underwear. In this instance, I’m taking his word for it rather than going back to try to find those scenes.
Wallace said, “Did this film get taken out of context? Yes. But will there ever be enough context for someone to justify recording and distributing close ups of gyrating 13-year-olds on camera? No, never.”
What you, as a reader, can do to help get this film removed is sign petitions or write to your local senators and bring attention to this. You could even cancel your subscription to Netflix so they are not continuing to profit from and stand behind such a disgusting movie.
Nicole Hindberg can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @HindbergNicole.