Why did Netflix allow this film?

[latheritup]

Please take a second to watch the video on this link, this is the final dance scene of the new movie on Netflix called Cuties.

mobile.twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/1303908536553017349

I cannot understand why Netflix thought this was the right film to add to their selections. These are children.

There are several petitions going round to get this removed off their platform.

Former child actor. No, we're usually very aware. Discussions and meetings are held even when the audition is booked, and I would discuss with my mum and agent the role, the requirements and what the implications might be. My first role led to a considerable amount of bullying, but I knew that was a risk. I was still proud of the role.

Well, great for you that you were super mature and capable of fully understanding the implications of taking on a 'sexy' role. But many/most children that age may not be. That's why we have laws in place to protect minors.

I witnessed something today that brought my mind straight to this thread. There's a woman on my social media & her stories are always of her daughter & nieces larking around wherever they go. They look like they range between year 4 to year 6. And this morning 2 or three of them are bouncing around the supermarket shaking their bums then attempting to "slut drop" going "From the top make it drop, thats a wet......"
(Thats the 'clean' version of WAP for those that dont know)
Makes you despair at society doesnt it?

Awful. Just watched this tonight and the creators should be ashamed. Gross interpretation of western "norms". No eleven year olds I know dress/act the way the film portrays - - and I've lived in Paris!

Even if it was a realistic interpretation they lost the "message" they're trying to convey when they procured and exploited actual minors to play the part. Shameful.

Surprise surprise the CEO of Netflix has been arrested with 13,000 files of child abuse on his computer www.torontotoday.net/2020/09/12/netflix-ceo-gets-busted-with-13000-files-of-child-pornography/amp/

Content warning - that article details what the files are and it's not graphic but not pleasant.

Ok, sorry for multiple posts but apparently that article is fake. heavy.com/news/2020/09/reed-hastings-not-arrested/

Have any of you ever watched Bugsy Malone? Young girls in skimpy costumes, sometimes covered in "cream". Dancing and singing in a seductive, sexualised manner.

Yes Bugsy Malone is well dodgy but was produced in less enlightened times over 30 years ago.

Cuties is a response to shows like * Got Talent where you regularly see pre-pubescent dance groups.

Can I just ask whether everyone frothing on this thread has watched the film in its entirety?

I haven't. I have watched several commentaries on it which include several clips and it is more than enough.

You don't kick your dog to prove that animal abuse is bad.

I do. not. care. what the message of the film is. It has roundly failed by all accounts.

Anyone defending it is a sick fuck, frankly.

@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross

Can I just ask whether everyone frothing on this thread has watched the film in its entirety?

I have.

@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross

Can I just ask whether everyone frothing on this thread has watched the film in its entirety?

Frothing, eh? Overreacting you think? Come on, say what you mean.

You don't kick your dog to prove that animal abuse is bad.

Precisely! It's so wrong on every level. I've watched it in its entirety and was "frothing" even more so by the end of it. Vile.

@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross

Can I just ask whether everyone frothing on this thread has watched the film in its entirety?

I'm not frothing, but I have watched half of the film (I probably won't bother with the rest). Some of the content is decent. Some is shocking. The dancing is way, way OTT for the message they are supposed to be trying to convey. I don't like that the characters are portrayed as parentless/wild/"acting older"- exactly the child that people think people are trying to exploit, or, horrifyingly, the "type" of person who is victim shamed into it being their fault for what they wear and how they act. They could have easily got the point across with more "average" young girls, IMO.

I watched it this morning.

Having grown up in Paris, from an immigrant background, I was interested to see how it is portrayed. For me, you are given too little understanding of the girl's traumas, feelings and motivations, to see why she changes her behaviours so abruptly.

I understand the motivation for showing the dance scenes, but they seem overly long and there is much that could be suggested rather than overtly shown.

I also couldn't understand whether they were supposed to have just come from Senegal or if they were living in Paris for a while already?

I dunno, I found the whole thing strange and without the ring of truth. It's true that I really don't know much about the Senegalese community, so that aspect may be accurate. But certain other aspects... just seemed badly-portrayed and unrealistic. There seems little distinction in the film between the assimilation and attitudes of different immigrant groups and, considering that French schools are super strict, much more so than here, it is impossible that the school wouldn't have implemented some home intervention when the girl Amy started behaving so out of character.

Actually, for me the most interesting character is Coumba - who comes across first of all as a total tough-talking bitch, but later you see she's a lot more innocent than she comes across, and when it comes to the point where the main character really goes too far, she doesn't hesitate in saying "we're not strippers","you've put us all at risk", "my mother would send me to her village if I did what you did."

@Jourdain11

I watched it this morning.

Having grown up in Paris, from an immigrant background, I was interested to see how it is portrayed. For me, you are given too little understanding of the girl's traumas, feelings and motivations, to see why she changes her behaviours so abruptly.

I understand the motivation for showing the dance scenes, but they seem overly long and there is much that could be suggested rather than overtly shown.

I also couldn't understand whether they were supposed to have just come from Senegal or if they were living in Paris for a while already?

I dunno, I found the whole thing strange and without the ring of truth. It's true that I really don't know much about the Senegalese community, so that aspect may be accurate. But certain other aspects... just seemed badly-portrayed and unrealistic. There seems little distinction in the film between the assimilation and attitudes of different immigrant groups and, considering that French schools are super strict, much more so than here, it is impossible that the school wouldn't have implemented some home intervention when the girl Amy started behaving so out of character.

My understanding is that she had lived most if not all of her life in Paris - the older lady spoke to her in her native language and while she understood, she only seemed able to speak French.

As to why she changed her behaviour, it seems her father's remarriage - and the effect it had on her mother - was the trigger. Presumably other stuff had gone on before outside the timeframe of the film, but that seemed to be the immediate cause of her rejection of her family's culture.

Regarding her school, I think it showed in one scene that she was asked to go to speak to the principal?

I think the teacher said "Go to the principal," to the boy who slapped her butt as she walked past. Which is more realistic and typical of the behavioural tolerance in a French school, tbh!

I watched it last night and enjoyed the film even if it was uncomfortable viewing. It made my husband and I to talk about how we protect children from social media and navigating adult themes around sex.

I thought the film was very feminist and it’s sad that the girls thought behaving in a sexualised way was being ‘grown up’ based on the media portrayal of women, lacking real life role models to counter those false assumptions.

A lot of it rang very true for me being a teenager in the early days of social media- I remember being twelve and being hauled in by parents because our group had been talking on messages about ‘threesomes’ and ‘porn’ without actually really knowing what they were. We went on webcams and spoke to random people on msn, put cameras on and said we were 16. I bought a thong saying ‘welcome to paradise’ aged 14.

It’s uncomfortable but yes it’s not too far removed from real life and thankfully nothing really bad happened to me or the girls in the film.

I think it’s completely hypocritical that many of the groups asking for the film to get ‘cancelled’ are the same ones who say women were ‘asking for it’ and blaming underwear in rape cases. It does speak to a larger problem with how society views girls and women.

Not as hypocritical as you trying to protect your own child from social media while watching a film where someone else’s 11 year old daughter rubs her vulva in a sexy dance routine for your entertainment.

@Stripesgalore

Have you been on TikTok? There are ten a penny of these kinds of dance videos.
Yes the dance scene is uncomfortable and provocative. It’s meant to make the viewer wince. If you watch the film, she walks away from the dance and abandons the outfit.

Just watched this film and felt I had to wade into the debate! Sorry if this gets a bit long...
First of all, I did feel very uncomfortable with the way the dance scenes - including the 'reheasals'- were filmed. The close ups on the girls' bottoms felt long and gratuitous. At best, they laboured the point, at worst they are indeed pedophile fodder.
I also didn't like the way the main character seems to be presented only with two extreme set of values. The extremely sexualized dance routine shouldnt be representative of French/ Western culture in general but it becomes a focus point for her liberation.
However, the film shows how all adults around the girls, of all heritage, feel really uncomfortable around their attitude: the school head chastises them for the way they dress, the security guards at the gaming centre obviously cringe, the audience at the end performance boo them... so it's not like society as a whole approves. It's more subtle. The finger is squarely pointed at the internet and videos freely available to children.
As for the controversy itself, it's clearly not a film aimed at the American audience. I'm fortunate to know both French and American culture very well and I can't say I'm surprised. They sadly both have massive issues to address around sexualisation of young teens in popular culture. The US has a rather unhealthy obsession around girls/teen girls, especially troubled teens, and make them the object of endless fantasies.
French culture on the other hand is very lax when it comes to sex and young girls. Age of consent is 15 but the notion of consent overrides this mostly. It takes a lot for a French audience to be shocked. I know from bitter experience that things could get tolerared that are not ok. This is perhaps changing now but essentially, the American/ British attitude towards this particular topic are generally viewed over there as puritanic. The French will focus more on the message about integration and immigrant communities in urban estates and care less about how shocking the scenes really are.
So, I think we are mostly seeing a culture clash here. I personally thought it was a good film debut with some serious shortcomings. I just don't buy into the whole pedo conspiracy theories. That's probably BS.

‘Have you been on TikTok? There are ten a penny of these kinds of dance videos.
Yes the dance scene is uncomfortable and provocative. It’s meant to make the viewer wince. If you watch the film, she walks away from the dance and abandons the outfit.‘

Stop going on TikTok then. I’m well aware that child pornography exists beyond the scenes in this film. I don’t need to go to TikTok to seek them out. The child actors didn’t walk away. They are actual children performing soft core pornography on Netflix for you to watch.

I’d also agree that there is a cultural difference with french cinema- I went to see a film when I was 15 at an arthouse cinema where the 14 year olds are all depicted having sex!

Some of the jokes about race in French films would not fly in Hollywood...