In all honesty, this is going to be a pretty tough topic to tackle, especially due to the subject matter.
Here goes nothing.
Last week, the internet blew up after Netflix revealed info as well as a poster for the French film, Cuties (Mignonnes in its original language).
From what is known about the film, it is about an 11 year old Senegalese Muslim girl who joins a dance group consisting of three other girls, and it's aimed to start streaming on September 9th.
The poster, which I will not be showing here for reasons explained, showed four of the film's characters in suggestive clothing and poses. The problem with this: these were 11 year old girls in the poster.
The original description didn't help either as it read, "Amy, 11, becomes fascinated with a twerking dance crew. Hoping to join them, she starts to explore her femininity, defying her family's traditions." What made this even worse is that the film has a TV-MA rating.
Many on the internet, including myself, were outraged over such promotion, and for good reason. Petitions went up, and soon, Netflix posted an apology.
"We're deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Mignonnes/Cuties. It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which won an award at Sundance. We’ve now updated the pictures and description."
Even though the controversial poster was removed and the description for the film was changed to "Eleven-year-old Amy starts to rebel against her conservative family’s traditions when she becomes fascinated with a free-spirited dance crew," this doesn't change the fact with how controversial the subject matter is for the film.
As for the film winning the film at Sundance, the festival's description of the film was just as horrible as Netflix's original descriptor: "Amy, through an ignited awareness of her burgeoning femininity, propels the group to enthusiastically embrace an increasingly sensual dance routine, sparking the girls’ hope to twerk their way to stardom at a local dance contest."
Now with some celebrities defending the film, most notably Tessa Thompson, and the film currently having an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes, I cannot stay quiet about this any further.
Anyone who supports this film (and defending it) is WRONG!
As a filmmaker myself, this film is an embarrassment. The fact that this film features preteen girls doing suggestive sexual dancing (such as twerking) is absolutely disgusting! This fact that there has been heavy discussions of Hollywood having a major pedophilia ring in the recent years (especially brought into the spotlight by former child actors, including Corey Feldman with the documentary, My Truth: The Rape of 2 Coreys), gives us more reason to believe now that Hollywood endorses pedophilia.
Netflix doesn't need to apologize for the promotion of the movie. They should NOT release it, and they need to trash their license for the film. Sundance needs to be ashamed for giving this film an award! Critics who praise the film need to be ashamed! Celebrities endorsing the film need to be ashamed! Finally, the people behind this film need to be ashamed!
I do NOT plan on watching this movie, and I highly suggest everyone else reading this not to watch it either.