Controversial French film “Cuties” about a young Senegalese girl in Paris who joins a “free-spirited dance clique” to escape family dysfunction.
It has spawned a new backlash against Netflix by critics who allege the film goes over the line in portraying children in a sexualized manner.
The hashtag “#CancelNetflix” was the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter in the U.S. Thursday, after “Cuties” premiered Sept. 9 on Netflix.
A petition on Change.org calling on Netflix customers to cancel their subscriptions over “Cuties” and other content on the streaming service “that exploits children and creates a disturbing vibe,” currently has nearly 600,000 signers.
Criticism erupted in August over a promotional poster for “Cuties” depicting its young cast members in provocative poses and revealing costumes. Netflix at the time apologized for the image. “We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for ‘Mignonnes’/’Cuties,’” a Netflix rep said in a statement to Variety. “It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which premiered at Sundance. We’ve now updated the pictures and description.”
Netflix is comfortable with this. Plenty of people will defend it. This is where our culture is at. pic.twitter.com/UlqEmXALmd
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) September 10, 2020
Conservative advocacy group Parents Television Council said in a statement Thursday that after reviewing the film, it “stands by its earlier criticism that the TV-MA-rated film sexualizes children.”
According to PTC, the young female actors were trained in highly sexualized dance routines; were given lines with “foul, vulgar language” including f—; and were made to wear revealing clothing. In addition, in one scene, Amy is shown pulling down her underwear to photograph her genitals to post online, and in another she tries to seduce a man (who is a family member) to get out of trouble for stealing his cell phone.