Update (11/9): Ever since the hashtag #CancelNetflix started circulating on Twitter and other social media platforms, Netflix shares have dropped 3.90% as of the time of writing. The shares have fallen 9.5% over five days. This is mainly due to the backlash it has been facing over the premiere of the French movie, Cuties, that has been said to sexually exploit minors. Many find the film disturbing as they believe that the show encourages paedophilia.
Update (11/9): The movie has garnered so much outrage from Netflix’s subscribers to the extent that there’s an online petition for people to cancel their Netflix subscription. The petition now has over 600,000 signees.
Update (10/9): Netflix spokesperson defends the film to Variety saying “‘Cuties’ is a social commentary against the sexualization of young children. It’s an award-winning film and a powerful story about the pressure young girls face on social media and from society more generally growing up — and we’d encourage anyone who cares about these important issues to watch the movie.”
This coming 9 September, Netflix will be premiering a French movie, Cuties, that visibly hypersexualises 11-year-old girls. The movie features four minors in a dance troupe dancing provocatively and wearing equally provocative clothes. The streaming service is currently receiving tons of backlash from not only promoting said movie but also their choice of displaying the poster.
According to Metro, the director, Maïmouna Doucouré, a Senegalese woman, has won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award in this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
The story revolves around an 11-year-old girl named Amy who lives in a conservative Senegalese Muslim household. She is torn between keeping or breaking from her family’s value. After joining a group of dancers called the Cuties, she’s finally able to liberate herself from the restraints of her family and embrace her femininity.
Netflix has since apologised after receiving a strong backlash but not for what one might think. The initial display of the poster was a provocative picture of young girls in booty shorts in front of stage lights. In comparison, the French poster showed the girls running and wearing bras over their clothes with shopping bags at hand.
Furthermore, Netflix’s description of the movie itself was quite obscene as compared to the French version.
“Amy, 11, becomes fascinated with a twerking dance crew. Hoping to join them, she starts to explore her femininity, defying her family’s tradition.”
The streaming platform immediately changed to a more “subtle” description.
“Eleven-year-old Amy starts to rebel against her conservative traditions when she becomes fascinated with a free-spirited dance crew.”
This movie clearly has tons of wrongs in it than there are rights. It’s appalling to see the biggest streaming platform allowing this movie to be filmed and promoted when it hypersexualises minors and perpetuates the stereotype that Muslims are an oppressive religion.
In response to Netflix’s worldwide premiere of this film, the public was not afraid to share their opinions on Twitter. Many were outrage by this and demand that Netflix takes down the film.
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!
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