Netflix has apologised for the decision to use a poster that “sexualises” young girls in promotion of the film Cuties — a French-language film from writer and director Maïmouna Doucouré.
“We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used,” the streaming service wrote in a tweet. “It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which won an award at Sundance.”
The poster in question featured a troupe of young girls in scantily clad dancing outfits. Literally anyone who has ever heard the word “eisteddfod” muttered has probably been subjected to wearing a similar outfit at some point in their young life, but I’m not going to delve into that.
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.
— Netflix (@netflix) August 20, 2020
Cuties explores the story of Amy, an 11-year-old Senegalese Muslim immigrant who falls in with the dance crew of cool girls in her Paris middle school. The Netflix poster facing backlash depicted the crew in their skimpy spandex dance outfits with a since-deleted description revealing Amy “becomes fascinated with a twerking dance crew” and, wanting to join them“starts to explore her femininity, defying her family’s traditions.”
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The promotional material chosen by Netflix has sparked mass controversy. “Netflix WTF IS THIS,” reads a viral tweet, implying that the platform has sexualised minors by choosing to back the film.
https://twitter.com/littlewarior9/status/1296188537084182533
In addition to the slew of viral tweets, a change.org petition that has amassed over 244,607 signatures has called on the service to remove the film from its service. Irrespective of the fact the film is… yet to hit the service.
“As we are becoming more aware of the horror of child sex trafficking, and child sexual abuse we need to come together to end ALL forms. One way we can achieve this, is to cancel shows and movies that exploit our children!,” the petition reads. “The movie Cuties shows children dressed provocatively, dancing sexually and is rated only for adult viewers. It was created for the entertainment of adults who are pedophiles. Please sign the petition to protect our children from exploitation in movies.”
There are so many aspects of this petition that are grating. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that 98% of the people that have signed the petition haven’t seen the movie, let alone watched the trailer. The uproar is, quite frankly, insulting and speaks volumes on the absolute lack of critical thinking present in modern discourse.
“This isn’t a health & safety ad,” director Maïmouna Doucouré explained of her film in an interview with Cineuropa. “This is most of all an uncompromising portrait of an 11-year-old girl plunged in a world that imposes a series of dictates on her. It was very important not to judge these girls, but most of all to understand them, to listen to them, to give them a voice, to take into account the complexity of what they’re living through in society, and all of that in parallel with their childhood which is always there, their imaginary, their innocence.”
Check out the trailer for Cuties:
