In late August 2020, Netflix announced that they will host the French film Cuties (original title Mignonnes). They revealed a Skinemaxtastic promotional image, and the following description: "Amy, 11, becomes fascinated with a twerking dance crew. Hoping to join them, she starts to explore her femininity, defying her family's traditions." It wasn't well-received. Thousands of angry people tweeted, emailed, and phoned Netflix to condemn them for promoting pedophilia. Some threatened to cancel their subscriptions, and I bet some of them even went through with it.
Netflix went into damage control mode. They apologized for how they advertised Cuties, referring to the artwork as 'inappropriate' and 'not representative' of the film. They emphasized that Cuties had won an award at Sundance, a prestigious film festival (co-founded by a sex criminal, but shh). They changed the promo image and edited the description: "Eleven-year-old Amy starts to rebel against her conservative family’s traditions when she becomes fascinated with a free-spirited dance crew." See, it was all a misunderstanding. They're not a twerking dance crew, they're a free-spirited dance crew that just happens to also twerk. Netflix messed up by marketing this film that depicts the sexualization of children as if it endorses it. In fact, Cuties only endorses sexualizing children for the purposes of saying that sexualizing children is bad. There is literally no other way to commuicate this message. The distinction escaped American critics, who are constantly looking for reasons to stop innovative woman filmmakers from paying minors to do exotic dances on tape.
We all learned an important lesson that week: sometimes girls have to wear lycra hot pants and pop their booties for the greater good.
- 8/24/20