Why Netflix’s Cuties is Severely Problematic
Cuties (Mignonnes in French) is a movie released on the 9th of September by a well-known streaming platform, Netflix. Cuties were written and directed by a Senegalese-French director Maïmouna Doucouré. On the 18th of August, when Netflix released the Cuties trailer, it sparked immense outrage, especially among social media activists. The netizens signed various petitions to cancel this movie, and critics wrote articles, bashing the imagery portrayed in this movie and the provocative acts of girls who were merely 11-years-old. The story is supposedly meant to be a coming of age film where the protagonist, Amy, played by the actress Fathia Youssouf, who belongs to a purely Islamic household, becomes intrigued by a dance group of girls from her school. She wishes to join them, and to do so, she learns provocative dance moves and recording them, they post it on various social media platforms. Different people had different opinions on Netflix’s “Cuties.” Some people said it was an immensely empowering movie, while others said it was a movie that gave out a wrong message to young girls and adults.
“Cuties” Promotes Pedophilia
Just fifteen minutes into watching the film, I had the urge to throw up. Being an elder sister of a ten-year-old girl, I’d never want my younger sibling to watch a movie as such. I felt strangely disturbed and agitated by the scenes in that unbelievably horrendous film. One of the worst things is that numerous people had said they found the underaged actresses to be “appealing,” “seductive,” and more “womanly.” Netflix’s Cuties tried its best to condemn the act of a child sexualizing her body. However, the scenes portrayed in the movie were as such that they promoted the scenes explicitly. Pedophilia and child abuse are already widespread, and openly depicting underaged girls, dancing provocatively in short clothes only worsens the problem by giving content for the pedophiles to view. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), females between the ages of 16-19 are more vulnerable to becoming victims of sexual assault, attempted rape, or sexual assault. 82% of all the victims of sexual abuse are females. And movies such as “Cuties” are further promoting this act.
“Cuties” Promotes Islamophobia
There is a scene in Netflix’s cuties when the protagonist’s mother supposedly performed the act of exorcism on her daughter, as the Qur’an played in the background, and the protagonist, Amy, openly twerked to the words of the Qur’an being played. As a Muslim, I found that scene to be extensively offensive, disturbing, and revolting. No matter what religion it might be, whether it is Christianity, Buddhism, Hindu, Islam, or Judaism, nobody has the right to disrespect any religion. “Cuties” not only promotes Islamophobia but also portrays the protagonist’s mother as a character who is abusive, controlling, and oppressing. However, all she did was ask Amy to stop stealing money from her, stop posting nude pictures online, and stop doing vulgar things behind her back. Is a mother a wrong person for topping her daughter from ruining her life?
Why YOU Should Cancel Cuties
During the period of Lockdown at the beginning of 2020, a lot of people subscribed to Netflix to pass their times more comfortable and for their children to enjoy their time off from school. Other than online classes, teens and youngsters would binge-watch intriguing TV shows and exciting movies. I’d allow my younger sibling to browse through Netflix and choose a film of her choice because I know whatever movie she’d choose to watch would be according to the preference I set up for the account we bought. However, since Cuties released on Netflix, I had to cancel my monthly subscription. It was not easy to do so because Netflix has been a source of escapism for my siblings and me for the past few months. I could not take any risks. First, Netflix released the problematic adult film 365 DNI. It was a film that romanticized violence, kidnapping, and assault. And now, they released cuties. It makes me wonder what the next inappropriate TV show would be? I might resubscribe to Netflix again. However, it is not something that I will do in the next few months. Not until cuties still remains as one of the top trending movies of my country.