On Cuties

 

There is a movie on Netflix that a lot of people are upset about called Mignonnes. It is a highly acclaimed French film starring many young French actresses. The film is being marketed in the US as Cuties.

Let’s get the easy part out of the way. I am not a Netflix subscriber, and this movie does not appeal to me. I have no intention or desire to watch it. It also not my intent to defend Netflix. They have their own PR department. It is my understanding that this film does not contain child porn. Since I have zero intention of watching this film, I have no way of verifying that. I’m guessing that there is some poor FBI agent who has to watch this type of shit to see if the government can make a case against whoever made it. Since the movie was made in France, it’s highly unlikely that anyone involved in making this movie will see the inside of a US courtroom.

I did see the trailer, and it brought to mind the pageant scene in Little Miss Sunshine. But Little Miss Sunshine was comedy, and not porn. Is Cuties meant as comedy? Who can tell when it came from a country that thinks Jerry Lewis is funny?

The movie is not controversial in France. The movie was seen over there for some time before it was seen over here. What seems to have sparked American outrage is Netflix’s marketing. I think this marketing was calculated to provoke outrage so that it would generate free publicity for the film. This type of marketing has worked for movies like Dogma and The Interview. Harry Potter skyrocketed into popularity in part because evangelical Christians denounced it as promoting witchcraft. All these folks have been sharing this image of these girls in their dance outfits so that I keep seeing it in my timeline. They are like “LOOK! LOOK HOW OFFENSIVE THIS IS!” We’re going to find out if the calculation pays off: if Netflix doesn’t remove the film, it might be because they are gaining more subscribers than they are losing.

If God forbid, you actually see child porn online, you can report it here. https://www.missingkids.org/gethelpnow/cybertipline Do NOT save it or share it with others. But if you see something that doesn’t fit the legal definition of porn, all you can really do is watch something else.