Netflix: Cancel Culture’s Next Target

Written by Khan Nisa

Netflix began experiencing backlash after featuring the French film “Cuties”, which reportedly portrays sexually provocative scenes involving minors. The film description states “Amy, 11, becomes fascinated with a twerking dance crew. Hoping to join them, she starts to explore her femininity, defying her family’s traditions” and its poster displays pre-teen girls posing sensually in half-naked clothes. Netflix apologized for both the description and the poster. “We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Cuties. It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which premiered at Sundance.” Since then, the poster and description has been updated.

However, since the children are not CGI creatures, nor are they adult actors hired to play younger characters, there has been a criminal investigation on the film and whether it violated U.S. law on child pornography. Also, online petitions with over 70,000 signatures are demanding Netflix to remove the film by claiming that it “was created for the entertainment of pedophiles.” As a protest, some people are cancelling their Netflix subscription account, data from an analytics firm shows that the Netflix cancellations in the US rose by five times the usual around the time of this controversy.

Undoubtedly, the controversy brought more attention to the film which has received 82% in rotten tomatoes based off of 17 reviews. Many are curiously turning to the film’s writer and director of the film to understand its rationale. The author states that “today, the sexier and the more objectified a woman is, the more value she has in the eyes of social media. And when you’re 11, you don’t really understand all these mechanisms, but you tend to mimic, to do the same thing as others in order to get a similar result.” Some people understood the message and appreciated the different and bold approach the film has taken, while many others remain sceptical.

Click Below for Further Reading!

Is Netflix losing subscribers over 'Cuties'? Maybe.

'Cuties' movie sees Netflix users flock to the screen due to controversy

DISCLAIMER: The contents of this website are solely owned by the author of each article and does not represent the views of the Awareness Committee or the Editorial team.