This post is probably the only one post i would feel sick or asshamed while writing. There is a popular controversy raging over the internet these days. It is about the netflix movie, cuties or originally Mignonnes in French. The reason i would feel ashamed is because i had to watch it to know what it is about, and to be able to write with an informed mind. I thought people were overreacting but this was the right kind of uprise. I won't tell you what most people with the common sense would say. There are lots of videos on youtube already, you should go check them out. I will look at the situation from sociological perspective and i will have warnings.
The movie is about a 11 year old girl of a strict so called "muslim" family. This girl and her family moves to city in France and the girls starts experiencing a whole different world. This world includes a group of spoiled 11 year old girls who wants to win a dancing contest. Yes at 11 years old dancing group witch focuses on body exposure. Ultimately the main character explores her womanhood with the help of this influential group but ends up having troubles. At the end she goes back to a proper life which an 11 year old girl should have. The story does not exactly strike lots of sexual references yet.
Not all movie is focused on sexuality but the intentional camera angles, the long exposure body of kids, the clothing and behaviour of them and the storyline are enough to ban this movie. Some reviews say this is the problem of conservatives, some say Americans don't understand French art. Some say this is a debate of right and left wing understanding and is a political issue. Some say the rage is because the director is a women. There are a lot of videos answering these non-sense comments and reviews. And personally, i don't care about the writer, director, the crew, the publishers, the sundance award, the parents of the girls in the lead roles (evidently they got some sort of training to be in this abusive movie is a whole other question). What i care about is the implications. I want to talk about direct or indirect, possible or inevitable consequences.
While watching the movie, at some point, you realize that you are involuntarily looking at unpleasant actions and private body parts of 11 year old kids. How can anyone just watch this movie with sanity without any disturbing feelings. Don't you have kids? Aren't you a little bit concerned that grown up are watching your kid performing an erotic dance? Why would you have to write a screenplay that involves literally kids to do adult dancing in it. Put my feelings aside, i will give the same example like others. It is like making a movie by killing people for real and trying to give the message "murder is bad". This is beyond wrong.
Have you ever heard the term responsibility. You can't just talk about the cinametography or storyline when it comes to this movie, you have to acknowledge the 11 year old children abuse in the movie. Because it is responsibility. You are responsible to inform people that this is way out of the intention. Because it is about the future of humanity, literally. (I will give more details below) You can't say that you are not disturbed to watch it, you can't say "this is the reality, get used to it". You can't say anything to justify the means. The ends justify the means logic does not apply here. You can voice your opinions and you can like the moviewise aspects. But as a normal human being, you have to be bothered by the way the movie presents its meaning.
Let me tell you what should have been emphasized in the movie. There are faulty practices when it comes to religions all around the world. This movie has a muslim family and it also has an inaccurate portrayal of muslim traditions, some of them even i have never seen or heard. But the religious point is another subject. The main trouble is that the movie should have been focusing on is the transition from being a child to a woman. Because 8 - 12 year old kids (expecially girls) are going through rough times. The world has influencers through social media, there are suppressive approaches to women all around the world, there are lots of potential to reach unexplored experiences, thanks to internet. There are other problems like child abuse or human trafficing or drug use. So you have to be close to your child before other influences get close to them. They will be going through mood swings, they will be confused and they will be recieving an unsupervised world.
Back in the 90's we did not even have internet. The concept of being famous or exploring a different world was not as easy as today. You had to be a singer or a football player or a model or something. And then the world has changed. The young generation is having dreams that we would never even be able to understand. It also made possible for young generation to step into adult world way before than they should. Aleyna Tilki was an example in Turkey. I am sure tiktok kind of apps are producing more of these everyday. I can respect what those kids (yes they can be considered as kids) are doing or trying to achieve. I can understand their motives or dreams. But that subject belongs to another scope.
She represents a role, a possibility. Now it is more accessible, now your kids have a role model to be famous at the age of 15, now it is harder than ever to guide your kids to any sort of respectful or meaningful or productive future. Chosing an easier path to fame and money can and will overcome going to a university or being a bussinesswoman or even a loyal wife. This movie represents a way breach the healthy boundaries at young ages. They will not get the message and be more concsious about their friends or outer world. They will not see this movie as you adults do. They will get ideas to be a better dancer for example. They will say they won't make the mistakes like in the movie, they will be more relaxed when they are faced with disgusting situations.
This was a trial run to assess the reaction from the world, this was deliberate and has gone far off track from what it claims to be. If you stay silent now, it will get more courages over time. I remember Full House, an old comedy family series. There was the girl around the same ages, Stephanie Tanner, performing her dance routine. It was not much controversial and it is on netflix now but this movie is the upgraded version of it, again by netflix. The writers and directors have mixed the right mesage with the completely wrong execution, therefore angry and conscious people can only talk about how bad this movie is from the child abuse point of view. There is a clear subject that we should be talking about in the movie and it is about uncontrolled or unguided exploration of kids' (especially girls) sexual developments. It is the existance of these kinds of unusual behaviours. But we are all talking about the fault of netflix, the abusive portrayal, left and right wing, international cinema critiques are being judged, the director being a women and nobody should critisize (overly feminist), or the cancel culture causing the angry mob and etc. Your kids are growing in an ever more disgusting and deceptive world. The right messages are getting mixed up with bad interpretations (like religion and terror) Therefore nobody has the stable ground to talk about either of these terms.
There has to be a proper movie about the young generation and it should be more about the pyschology than the female body utilization. Yes this movie is technically utilization and practically abuse. Never ever let your kids under 18 watch this movie. They will get more ideas, instead of avoiding the drama. It could have been completely fine without overly exlpicit scenes and could even be a masterpiece with the right portrayal of islam. It is also drawing a very bad image of islam with outdated practices. Overall, the whole thing is just wrong.
If you can acquire it somehow, watch it to know what people are trying to do and what commons sense is trying to object here. This is an intentional attempt to normalize this unhealthy behaviour to say the least. Never ever let your kids watch it. Always try to walk right alongside your kids, not necessarily in front of them because it is hard these days. Do not fall behind, these instances are and will always be within their reach. 11 year girls should not be married or acting in these kinds of movies. This is basically not how it should be. They should have friends, they should have guidance, they should be thought about responsibility. They should grow in a family environment with friendship and without suppression, we are not unsocialized animals. See you at the next non-disgusting post.
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