So, the uproar on Facebook and social media on Thursday was the Netflix movie “Cuties” which basically appears to be softcore [censored] from the first few seconds of the trailer put out and within hours, most stomachs have been turned. Unless you’re a pedophile, which appears to be Netfix’ target audience with this show.
Texas Congressman Matt Schaefer went as far to petition that state’s Attorney General to investigate the film.
“I have asked Texas Attorney General Paxton’s office to investigate the @netflix film “Cuties” for possible violations of child exploitation and child [censored]ography laws. #CUTIES #txlege,” Schaefer said.
Out of the gate, the movie is running with a 1.7 rating on Netflix, the fourth lowest movie rating of all time and has spawned a “#CancelNetflix” protest campaign. Now maybe we’re wrong, because Justin Chang over at the LA Times says it’s just getting a bad rap for the way Netflix announced it. Apparently it starts out with a little Muslim girl Amy from a conservative Muslim family checking out the “Cuties” dance team. In response, the girls start chucking rocks at the Muslim kid. Chang calls their provocative dance moves, “a tough girl act”, but is it necessary.
The film will definitely have some appeal to the dance mom crowd but will have an even greater appeal to the Megan’s Law crowd.
Maybe the film’s timing is just terrible. As the U.S. Marshals Service is rounding up missing and exploited children all around the country and internet child [censored]ography is on the rise, the last thing America needs right now is a movie with a bunch of pre-teens twerking, grabbing themselves, etc. Again, maybe we have it all wrong, right? It’s just an innocent film about some little kids wanting to get their dance on, right?
I guess that’s what the TV-MA rating is all about. You know, just like every children’s movie with a bunch of children in it carrying a TV-MA rating, right?
According to the FCC, TV-MA rated programs are intended to be viewed by mature, adult audiences and may be unsuitable for children under 17.
Here’s what people are saying about the movie on IMDB:
- A pair of tight leather pants on an 11-year-old girl are forcefully pulled down in the midst of a scuffle with another girl; the camera glances at her underwear exposed bum.
- 11-year-old girls dance suggestively in front of a live adult audience. The girls repeatedly move their bums while standing and lying down. They slap themselves on their bums from the back and from the front.
- An 11-year-old girl finds a condom and blows it up to resemble a breast. The girl then puts it under her shirt to show another 11-year-old girl how she too can have big boobs just like them.
- When caught with her uncle’s phone, an 11-year-old girl locks herself in the bathroom, pulls down her pants, and snaps a picture of her private area before publishing it online. No repercussions are seen of this being on the uncle’s phone.
Netflix even realized their initial description of the movie was over the top.
Initially,it read, “Eleven-year-old Amy starts to rebel against her conservative family’s traditions when she becomes fascinated with fascinated with a twerking dance crew.”
Netflix changed the description to now read, “when she becomes fascinated with a free-spirited dance crew.”
This movie hits home to any parent of young girls who immediately will throw up the red flags. We’ll have to see where Netflix goes with this one.
