“Cuties:” Social Value vs. Social Harm

Editors’ note: The film highlighted in this article is controversial. The streaming service of the film, Netflix USA, was indicted for the promotion of lewd visual material by a state grand jury. Netflix defended the film in a statement: “‘Cuties’ is a social commentary against the sexualization of young children. This charge is without merit and we stand by the film.” This is an opinion piece. 

        What does it mean to be women and feminine, especially within the context of our society and time in history? When looking at influencers and people with a high number of followers and likes, women are bombarded constantly with the idea that skinny and pretty young women are who they should strive to be and who they should emulate to be accepted. The recent French indie film “Cuties” starts on the platform of what young girls are being taught about how  women are supposed to look and act like.
       “Cuties” takes a dance team of 11 year old girls that are beginning to dip their toes into puberty and explores what it means to be a young girl in the social media age, where photos and videos of edited women are one click away. It focuses especially on one girl, Amy, who struggles between her conservative roots as a Senegalese-French Muslim and as a girl who wants to be cool and fit in. She tries ardently to show that she can be an asset to their team by helping them learn moves used by older women to be able to qualify for the dance competition. Her determination backfires and at the day of the finals, she realizes with tears in her eyes on stage that this is not where she is meant to be.
        This movie created an uproar when it was released on Netflix, with people calling to cancel Netflix on Twitter and criticizing the promotion poster of the movie, which was changed and apologized for. Even Q-Anon and US Senators decided to join the conversation, the latter group indicting the streaming service for publishing child pornography. Nevertheless, Netflix stood by the film, highlighting the importance of the message of the director, Maïmouna Doucouré.
From “Toddlers and Tiaras” to “Dance Moms,” we are already creating entertainment and a spectacle out of young girls who aren’t old enough to consent and subjecting them to the criticism of people worldwide. Yes, part of the movie wasn't fun to watch, but it showed what our younger generation believes about what expressing femininity looks like. If people get distressed by watching this movie, then they should get angry at TV shows and movies like the ones listed above. Doucouré emphasized that this film is all about criticizing the way people treat women, women’s bodies (especially women of color), and the pressure to grow up quickly. She said, “We need to protect our children. What I want to [do] is to open people’s eyes on this issue and try to fix it.” People say things to babies and young children like “they are going to be a heartbreaker one day” or “she’s going to be a knockout,” enforcing that being beautiful and sexy (the way society portrays it to be) is the road to success.
        This film, however, does not provide an answer on how to fix the problem of the hypersexualization of young women and girls, but it does show that there are other ways to express femininity. Social media is still young and the effects are just starting to show. Femininity is not expressed in one way, and our content should reflect that. Could the film have been done better? Yes, it could have been less explicit and gotten the point across, but sometimes the truth is a hard pill to swallow. I hope this film spurs a conversation on this topic and real, effective solutions can be found.