Lawmakers call for federal investigation for Netflix film "Cuties"

Netflix's logo. Public Domain. 

Lawmakers from both parties have called for a federal investigation into Netflix for hosting the French film Cuties (aka Mignonnes) , which they argue is child pornography. The Federalist. The film is about a 11 year old French-Muslim girl who joins a dance group. The film has drawn criticism for showing the young actresses dancing in revealing clothing with suggestive choreography. Senators Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton and Representatives Jim Banks and Tulsi Gabbard have condemned the film, calling for a DOJ investigation into it. The film had previously drew controversy for its American poster, which was much more suggestive then the French version. However, when the film was released many viewers were shocked by the content and it lead to many users canceling their Netflix accounts. The film did win an award at the Sundance film festival.

My Comment:

Due to the possible illegality of the images from this film, I won't be posting any clips or images from it. Just like 4chan, of all places, I have standards on this blog and I don't want to risk hosting what could could as child pornography. If you have some desire to see what everyone is upset about you can click on the article from The Federalist that I used for a source.  

I haven't seen the film itself but I have seen the clips from it and they are fairly graphic. In short the kids dance around like they are characters from a rap video. This isn't me being prudish or overreacting, they are actively touching themselves and there is a lot of focus on their bodies. One scene has one of the actors taking a picture of her genitals and posting it on the internet (though no nudity is actually shown). It's pretty graphic and it's hard not to argue that the clips themselves are possibly illegal. 

However, I am not sure if they are illegal or not. I do know that there is an artistic exemption for graphic content involving underage minors. Which is why Pretty Baby, despite showing an underage Brooke Shields, has been legal for years. You could argue that the film is trying to make a point, which justifies the graphic content, which would mean it is legal. 

That being said, and the main reason I worry about actually linking to the content, it's very likely that a compilation showing all the more graphic scenes in the movie could be considered illegal. Taken out of the context of the film, leaving in just the suggestive and graphic scenes, it might not pass the artistic merit test. Had the clips from the film not been attached to it I don't think you could argue that it isn't illegal content under my understanding of the law. 

So what's my take on this? Initially I thought this was people just overreacting. The poster was a bit suggestive but I have seen worse. But the clips I have seen? It does seem to be made to be as suggestive as it could possibly be while still attempting to be legal. I am not sure if the content is illegal but it's very clear what they were going for. Whatever the artistic merits of this film (and I don't think there are any as outside of the controversy most people just say the film is bad), they clearly seem to be going for a certain audience. 

Indeed, though I think there is a point to be made about the over-sexualization of children and the Muslim community's repression of women, it did not need to be done this way. All the filmmakers had to do was age up the kids as teenagers and hire adult actresses to play the role. It would still be exploitative and weird but it would be a lot more defensible. The fact that the filmmakers didn't do this shows that they either wanted to be as controversial as possible or simply didn't care. Or, worst of all, they were getting their rocks off... 

Regardless of the legality of the film or the artistic merit, or lack thereof, I do have to say that I am disgusted at how the actresses in this film were treated. Regardless of the intent of the film, they were made to do these things, probably dozens of times. It's more than a little creepy that they were casted, filmed and exploited like this. Even if the film does end up staying legal, it's very disgusting what they did here. It happened in France so I don't know what the laws are there but I can't imagine that if the film had been filmed here that the filmmakers wouldn't have gotten in serious trouble for what they did. What on earth were the parents thinking when they allowed this? 

Should the film be banned? I'm about as anti-censorship as I can get but even I have problems with this film. I do think that people should probably stop spreading the images from it, regardless of it's legality. If anything, it should be treated as other controversial films like Birth of a Nation or Triumph of the Will, only without the artistic merits those films have. It should probably remain legal but if someone is regularly watching it you should question their motivations. Censorship is a slippery slope and I'm not comfortable banning something even as disgusting as this film. Still, if the film does get banned I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. Everything I have heard about the film is that even if it didn't use underage actresses it would have been garbage. 

As for Netflix, I'm not canceling my account over this. I am disgusted by the movie but they didn't make it, they just distributed it. Supposedly the French government funded this trainwreck so I will keep my outrage directed at them and the filmmakers themselves. Though I do say that Netflix is pretty clearly doing some disgusting things, what entertainment outlet isn't these days? Youtube and Disney have had their own similar scandals and unless I want to go full pirate whoever I give my money to has done things similar to what Netflix did here. I don't blame people for canceling their accounts though, if there was a better alternative I probably would as well. I just have zero faith in any entertainment outlet to not do things like this.

I do have to say that I am somewhat worried about the growing acceptance of pedophilia in our culture. There have been several think pieces in left wing outlets defending pedophiles (which I won't link to for obvious reasons) and it's not hard to find people defending this film. Indeed, people are attacking Tulsi Gabbard and Ted Cruz as being QAnon supporters for being outraged over this. When did it become a right wing conspiracy theory to be upset over children getting abused? 

It does seem to be a thing that the far left is pushing and it makes sense in a way. The LGBT rights groups have mostly won their goals. Gay marriage is legal, transgender people aren't allowed to be discriminated against, people have to bake the cakes and so on and so forth. These organizations won't declare victory and shut down, they will continue to get more extreme in order to justify their existence. We are already seeing this with the last major battleground for transgender rights being children, once that battle is won (assuming it is), where else are they going to move on to? This organizations are huge, well funded, and will have to justify their continued existence somehow...

Part of it too might just be polarization in general. The right has been upset about the abuse of children for awhile now. They fear that the elite are abusing children, and with good reason. After all people like Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Jimmy Saville, Gary Glitter, and, most disturbingly, Marc Dutroux show that the rich and powerful have gotten away with abusing children. It's become a rallying point for the right to try and expose this kind of thing and there is a reflex on the left that just because the right is fighting something it either means that the issue isn't a problem in the first place or that it's actually a good thing. We are seeing both when it comes to the film Cuties and it has to be frustrating for the few sane people on the left, like Tulsi Gabbard, to be attacked for speaking out against it. 

Finally, I have to say that despite the fact that abuse does happen, I think a lot of people take it too far. I do think that the people that see pedos hiding behind every bush are a bit nuts. It's to the point where fathers can't take their kids to the parks alone without getting the cops called on them. I agree that it is important to protect children but I also fear the witch hunt that is around this topic. Watch The Hunt for the other side of this. I do have to say that there is some hypocrisy on the right on this topic after pushing back against #MeToo. Skepticism of abuse claims shouldn't go away just because the accused victim is a child. 

As for the film itself, I don't see myself watching it anytime soon. Even if it wasn't controversial, it sounds like garbage anyways. Other films have done the same thing Cuties has done but in a less controversial way and with a higher quality to boot. It just doesn't seem like a film that anyone should watch regardless of where you fall on the side of the censorship/illegality issue.