Totally missing the point
Cuties—Mignonnes—a French film concerning a prepubescent twerking dance troupe, written and directed by Maïmouna Doucouré, has arrived on Netflix to what can best be described as an utter shitstorm of protest. Although successful at the Sundance film festival, it has been accused of exploitation, sexualising girls, and gratification for paedophiles. Inevitably, there have been calls to cancel
Netflix. So far, so drear.
But the film does have its defenders.
#CUTIES is a beautiful film. It gutted me at @sundancefest. It introduces a fresh voice at the helm. She’s a French Senegalese Black woman mining her experiences. The film comments on the hyper-sexualization of preadolescent girls. Disappointed to see the current discourse. ????
Tessa Thompson, Twitter
I can't help but think that some of its supporters might be singing a different song if it had been written and directed by a man—worse, a white man—rather than a black woman.
I don't know whether it's exploitative
per se, as taken by some people at face value, or a deep and meaningful commentary on social whatever. Either way, it's not something I would ever watch, irrespective of the controversy or hype—I have no interest in the hey kids, let's put on a show
trope. And that's not what drove me to write this post anyway.
This is what drove me to write this post. Cuties is discussed
on Clownfish TV by your hosts, Kneon and Geeky Sparkles (Thom & Kambrea Pratt), where Geeky shows her ability to completely miss the fucking point being made by one social media commentator. Although, to his credit, Kneon seems to have understood it.
[Kneon]You go to #CancelNetflix on Twitter and you can see some people are like Democrats and Republicans, they're in agreement…[Geeky Sparkles]You know, okay, this is what I want to bring up right now, since we're talking abut that anyway, who the hell made this a political thing?…[rambling]…So basically what you're saying is that you're a Republican, you're against you know the exploitation of children, but if you're a Democrat you're not?
Thom & Kambrea Pratt, Cuties BACKLASH Causes #CancelNetflix to Trend on Twitter!, Clownfish TV
FFS! Sparkles/Kambrea, you utter dumass. (SMH)
NOTE: I have transcribed the less rambling speech so that you don't have to listen. You can if you like, but be warned: Geeky gets shrieky when indignant. I had to switch the sound off.
I'm really only posting this here in place of leaving a comment on their channel, which I cannot do because…tinfoil hat. She did make me laugh with what the literal fuck?
though, because she's castigated Kneon for the f-bomb before now.