Netflix Cuties becomes the next piece in an ever more idiotic culture war

[Casual Shinji]

Does anyone remember this one? Why didn't we hear similar complaints?

Don't worry the kid wasn't really hurt and she really didn't rip out his hair, that was fake.

There probably would be now. But I think at the time people were generally disgusted by this movie on a whole, and they probably just tried to ignore it. When Revenge of the Nerds came out nobody probably batted an eye at the costumed rape scene either. Now people look back at that with the appropriate response of 'Fucking hell, man'.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

There's a lot of stuff guys can't seem to stand being reminded girls and women do that they themselves have no problem with doing themselves. The double standard has always been there for so much more than just sexual, it's just as always the sexual is what gets the biggest knee-jerk reactions from the ignorant and judgemental. Nearly all my friends have been female as almost all males in my life have been bad experiences one way or another, so the countless moments, stories and anecdotes from all kinds of ages have included many things that would make guys squirm unless it was their brotastic mates doing it. This goes back to the various cultural offshoots of objectification yet again, because if it wasnt for guys constant desire for objectifying the other sex, this wouldn't be such a painfully obvious double standard we still need to get over.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Seriously?

Don't fuck kids.
Don't sexualize kids.
Don't condone or normalize the sexualization of children.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

There's a lot of stuff guys can't seem to stand being reminded girls and women do that they themselves have no problem with doing themselves. The double standard has always been there for so much more than just sexual, it's just as always the sexual is what gets the biggest knee-jerk reactions from the ignorant and judgemental.

Because as we know, women are completely free of double standards and assumptions about the opposite sex.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

I really don't get how it came to this.

Look at the trailer. The core point of the film is clearly "immigrant girl is torn between her home country's conservative culture and the more open culture of her new country, cue attempts to fit in with the latter, and tensions with her family. This isn't a new idea. But somehow the Internet's become fixated on what appears to be a small segment of said movie. "Oh no, girls can dance, how horrible."

It's more how some of the stuff is more extreme than just dance moves etc.

I posted the awful clip of the kid being attacked by the goth girl in the closet earlier in the thread. Where was the uproar? Oh it was a joke about sex bro movie so no one cared. This sort of crap is all over American "bro movies" but no one bats an eye over it. There is seriously too much of this in american movies to keep up but no one seems to care. Oh and what about the Adam Sandler movies?

Where is the rage about promoting a pedophile teacher as something great?

I'll hazard a guess and say it doesn't contain material that pedophiles could foreseeably masturbate to.

 

[SilentPony]

Not my thing at all. But that said cultures around the world are different. In Japan the age of consent is something absurd, like 12 or 13. Would it be fair to get up in arms over a documentary of Japanese sexual relations? Maybe? I dunno.
But people are taking this as read meat for the whole Q-Anon/Hollywood is all Pedos dog-whistles.

Also pretty sure the US still do toddler fashion show/strip teases, so glass houses...

 

[lil devils x]

It's more how some of the stuff is more extreme than just dance moves etc.



I'll hazard a guess and say it doesn't contain material that pedophiles could foreseeably masturbate to.

DID you watch either clips? Of course they do, more than this movie likely does from what was stated. Adam Sandler movie is entirely about a kid who was raped by his pedophile teacher. The chuck movie had a scene where the kid is literally attacked and sexually assaulted by a girl in a closet who wants to " see his penis". But somehow it is worse if the victim is a girl and if it happens to a guy it is supposed to be funny and comedy and a great thing that the guys all celebrate. At least in the chuck movie they showed how upset the kid was, even if his friends thought it wonderful. In the Adam Sandler movie everyone just seemed to celebrate pedophilia the entire movie and made the kid a celebrity everywhere he went with people buying him drinks and patting him on the back.

Do you not think boys are targeted as well? The jack ass who raped hundreds of kids in my church school targeted and raped BOYS. There is a shit ton of these creeps out there.

 

[Nick Calandra]

Haven't watched the film (and won't), but have seen the dancing scene that most people are calling out on Twitter, and...well, I don't think it was necessary to show that in the film. I didn't even watch the whole clip cause it was definitely too much and filmed in a way that definitely seemed to glamorize it. It would have been one thing to film it from the side to provide a bit of content to what they do on stage, but they went full "cinematic" with it and that's where I think people are, probably rightfully, finding criticism with it.

The whole pedophile angle though is typical attack the media bullshit, but yea, I think there was a way to handle showing that if that's what the director wanted that didn't make it feel glamorous and overly exposing.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Haven't watched the film (and won't), but have seen the dancing scene that most people are calling out on Twitter, and...well, I don't think it was necessary to show that in the film. I didn't even watch the whole clip cause it was definitely too much and filmed in a way that definitely seemed to glamorize it. It would have been one thing to film it from the side to provide a bit of content to what they do on stage, but they went full "cinematic" with it and that's where I think people are, probably rightfully, finding criticism with it.

The whole pedophile angle though is typical attack the media bullshit, but yea, I think there was a way to handle showing that if that's what the director wanted that didn't make it feel glamorous and overly exposing.

Giving the benefit of the doubt.... no actually I can't. I was going to say this might have been some kind of miscommunication between the writer and the cinematographers but on second thought I don't see how someone doesn't bring it up during production.

 

[lil devils x]

Haven't watched the film (and won't), but have seen the dancing scene that most people are calling out on Twitter, and...well, I don't think it was necessary to show that in the film. I didn't even watch the whole clip cause it was definitely too much and filmed in a way that definitely seemed to glamorize it. It would have been one thing to film it from the side to provide a bit of content to what they do on stage, but they went full "cinematic" with it and that's where I think people are, probably rightfully, finding criticism with it.

The whole pedophile angle though is typical attack the media bullshit, but yea, I think there was a way to handle showing that if that's what the director wanted that didn't make it feel glamorous and overly exposing.

I think though that they were actually trying to show it as glamorous and over exposing because that was what the girls were trying to emulate. The entire point of the girls doing it was to be the next Brittany spears, Nicki Minaj or Cardi B, who ARE intentionally glamorous and overexposing. It was to show how girls were enticed into doing this through the glamour of it all. Girls see these and try to be like them because the " ordinary girls" want to be glamorous, beautiful and wanted because they want to grow up too soon in reality. They don't want to be seen as some "stupid ordinary little kid", (how girls actually view themselves) anymore and that is why they did this.

Girls grow up seeing how beautiful and sexy these stars are and how they have millions of adoring fans and can do anything they want in life with the money and power it gives them and want to be just like they are instead of ordinary, plain and a child that people brush aside. Making it glamorous and enticing is the actual draw for them to do it in the first place. When you actually view it from the point of view of the girls themselves, that would be exactly what they are drawn to and are trying to accomplish here. As a girl I understand it because me and my friends ALL went through that stage as well. Tweens are stuck between being a child and being a "sexy woman", so it is a struggle as to where they fit in. They often try to do everything they can to no longer be seen as a child, including, but not limited emulating strippers because they see them as glamorous, and no one views strippers as " children". Hell, when you listen to Dolly Parton, apparently that really impacted her as well at that age. She said she saw a " prostitute" and how beautiful and glamorous she thought she was and completely fashioned the look she has to this day after that prostitute, LOL

 

[lil devils x]

Giving the benefit of the doubt.... no actually I can't. I was going to say this might have been some kind of miscommunication between the writer and the cinematographers but on second thought I don't see how someone doesn't bring it up during production.

I think that is because you can't see it from the point of view of the girls themselves.

 

[Nick Calandra]

I think though that they were actually trying to show it as glamorous and over exposing because that was what the girls were trying to emulate. The entire point of the girls doing it was to be the next Brittany spears, Nicki Minaj or Cardi B, who ARE intentionally glamours and overexposing. It was to show how girls were enticed into doing this through the glamour of it all. Girls see these and try to be like them because the " ordinary girls" want to be glamours, beautiful and wanted because they want to grow up too soon in reality. They don't want to be seen as some "stupid ordinary little kid", (how girls actually view themselves) anymore and that is why they did this.

Yea I understand that point. Maybe this isn't the right medium for bringing to light these issues, I don't know. I still think the way it was shot crossed a line in some areas, and could have been handled better.

I'm not informed on the subject to really have an opinion on it and it's pretty self-evident that 99% of people targeting media over this probably didn't even watch the thing.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

I think that is because you can't see it from the point of view of the girls themselves.

Are you suggesting that the cinematographers were following the girls lead when shooting this?

 

[lil devils x]

Yea I understand that point. Maybe this isn't the right medium for bringing to light these issues, I don't know. I still think the way it was shot crossed a line in some areas, and could have been handled better.

I'm not informed on the subject to really have an opinion on it and it's pretty self-evident that 99% of people targeting media over this probably didn't even watch the thing.

The reality is for a lot of girls, they will go to some seriously extreme lengths to try to not be seen as a kid anymore, just look at Miley Cyrus to see how extreme some girls will go through to " kill off their childlike image" Her child like image was so huge with Hannah Montana everything, she had to try harder than others to destroy it, to move past that in her own life.

I don't know if boys ever go through that to the same extremes girls do though. Where they go through a period where they pretty much try to destroy the child image they have of themselves, and usually through some pretty extreme lengths.

 

[lil devils x]

Are you suggesting that the cinematographers were following the girls lead when shooting this?

If the girls goal was to be JUST like Nikki Minaj and Brittany spears, then yes. They don't want to look like a bunch of girls role playing stars, they wanted to be viewed in the exact same way.

 

[Nick Calandra]

The reality is for a lot of girls, they will go to some seriously extreme lengths to try to not be seen as a kid anymore, just look at Miley Cyrus to see how extreme some girls will go through to " kill off their childlike image" Her child like image was so huge with Hannah Montana everything, she had to try harder than others to destroy it, to move past that in her own life.

I don't know if boys ever go through that to the same extremes girls do though. Where they go through a period where they pretty much try to destroy the child image they have of themselves, and usually through some pretty extreme lengths.

Having been the VP and later president of a fraternity chapter at my college while finishing up my degree, I can confidentially say that no, no guys don't lol (not me in particular, I get asked if I'm in my 30s all the time). Most guys I knew really didn't shrug off the "child-appearance" until after college graduation where life hits you like a truck and expectations are much higher, starting families etc.

 

[lil devils x]

Having been the VP and later president of a fraternity chapter at my college while finishing up my degree, I can confidentially say that no, no guys don't lol (not me in particular, I get asked if I'm in my 30s all the time). Most guys I knew really didn't shrug off the "child-appearance" until after college graduation where life hits you like a truck and expectations are much higher, starting families etc.

I think that may be why guys have a difficult time processing this when they see girls doing it. Girls go through this usually anywhere from like the ages of 8 or 9 though 18 depending on the individual. Tbh, the sooner it happens to girls the easier it usually is on them. When girls wait till college, they usually have it the worst because they never learned how to handle adult situations and go overboard. I saw my extremely religious and modest friend go through that in college, she went full Miley Cyrus and almost died from a drug overdose in the process. Usually when girls go through it between the ages of 8-12 it is easier because the situations they are exposed to come gradually and slower so they don't have full freedom and everything dumped on them at once like in college giving them more time to process and adjust while they try and figure out who they are. Having what they are exposed to limited helps them learn how to better handle situations at a slower pace.

Girls are exposed to music videos and such though from toddlers up and emulate it. When they get to the point that they no longer want to be seen as a stupid kid, they will often look to those same women they see as sexy, strong, beautiful and powerful as role models and make it their dream to be just like them. That is why I can see that angle for them wanting to have their dance scene glamorized in the same way.

 

[Houseman]

Not my thing at all. But that said cultures around the world are different.

I think this is a point that nobody seems to have discussed yet.
This is a French movie.
The French, as evidenced by their media, seem to be more...liberal with their depictions of underage girls.

See, for example: Totally Spies, Miraculous Ladybug, Code Lyoko, Wakfu...

And those are just the cartoons. I haven't gotten into the comics

I don't know how relevant this is, seeing as this is supposed to be a criticism of sexualization. Maybe it's something to consider. Maybe not.

 

[lil devils x]

I think this is a point that nobody seems to have discussed yet.
This is a French movie.
The French, as evidenced by their media, seem to be more...liberal with their depictions of underage girls.

See, for example: Totally Spies, Miraculous Ladybug, Code Lyoko, Wakfu...

And those are just the cartoons. I haven't gotten into the comics

I don't know how relevant this is, seeing as this is supposed to be a criticism of sexualization. Maybe it's something to consider. Maybe not.

We have the same thing in the US as well though. I do not think this is limited to one culture. Girls all over the world go through this same awkward stage. I think that because guys do not have it the same way as girls they have difficulty trying to process what they see the girls going through.

 

[SilentPony]

I think this is a point that nobody seems to have discussed yet.
This is a French movie.
The French, as evidenced by their media, seem to be more...liberal with their depictions of underage girls.

See, for example: Totally Spies, Miraculous Ladybug, Code Lyoko, Wakfu...

And those are just the cartoons. I haven't gotten into the comics

I don't know how relevant this is, seeing as this is supposed to be a criticism of sexualization. Maybe it's something to consider. Maybe not.

See that's where im at too. As an American I find the sexualization of children incredibly distasteful, dangerous and disturbing. But that's my opinion on my culture's attitude.
But this is French, and to them its not a triple D threat. To them its yeah we've sexualized young teens, that's the point, we're okay with it. And all I can say its its not my thing, and I hope you know what you're doing.