10th September, 2020
Viewers have called for the cancellation of Netflix after the American technology and production company released a movie titled “Cuties.”
According to the Twitter campaign against the streaming giant, Cuties, a French film, promotes sexualisation of children.
The outrage on Cuties started in August after Netflix released the original artwork of the movie, which featured a picture of four young girls posed provocatively, some twerking while wearing hot pants.
The promotional image of the movie shows the lead actress, Fathia Youssouf, looking over her shoulder.
The organisation apologised but the movie was later released on September 9 despite the outrage generated.
A spokeswoman for Netflix, in August said “We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for ‘Cuties.’
“It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which won an award at Sundance. We’ve now updated the pictures and description.”
However, the current description of the movie reads: “Eleven-year-old Amy starts to rebel against her conservative family’s traditions when she becomes fascinated with a free-spirited dance crew.”
The original summary, however, was reportedly much more salacious, reading, “Amy, 11, becomes fascinated with a twerking dance crew. Hoping to join them, she starts to explore her femininity, defying her family’s traditions.”
Many are accusing Netflix of angling promotional materials to be about the cast’s sexuality more than the movie’s actual plot.
As of this writing, a petition on “Cancel Netflix subscription” has reached over 598,000 signatories.
The petition accused the film of exploiting children, showing underage girls “dressed provocatively, dancing sexually” and being rated “only for adult viewers.”