The French film Mignonnes, known in English as Cuties, has become one of the most controversial films in history. French Filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré has reportedly received death threats over the coming-of-age drama. The plot focuses on an 11-year-old Senegalese immigrant Amy (Fathia Youssouf), who is living in Paris and finds escape from her conservative Muslim upbringing by joining a dance group.
What We Know:
- The choice in marketing Netflix put out to promote the film instantly received backlash when it revealed the young stars in various suggestive outfits and positions. The posters, clips, and trailers only further ignited a wave of outrage. Doucouré has received death threats for allegedly promoting child pedophilia and sexualizing underage girls with this film.
- The French version of the poster is a little more on the tame side, showing the prepubescent cast seemingly having fun, while the Netflix poster immediately sparked controversy by displaying one of the uncomfortable scenes of the film. Even before releasing the film, social media exploded with waves of ridicule against Netflix.
- Doucouré has stated that the film’s provocative nature was to prove arguments of the negative effect of pop culture imagery on children in society. She explained how Cuties is meant to be the story of how “many children who have to navigate between a liberal western culture and a conservative culture at home”.
“I wrote this film after I spent a year and a half interviewing pre-adolescent girls, trying to understand their notion of what femininity was, and how social media was affecting this idea,” she explained.
- According to Deadline, Doucouré wanted the main message of the film to be that children should have time to be children and enjoy their youth, while also letting them choose when they want to be adults. “You have a choice, you can navigate between these cultures and choose from the elements of both, to develop into your own self, despite what social media dictates in our society,” she said.
- Moreover, Richard Brody a reviewer for The New Yorker, suggested the film is the target of a “right-wing campaign”. “The subject of ‘Cuties’ isn’t twerking; it’s children, especially poor and nonwhite children, who are deprived of the resources — the education, the emotional support, the open family discussion — to put sexualized media and pop culture into perspective.”
The film was released anyway on Sept. 9th, 2020, but that didn’t stop cancel culture from reaching Netflix. Petitions have been made to remove the content from Netflix and #CancelNetflix trended on social media soon after. Interestingly enough, the film has received overwhelmingly positive reviews despite feedback from the public and even landed Doucouré a directing award at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
