TYLER COUNTY, TX — A former male model and Hollywood actor now-turned district attorney is facing re-election in November. As part of his re-election campaign, he has indicted Netflix over its recent distribution of the French film “Cuties”. Tyler is a rural county northeast of Houston. Netflix is based in Los Angeles.
Also known by its original French title “Mignonnes”, the controversial film tells the story of 11-year-old Amy as she rebels against her conservative Senegalese, Muslim family who has immigrated to France. Amy becomes fascinated by a classmate who leads a dance crew that performs suggestive moves in revealing outfits. Their group becomes popular and they perform dances on social media, even entering a dance contest. After an embarrassing public performance and a shaming by the judges and crowd, Amy gives up her dance troupe because it is too much pressure.
“Cuties” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020, receiving positive reviews from critics and earning the Sundance Directors Award. Netflix acquired the rights to the film, and it was released internationally on the platform in September.
Originally, Netflix substituted a simplified the film’s simple movie poster for one which focused on the suggestive dance moves. This caused an uproar across the Internet and sparked death threats against the film’s director. Netflix apologized to the director, marking it up to a poor marketing decision.
“Cuties is a social commentary against the sexualization of young children,” a spokesperson for Netflix said. “This charge is without merit and we stand by the film.” Netflix argues that the artistic work wrestles with challenging themes, including the ways in which the Internet and social media distorts girls’ beliefs about their bodies and sexuality from a young age.
Nonetheless, the former Sex and the City extra-turned-prosecutor chose to indict the streaming platform for the promotion of lewd visual material depicting a child. The prosecutor accuses the film of appealing to a “prurient interest in sex” and saying that the film has “no literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”
When asked whether the First Amendment protects the right to broadcast films which contain controversial material, the government employee responded, “Not always.”
“Sure, most of the movie isn’t about sex. But did you see that final dance number?” asked the district attorney.
“Those girls are up on that stage in their costumes wiggling their bodies around. What am I supposed to think? Despite the message of the rest of the film, the director’s only reason to put those girls in skin-tight leotards was to titillate the sexual appetites,” said the former Hollywood actor.
“As a prosecutor, I’m supposed to protect honest, God-fearing folk from thinking sexual things about young girls. Which is what people are going to think.”