Netflix has apologized after being accused by Internet users of “hypersexualizing” 11-year-old children in a visual used for the French film “Mignonnes”, which the platform broadcasts outside of France.
Strongly challenged by Internet users, the Netflix platform announced on August 20 that it had withdrawn a visual intended for the broadcast of the film Cute out of France. It showed the protagonists of the film (renamed Cuties in the US market), 11-year-old pre-teens, in tight-fitting outfits and suggestive poses.
A visual that has earned Netflix accusations of promoting pedophilia, but which turns out to be very different from the one used at this very moment in France, where the film has just been released in theaters, and where we see the same young girls walking down the street throwing confetti.
“We are deeply sorry for the inappropriate visual we used to Cute / Cuties“, The platform said on social networks. “It was neither good nor representative of this French film awarded at the Sundance festival. We have changed the poster and description ”of the work, Netflix added.
We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Mignonnes/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.
— Netflix (@netflix) August 20, 2020
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Cute, director Maïmouna Doucouré’s first feature film, portrays an eleven-year-old Parisian girl, torn between the rules of a polygamous Muslim Senegalese family and the tyranny of social networks. Besides Sundance, this film was awarded in Berlin.
Along with the buzz linked to the controversial poster, some have criticized the director’s work, accusing the film of promoting the hypersexualization of young girls. In the United States, a petition was even launched to have Netflix remove the film from the catalog, “because it promotes child pornography.” As of August 21, it has collected more than 312,000 signatures.
The Minister Delegate for Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa, defended Maïmouna Doucouré on Twitter: “Everyone is free to have an opinion on filmmakers or films. But NOTHING justifies the harassment of which Maïmouna Doucouré is the target, precisely for the subjects that she questions lucidly in Cute / Cuties. Freedom of creation is for everyone! ”
Everyone is free to have an opinion on filmmakers or films.
But NOTHING justifies the harassment #MaimounaDoucoure is the target, precisely for the subjects that she questions lucidly in #Cute#Cuties.
Freedom of creation is for everyone!– ???????? MarleneSchiappa (@MarleneSchiappa) August 21, 2020
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