Editor’s Note: This article was written on September 1st, 2020. Cuties is now available to stream on Netflix, this article does not discuss the subject matter of the film in-depth, but rather focuses on the issues that arose due to Netflix’s marketing of the film and the subsequent backlash.

Cuties, first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, a film written and directed by Maimouna Doucoure is available to stream on Netflix Sept. 9 – but has already amassed more than 30,000 signatures from people asking for it to be removed. The Netflix description for the film is “Eleven-year-old Amy starts to rebel against her conservative family’s traditions when she becomes fascinated with a free-spirited dance crew.” The film first sparked outrage over the cover photo which shows the young actresses in provocative poses- an eerie sight to see in Hollywood after the exposure of the #MeToo movement from the actions of famous directors Woody Allen and Harvey Weinstein. The backlash towards Doucoure for the film became increasingly worse as activists promised her career in the filmmaking business would never take off after such a heinous film.  As a result of the backlash, she deactivated her Twitter account. So how did this child exploiting, sexually manipulative film win the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival at its premiere and receive an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes?

The minority of people that had actually seen Cuties, which, at that point, had only been shown once at Sundance, praised the film for its handling of sensitive topics such as the media’s sexual exploitation of children. On Twitter, Tessa Thomspon, star of Netflix’s Dear White People, defended Cuties as a “beautiful film” that had her “gutted at [Sundance].” Writer Caz Armstrong condemned the decisions Netflix made with marketing this film, in her article on intheirownleague.com. Disregarding  Doucoure’s intentions for the film, Netflix is “sexually exploiting girls” with their changed movie poster and using it as “clickbait.”

This wouldn’t be the first time that a film is severely disadvantaged by its marketing team before its release. A marketing campaign from 2017 Cannes Marche du Film for the film Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves, blacklisted the film from prospective audiences when it released a picture of two versions of Snow White-a slim figure next to a heavier set figure- with the caption, “What if Snow White was no longer beautiful?” The campaign insinuated fat-shaming propaganda and deterred people from watching the film before its release. However, Chloe Grace Mortez states that the marketing “wasn’t approved by [her] or [her] team.” After its release, it was clear that the film’s message was “designed to challenge social prejudices related to standards of physical beauty in society by emphasizing the importance of inner beauty.” Just like Cuties, Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves was betrayed by its marketing team for setting the notion that the film was perpetuating the harmful message that it was ultimately advocating against.

Now, let’s switch the conversation to the novel Lolita. Lolita became Vladimir Nabokov’s Magnus opus after becoming his first bestseller and awarding him much praise within the literature community. Lolita is the story of a middle-aged literature professor Humbert who becomes infatuated with a 12-year-old girl named Dolores, nicknamed “Lolita,” which becomes even more frightening after he becomes her stepfather. Before the praise, the book wasn’t well-liked in the public eye. The novel was a controversial read that shamed those that read it for condoning Humbert’s sick behavior. However, a fictional physiatric of Humbert starts the book by  saying, “I have no intention of glorifying Humbert. He is horrible, he is abject.” Nabokov outright condemns the thoughts of our pedophile protagonist and brings up issues such as child grooming and sexualization of minors. The book slowly reached larger audiences as the theme of it was clear in how Humbert’s actions are intolerable in society and how adults can better address these sensitive topics with each other.

Just like how Lolita had addressed the sexual exploitation of children in 1955, Cuties attempts to look into Hollywood’s uncomfortably vague boundaries with children in the entertainment industry and how the media industry has become desensitized to the sexualization of minors. The difference is that Lolita’s praise and rewards were a slow burn for audiences while Maimouna Doucoure may never be given the chance to bring her film to the mainstream. The quick condemnation of Doucoure is a direct result of “cancel culture” which has been a popular topic of controversy: whether the ideology is too harsh to judge celebrities and influencers for their mistakes. 

Cuties is our generation’s attempted Lolita, bringing attention to sensitive topics by putting the audience through a reality-oriented microscope into Hollywood’s dark secrets. If only Netflix didn’t tarnish the marketing of this indie film, Doucoure would have been able to bring the same thought-provoking film she did during Sundance to audiences willing to watch the film without prejudice assumptions. 

Another underlying problem within this Cuties controversy is how hard it is for female directors, especially people of color, to make it in the industry. The effects of Cuties may have now hindered possible opportunities that Doucoutre will have in the future- with this only being her debut film.

Jessica Nguyen

This article has also been published on the SHEDIDTHAT! Medium blog.