Netflix Has Completely Lost Their Minds

[Bartmanhomer]

Netflix is going to released a new movie called Cuties next month and I saw the trailer and it was disgusting. The movie is about a pre-teen girl who wants to join a twerking team in embracing femininity and in her family honor. This movie is exploiting young children for disgusting stuff. It's very sickening. I don't want to post a link to the trailer. It takes a few seconds on Youtube for it. What was Netflix thinking about releasing this type of movie in their stream?

[Peelee]

Yes, this was rather famously talked about for a little over a week now. The movie is apparently a criticism against the sexualization of minors. The only thing Netflix did wrong was advertise it in a misleading way, though that has very likely worked in their favor since now an enormous amount of people are aware of the movie who otherwise would not have been.

[Bartmanhomer]

Yes, this was rather famously talked about for a little over a week now. The movie is apparently a criticism against the sexualization of minors. The only thing Netflix did wrong was advertised it in a misleading way, though that has very likely worked in their favor since now an enormous amount of people are aware of the movie who otherwise would not have been.

Well, I'm not sorry for getting completely enraged about it and they did a horrible job misleading the synopsis of the movie.

[Jan Mattys]

I just learnt of this movie existence.
The trailer has 1.4 Million dislikes and 35k likes on youtube.

I just realized I must be some kind of monster because I didn't find it bad.
I mean, it's not a movie I am going to watch, but I am not outraged by what I see. It's a movie aimed at kids and seems to be focused on friendship building and bonding, and the struggles of doing what you like vs doing what your family expects of you. Pretty standard kids movies stuff.

It's true, the idea of an all-eleven years old dancing crew of young girls gives me some bad vibes (the "Sparkle Motion" in Donnie Darko kind of bad vibes) but honestly, isn't it a bit too early to judge the movie? In these cases the tone is everything, and the trailer tone doesn't seem overly sexualized to me.

Does anyone care to explain me where I'm wrong? (because apparently I am, judging by both Bartmanhomer's and the vast majority of youtuber's reaction).

[Mystic Muse]

Netflix infamously advertised this poorly, and has potentially killed the career of the person who made it, because they advertised it as exactly what it's speaking out against, which is why there are so many people who have downvoted/disliked this.

[KillianHawkeye]

Does anyone care to explain me where I'm wrong?

I think because it's about twerking, which is seen as an inherently sexual form of dancing. It's basically just shaking your butt, if I'm not mistaken.

[BisectedBrioche]

Netflix infamously advertised this poorly, and has potentially killed the career of the person who made it, because they advertised it as exactly what it's speaking out against, which is why there are so many people who have downvoted/disliked this.

This. It's an originally French movie (titled "Mignonnes") by Maïmouna Doucouré, a Franco-Senegalese woman, based on her own experiences.

Netflix, in their infinite wisdom, decided to run an advertising campaign which presents it as the very thing its condemning, for shock value.

As with many things in life, they'll tank all the criticism while everyone behind the campaign sits safely and anonymously in their offices, while all the usual suspects aim their vitriol at the convenient scapegoat, and soak up the praise for being so "brave" with their advertising. Meanwhile, Doucouré is getting death threats and being accused of being a paedo.

[Traab]

Sounds to me like they didnt mess up anything, they drummed up a TON of public attention, which is likely to make far more people watch than originally would have. By misleading what its about they got all the attention, then managed to get out its actual message to those millions of people so more are likely to watch it now. The actors and whatnot involved with this will likely see a surge in negative attention but that will die out, more or less, people are idiots after all, when the actual product is seen, and if its popular enough it will get them even more work in the future.

[Fyraltari]

Yes, this was rather famously talked about for a little over a week now. The movie is apparently a criticism against the sexualization of minors. The only thing Netflix did wrong was advertise it in a misleading way, though that has very likely worked in their favor since now an enormous amount of people are aware of the movie who otherwise would not have been.

Yup, engineering a controversy around one's product is a popular marketing tactic these days.

[Eldan]

I just realized I must be some kind of monster because I didn't find it bad.
I mean, it's not a movie I am going to watch, but I am not outraged by what I see. It's a movie aimed at kids and seems to be focused on friendship building and bonding, and the struggles of doing what you like vs doing what your family expects of you. Pretty standard kids movies stuff.

It's very much not aimed at kids. It's a French movie about the harmful effects of oversexualizing children, written by a woman who was disgusted at seeing a dancing pole at a child beauty competition. The original message of the movie is more or less "this is wrong and horrible. Don't do this to kids".

Then Netflix apparently decided to turn this around with a very misleadingly cut trailer to "look how cool these kids are, they are all such good friends and are using dancing to escape their overbearing conservative parents who hate fun."

[Jan Mattys]

It's very much not aimed at kids. It's a French movie about the harmful effects of oversexualizing children, written by a woman who was disgusted at seeing a dancing pole at a child beauty competition. The original message of the movie is more or less "this is wrong and horrible. Don't do this to kids".

Then Netflix apparently decided to turn this around with a very misleadingly cut trailer to "look how cool these kids are, they are all such good friends and are using dancing to escape their overbearing conservative parents who hate fun."

I understand.
Just so I know: was I supposed to get all that from the trailer, or am I justified in not finding the trailer horrible, considering that was literally the first time I heard about the movie?

[Rogar Demonblud]

No, you aren't supposed to know the movie is the opposite of what Netflix is advertising it as. That's kind of the point of deceptive advertising. And Netflix is looking at charges over this in a few places because of that, which gives you an idea of how pissed people are.

And traab, you are very wrong. The is quite a bit of pressure on Netflix right now to completely pull the film, which means nobody watches it. And besides the death threats to Doucoure several of the girls in the film are getting stalked and propositioned, because of course they like this. That will not just magically blow over or fail to leave a scar.

[Peelee]

And traab, you are very wrong. The is quite a bit of pressure on Netflix right now to completely pull the film, which means nobody watches it.

Which would mean that nobody watches it on Netflix. They are not the only distribution platform. And it hasn't been pulled yet.

[The Glyphstone]

I'm suddenly reminded of the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine, where a little girl performing a striptease/burlesque performance at a beauty pageant is the punchline.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Yes, this was rather famously talked about for a little over a week now. The movie is apparently a criticism against the sexualization of minors. The only thing Netflix did wrong was advertise it in a misleading way, though that has very likely worked in their favor since now an enormous amount of people are aware of the movie who otherwise would not have been.

Which would mean that nobody watches it on Netflix. They are not the only distribution platform. And it hasn't been pulled yet.

Considering contract disputes might keep it from being aired elsewhere if Netflix does pull it, that means the only way to watch the movie would be to pirate it which means it will not make revenue back and be considered a flop.

[Talakeal]

Netflix is going to released a new movie called Cuties next month and I saw the trailer and it was disgusting. The movie is about a pre-teen girl who wants to join a twerking team in embracing femininity and in her family honor. This movie is exploiting young children for disgusting stuff. It's very sickening. I don't want to post a link to the trailer. It takes a few seconds on Youtube for it. What was Netflix thinking about releasing this type of movie in their stream?

From what I hear, this is exactly how the movie is supposed to make you feel.

[LaZodiac]

Sounds to me like they didnt mess up anything, they drummed up a TON of public attention, which is likely to make far more people watch than originally would have. By misleading what its about they got all the attention, then managed to get out its actual message to those millions of people so more are likely to watch it now. The actors and whatnot involved with this will likely see a surge in negative attention but that will die out, more or less, people are idiots after all, when the actual product is seen, and if its popular enough it will get them even more work in the future.

Yup, engineering a controversy around one's product is a popular marketing tactic these days.

Contrary to popular belief, any publicity is not good publicity.

Any of the people who would WANT to watch this because of the awful trailers is... not going to be the people you want your documentary. People who you WANT to watch it will be immediately repulsed by the backlash from the trailer or the trailer itself. The people whoo are smart enough to realize this is Netflix ****ing up the advertisement for a good documentary... are the people who are already well aware of the things you are against and thus likely won' watch it because they probably already have. At best they'll do their part to educate people into watching it.

So yeah, if they had advertised it normally they'd have gotten far more publicity, and anyone who knows anything about marketing would know that. The reason they made the trailers so bad is because they are either malicious or stupid, period.

[Tvtyrant]

I don't quite understand the controversy? The trailer is absolutely generic.

[Lurkmoar]

For what it's worth, the original French poster for Mignonnes had the cast coming up a road with shopping bags in skyward arms.

The Netflix poster has them in their dancing get ups in... uh, provocative and considering their age, inappropriate poses.

It's like the people that okayed it watched the movie and thought to themselves that the dancing girls were the best part, missing "the over sexualization of children is bad" point. I'd link the comparison image, but I feel like that would violate a board rule or something.

[Bartmanhomer]

I don't quite understand the controversy? The trailer is absolutely generic.

The controversy that it's exploiting the sexualization of children. {scrubbed}

This is one movie that I'm not going to do a movie review on it. I don't care how entertaining and good that the movie is because there's nothing good about exploiting kids' sexualization!

[Peelee]

Considering contract disputes might keep it from being aired elsewhere if Netflix does pull it, that means the only way to watch the movie would be to pirate it which means it will not make revenue back and be considered a flop.

Considering the movie is not a Netflix production and they are only a distribution vehicle, then it could hardly be considered a flop if it was never released in the first place.

This is one movie that I'm not going to do a movie review on it. I don't care how entertaining and good that the movie is because there's nothing good about exploiting kids' sexualization!

The movie is explicitly against child sexualization.

[Fyraltari]

Contrary to popular belief, any publicity is not good publicity.

Any of the people who would WANT to watch this because of the awful trailers is... not going to be the people you want your documentary.

From a marketing perspective, there are no "people you don't want to see your movie". As the saying goes, "money has no smell."

People who you WANT to watch it will be immediately repulsed by the backlash from the trailer or the trailer itself. The people whoo are smart enough to realize this is Netflix ****ing up the advertisement for a good documentary... are the people who are already well aware of the things you are against and thus likely won' watch it because they probably already have. At best they'll do their part to educate people into watching it.

So yeah, if they had advertised it normally they'd have gotten far more publicity, and anyone who knows anything about marketing would know that. The reason they made the trailers so bad is because they are either malicious or stupid, period.

What they're banking on is most likely that people would defend the movie by pointing out that it's actually against the sexualization of children and so create an argument over the internet, pushing people to watch it to make up their mind about it (or, more cynically, to gather ammunition for the next round of Internet shouting match).

The controversy that it's exploiting the sexualization of children. {scrub the post, scrub the quote}

This is one movie that I'm not going to do a movie review on it. I don't care how entertaining and good that the movie is because there's nothing good about exploiting kids' sexualization!

But, as people have said, the movie is denouncing the sexualization/exploitation of children and against those practices.

[Bartmanhomer]

Considering the movie is not a Netflix production and they are only a distribution vehicle, then it could hardly be considered a flop if it was never released in the first place.


The movie is explicitly against child sexualization.

Well they did a very bad job at that by misleading. My apologies if I was very rude to Tvtyrant earlier.

[Tvtyrant]

Well they did a very bad job at that by misleading. My apologies if I was very rude to Tvtyrant earlier.

No worries, I'm not offended. I'm glad the movie is attacking sexualizing children, even if the trailer did a bad job conveying it.

[Bartmanhomer]

No worries, I'm not offended. I'm glad the movie is attacking sexualizing children, even if the trailer did a bad job conveying it.

Well, I'm glad. I'm still not sure if I want to watch this movie and do a movie review on it because it's very disturbing for me but I'm glad that I have a clear understanding what this movie is about.

[Blackhawk748]

I mean, it's not a movie I am going to watch, but I am not outraged by what I see. It's a movie aimed at kids and seems to be focused on friendship building and bonding, and the struggles of doing what you like vs doing what your family expects of you. Pretty standard kids movies stuff.

It's rated TV MA, so it's NOT for kids.

[Man on Fire]

For the record, 4chan's tv board preemptively made posting screenshots from this movie an offense worth permaban. Netflix screwed up so much even that hellsite was disgusted by it.

[GentlemanVoodoo]

From the trailer I first thought this looked like a dance crew movie. However, there are two instances in the trailer where you see the presumed lead and the one girl ironing her hair in some very tight leather pants. Further nearly every scene has the children in crop-top shirts in the trailer. I see many say this is suppose to attacking sexualizing children but I fail to see how. Can some one please explain this? From what I am noticing this looks like Netflix is promoting some very inapprpriate ideas regarding children. Especially young girls whom per the trailer I gather are between 11-14.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Netflix is lying about what the movie is about, creating one of the most dishonest trailers in the last several years.

[Peelee]

From the trailer I first thought this looked like a dance crew movie. However, there are two instances in the trailer where you see the presumed lead and the one girl ironing her hair in some very tight leather pants. Further nearly every scene has the children in crop-top shirts in the trailer. I see many say this is suppose to attacking sexualizing children but I fail to see how. Can some one please explain this? From what I am noticing this looks like Netflix is promoting some very inapprpriate ideas regarding children. Especially young girls whom per the trailer I gather are between 11-14.

The movie is against sexualizing children. The trailer is not the movie. The trailer is misleading and makes it appear to be sexualizing children.