Aaliyah Garza | THE RIDER
When Netflix premiered “Cuties” on Sept. 9, the film was already garnering attention over the marketing mishap about a month before the debut. The audience cried out over the suggestive poses of the young girls on the movie poster. This outcry became louder after the film was released. Much of it is geared toward the sexualization of these young actors and the dance moves they perform.
I do not like this film. Story structure, characters and conflict do not do it justice. The sexualized scenes put the nail in the coffin for this film ever being good. After some thought, however, I’ve come to think that there is a sadder and sinister side to this film.
The movie reflects what is happening today with girls being influenced by popular media. While I have always supported women expressing their sexuality, there is no denying that this does influence girls. You can control what you put out there in the media, but you cannot control what the effect will be, how people will perceive it, especially when it involves children.
Girls live in a world where they have to grow up fast, even if they never fully understand why this is, from wearing a bra at an age when your breasts haven’t even protruded from your chest to needing to be aware of your surroundings at all times. You spend a lot of your younger years stuck at a crossroads between doing what you love and what makes you happy and doing what is expected of your gender. If you refuse or ignore these expectations of your gender, you will be judged, mocked and excluded from others.
Amy, the main protagonist in “Cuties,” is stuck between two worlds: her traditional conservative Muslim upbringing and the modern world. She joins a dance team that is paired with the modern world in an attempt to escape the traditional conservative values of her family. This isn’t too far from today’s society, in which a lot of women usually turn to embracing their sexuality as an attempt to separate themselves from conservative traditions. No matter what your viewpoints are about these two worlds, there is no denying that they are both under control by the male gaze. The male gaze is a sexualized way of looking that empowers men and objectifies women.
This film is an easier target for people to point their anger toward, especially during a time when anti-pedophile activism is sweeping social media. The issues that are depicted are happening right in front of them. Dance team uniforms, beauty pageants, preteen girls dating teenagers, that one cousin who at 16 was heading to downtown Mcallen on a Saturday night, the mother who dolls up her kids as if they’re 21. Do the people who are against this film call out these types of incidents in their lives? I wonder.
