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[–]slushpilot 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I haven't watched it. I don't know if I will, but I still have some thoughts on what I know about it.

Many young girls learn to dance and perform gymnastics routines in outfits identical to the ones in this movie. Some of them also learn to do similar moves that they pick up from music videos and emulate on their own. Yes, kids really do enjoy performing & thrive on being praised! And yes, there is a very real danger of exploitation in that.

All the filmmaker did was show some things that are, unfortunately, pretty normal in our culture—pushed too far for shock effect on screen, but sadly not terribly surprising to me. And, because I assumed so many people are already desensitized to this, I was actually really glad to see the outrage & discussion about this film. I just wish the anger was focused more on what the movie reveals to us, instead of the fact that the filmmaker and Netflix dared to show it.

It's not only the director that you have to question about whether it was right to have kids perform in this film. There was surely a choreographer, along with other crew, and the girls themselves look like experienced dancers who have been training for some time with the support of their family.

Although it was over the top, let's not pretend that the director had these girls perform in some way that doesn't exist in mainstream acceptable society, with proud supportive mothers cheering them on. This could've readily been another documentary or a trashy reality show like so many others about cheerleaders or child beauty pageants, but would've lacked the same impact. Showing these girls twerking, but then simultaneously seeing them for who they really are—devouring gummy bears & just being innocent kids—is what I think makes this so deeply uncomfortable & impactful.

Is it any different when it's a children's dance troupe performing like this on a local arts theater stage for family entertainment? Or is it only exploitative when it's exposed to a wider audience on Netflix? This kind of performance isn't some clandestine pedophilia lurking in the shadows: you can find similar (but tamer) recordings from shaky camera phones shared with many "likes" on facebook.

I don't really want to defend the film, but I'm reluctant to condemn out of hand, too. Are people only upset because they were made to acknowledge how common this precocious sexualization really is? If so, then I'm at least happy for that.

[–]WrongToy[S] 13 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 0 fun14 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm sorry, but the pornographic twerking leads a whole other dimension to it. And if that needed to be depicted, it needed to be done, say, with 18+ models shot through a blur filter at a distance with the focus on the parents looking on, aghast. It's a whole different thing, too, because it's not just some anonymous cheer/dance/gym whatever video on TikTok, it's mass produced for any man with a tv set and ten bucks for netflix.

[–]Shesstealthy 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I watched it last night and I did think it was a good film. This is me watching, considering the dance scenes:

Well there is nothing here that hip hop crews don't do except the girls are dressing sexily.

Now the main girl Ami is watching a video of adult women doing stripper stuff and twerking and she's entranced. Ugh. Don't watch that video little girl!

Now Ami has joined the Cuties. She's showing her moves. Ok ok OH NO WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING NO NO SWEETIE DON'T HUMP THE FLOOR no not that finger in the mouth thing OH dear God no.

It's very similar to the scene in Miss Sunshine where the little girl uses the stripper moves her grandfather's girlfriend taught her, in terms of making you want to rush and warn the kid that it's not for kids. Except these girls are more confidently adult in their presentation and the scenes go on too long.

Watching it I saw a girl without solid guidance about how to navigate being a girl in a way that works for her. It's either early arranged marriage or wild girl freedom that in her hands becomes overly sexual. She doesn't know the rules the way her friends do.

At the end she finds escape in childlike fun.

It's a difficult film but a few cuts would work.