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.