Last month, Netflix was forced to apologise for ‘pedophilic-themed’ promotional artwork used to advertise the streaming service’s then-upcoming film ‘Cuties.’
“We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork,” Netflix said on Twitter in response to a barrage of criticism. “It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which won an award at Sundance.”
What hell are we living in now?
— Obianuju Ekeocha (@obianuju) August 20, 2020
Children are being hypersexualization by @netflix, a major streaming service.
This is reprehensible. pic.twitter.com/urm626vt8L
Well, it turns out Netflix was telling the truth. The vile artwork was relatively tame in comparison to the depravity on display in the actual film.
Up until only a few hours ago, IMDB’s Parent’s Guide warned the film contained “many highly sexualized & erotic dance scenes that purposefully exploit & objectify numerous scantily clad under age girls.”
The review went on to say: “One of the female child dancers lifts up her cropped top to fully display her bare breast. This is lawfully defined as pedophilia and can be extremely distressing to many viewers.”
The movie database, however, has since replaced the damning review with what appears to be a defence of the film, claiming the depiction of “11-year-old girls dancing very suggestively” is “intended to be seen in an unflattering light.”
IMDB has updated their Parent’s Guide following the #Cuties backlash.
— Caldron Pool (@CaldronPool) September 10, 2020
Why did they feel the need to defend the film? pic.twitter.com/rocA3sA8Tf
Across social media, viewers have been left shocked and sickened by highly disturbing footage from the movie which has gone viral following the film’s release earlier this week.
We can’t overstate just how appalling the video truly is, so we share it with the strongest warning we possibly can. Viewer discretion is advised.
Hate to share this horrendous video, but people need to know this is what @Netflix subscriptions are funding.
— Caldron Pool (@CaldronPool) September 10, 2020
Blatant pedophilia and child exploitation. Where is #MeToo when it matters?
pic.twitter.com/gGD4xbVPPe
Reaction to the footage sparked the hashtag #CancelNetflix, which began trending at the #1 highest rank worldwide soon after. Many were also asking the authorities to begin making arrests.
Arrest Netflix CEO Reed Hastings
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 10, 2020
Hi @AmbassadorRice! Me again. Are you aware your company Netflix is in violation of the federal Child Protection Act?
— Blocked by Netflix Poso (@JackPosobiec) September 10, 2020
What’s the penalty for distributing child porn and why hasn’t the crew of Cuties, the parents of the kids, and the executives at Netflix been charged with it?
— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) September 10, 2020
1. Whether the focal point of the visual depiction is on the child’s genitalia or pubic area;
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) September 10, 2020
2. Whether the setting of the depiction is sexually suggestive, that is, in a place or pose associated with sexual activity;
6. Whether the depiction is designed to elicit a sexual response in the viewer.
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) September 10, 2020
The #netflix film blatantly zooms in on sexual parts of little girls as they dance suggestively, partially clothed, for adult audiences, as explicit sexual “exploration.” It fails the Dost test.
President Trump should publicly order the DOJ/FBI to investigate Netflix for the distribution of Cuties.
— Emerald Robinson(@EmeraldRobinson) September 10, 2020
Remarkably, the pedophilic-apologists in the media have branded the backlash a “right-wing campaign” against an “extraordinary” film.
The Independent tweeted: “Cuties on Netflix is too moving a film to be marred by one bad-taste poster.”
While the Rolling Stone called the film, “a sensitive portrait of growing pains that deserves to be seen.”
The most disturbing defence was the 4/5 glowing review from The Telegraph that described the movie as “a provocative powder-keg for an age terrified of child sexuality.”
Ask and you shall receive pic.twitter.com/QApjfdVe6S
— Orwell & Goode (@OrwellNGoode) September 10, 2020
How many billions of dollars have been spent in efforts to combat pedophilia, to curb the trend of online sexual exploitation, to protect vulnerable children online and in the real world?
It was only last year that the co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival, the festival that debuted and awarded Cuties, was sentenced to six years in prison for sexually abusing a child in two separate cases.
And yet here we have Netflix undermining all of that by exploiting the children in the film and profiting off what most sane people regard as hypersexualisation of kids and blatant pedophilia.
This isn’t new or out of the ordinary either. Caldron Pool warned about Netflix’s disturbing interest in pedophilia years ago. But if anything, their productions are now bolder than ever.
This is a vicious slap in the face to every victim who’s suffered from sexual abuse and exploitation. That terrifying thing which keeps victims up at night is now being lauded by Netflix as an acceptable form of ‘entertainment.’
And what’s worse, the future that these sorts of productions are carving will not only normalise pedophilia but embolden pedophiles and create more victims with it.
In the end, Cuties is a symptom of a much greater and deadlier disease eating away at society and culture. If it’s not diagnosed correctly and treated appropriately, there is sadly no hope for the rest of us.
Netflix is what you get when you unhitch morality from a real objective standard. No culture in history has embraced relativism and survived. It was Christianity that built the Western world and it is the rejection of Christianity that is now bringing about its downfall.
As Professor Peter Kreeft aptly warned, we either persist in our relativism and die, or we repent and live, for there is no other option.
