I find it kind of funny that there seems to be some overlap between the people railing against cancel culture and the people gunning to "cancel" Netflix over this film (note: not saying all people critical of this film fit into this box). Matata, for example, had no problem defending a podcast where comedians say explicitly racist things and lamented cancel culture, but also has no problem casting moral condemnation on a book he had to read the Wikipedia summary to remember, and a movie he hasn't seen, because the morality of them is in question.
I haven't seen Cuties and probably never will. I did, however, watch the same clip multiple others did, and I felt grossed out by it. But, at the same time, I've seen the same things in Toddlers and Tiaras (as mentioned) and Dance Moms. The difference, from what I've heard, is that while TT and DM holds this sexualisation up as normal if not good, Cuties takes the opposite approach in it's message. It seems like this is the point of the movie, a full confrontation of what's already happening and what's normalized to make people uncomfortable and actually think about how people treat and normalize the sexualisation of young children.
I agree with Silver, art can and sometimes should make you uncomfortable. It can hold a message that makes you think and makes you reconsider the world in some way. Does Cuties achieve this? I don't know, but I highly doubt anyone of the many people who watched as much as I did can make clear judgements on that point. You do actually need to watch the film to understand it. I've consumed what I feel is a decent share of art that is uncomfortable (and some of it plainly disturbing) so, from what I've read, this movie doesn't seem out of place to me, but there is no question that it should be controversial. It's valid, however, if serves the purpose that art ought to serve.
It should also make us look at what positions we put children in and how we view them different. Why are things that purposely attempt to "adultify" or sexualize young children (pageants, some dance competitions, some films) ok? and why are some not? Why is Good Boys, or Taxi Driver, or Leon the Professional ok, and Cuties isn't?
I'm not saying they should either all be bad or all be good, I'm just pointing out that there seems to be a lot of inconsistency. We're ok when children are presented in overtly violent situations, and we're ok when young boys are put in adult situations (sexuality, drug use) for the sake of comedy, and we're even ok with putting young girls in real-life situations that sexualize them... so why Cuties, and why now?
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