Netflix during the year had a good year in the beginning and just had a bad ending to the year. During the height of the lockdowns, people were watching streaming services like Netflix and Prime shows like including Tiger King. Netflix lost subscribers in the late summer due to a film called Cutie that was released onto the platform.
The backlash to the French independent film Mignonnes — translated as Cuties — started before it had even been released because of a poster that went viral for its provocative depiction of its young female actors. But the spotlight has only intensified since the film became available on Netflix last week, and it has become the target of heightened politicized outrage.
Members of Congress, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and others have started a campaign calling for subscribers to the streaming platform to “#CancelNetflix.” At the heart of the backlash is the idea that Cuties is dangerously and irresponsibly sexualizing preteen girls.
The campaign against the film, which includes calls for the Department of Justice to investigate it and hundreds of thousands calling for subscribers to cancel their Netflix accounts, is riddled with inaccuracies due in part to the fact that some critics have not seen the film. (One claims that there is child nudity when there is not.)
Netflix said in a statement that it is a “social commentary against the sexualization of young children.”
Written and directed by Maimouna Doucoure, Cuties is about an 11-year-old Senegalese immigrant named Amy (Fathia Youssouf) who is living in an impoverished Paris suburb with her observant Muslim family.
On Saturday, Sept. 12, Netflix’s cancellation rate in the U.S. jumped to nearly eight times higher than the average daily levels recorded in August 2020 — reaching a multiyear high. With the #CancelNetflix hashtag continuing to trend on social media, it is possible elevated churn could continue in the coming days.
