The purposes of art seem endless. Art, in theory, arouses in us the unarticulated thoughts of the soul; it speaks to us as individuals, reminding us of our most profound emotions: love, happiness – even sadness and suffering. Art can also reveal the deepest flaws in our societies; it can tell us when we’ve lost our way, or when we’ve lost our collective purpose.
But what happens when a corrective mechanism like art is itself corrupted, perhaps by the very culture it is supposed to critique? Is such a thing possible?
This week, we discovered the answer. And it’s not pretty. On Wednesday, Netflix began streaming an award-winning French film called Cuties, which tells the story of Amy, an 11-year-old immigrant to France from Senegal. The young girl, struggling to fit in with her peers due to her family’s strict moral code, secretly joins a young dance group known as The Cuties.
If you think the plot of this movie is reminiscent of an innocent Disney Channel film, you’d be wrong; it’s no High School Musical. The Cuties, as it turns out, are a terrible influence on Amy: they watch pornography together in the school bathroom, and dance provocatively in order to try and win a local dance competition. To make things worse, The Cuties are clad in midriff-baring, revealing clothes for their dance scenes. At one point, one of their breasts is exposed.
As is typical these days, the response to the film has largely been split into two camps. On the one hand, many film critics have lauded the movie, saying, along with the film’s creator, Maïmouna Doucouré, that the film is both a critique of society’s sexual exploitation of young girls, as well as the sociological implications of poverty and immigration.
On the other hand, the general public is largely denouncing the film for being guilty of the very thing it tries to criticize, that is, a film that sexually exploits children. This condemnation has become so great, in fact, that #CancelNetflix was trending on Twitter for a lengthy period of time, and, yesterday, some conservative lawmakers called for legal action against the streaming service.
Frankly, though, my main concern and anger with Cuties lies not with the film’s creator, or with Netflix – though, to be clear, I think the movie should be off the site. In Doucouré’s case, I have sympathy for her; anyone can be morally short-sighted and fail at getting their artistic message across. And, as far as Netflix is concerned, let’s be honest: it’s an enormous company primarily concerned with its financial bottom line; in Cuties, Netflix saw – and continues to see – an opportunity to make money. Of course, this isn’t to say that, given its content, Netflix should have begun streaming Cuties – on the contrary, they shouldn’t have. But that’s simply not how they operate, and we shouldn’t expect them to do otherwise.
Instead, I lay the responsibility for this entire debacle at the feet of our institutions – from the American film censors, to universities, to journalism and their so-called film critics – that made it acceptable and lucrative for Netflix to have such an irredeemable film on their streaming service, or for Doucouré to make such a movie. Indeed, the fact that Cuties wasn’t immediately disallowed from the United States highlights the moral rot that pervades our society.
This decay is displayed in two ways: decadence and an over-emphasis on identity.
According to cultural critic Jacques Barzum, “When people accept futility and the absurd as normal the culture is decadent,” which causes our art to “seem exhausted,” and our institutions to “function painfully.” In other words, decadence makes us so drunk on our own successes that we allow our culture to rot from the inside. It’s a slow burn, one that we hardly notice until, as a procrastinating student realizes, it is too late to adequately fix.
Likewise, our culture over-emphasizes identity by telling individuals their worth lies in whatever sociological or political categories in which they wish to describe themselves. If someone is white, it’s just who they are – they must bear the sins of their skin color, regardless of their desire for redemption; or, if someone votes for Donald Trump, we conclude it’s because they’re a bigot – no explanation necessary.
Cuties illustrates this institutional decadence and over-emphasis on identity in spades. First, from the perspective of decadence, it shows that our media, university, and journalistic establishments have lost their way; they have allowed money to infiltrate their decision making to the point that they can’t recognize something as egregious as the sexual exploitation of children. Second, it highlights how out of touch they are with their audiences – the very same people who finance and give power to their various operations. One needs to look no further than the difference between the critic’s Rotten Tomatoes score – 89 percent – and the audience score – a measly 3 percent – to understand this.
As far as identity is concerned, Cuties shows how low our institutions are willing to stoop in order to score points in our identity politics Olympics. In his review of the film for The New Yorker, film critic Richard Brody paints Cuties entirely as a social commentary – not as exploitative film, or as morally decrepit. Instead, he praises the film and calls any criticism of it a “right-wing campaign,” thus painting those who bemoan the sexualization of its characters as conservative shills – who we all know are assumed by the corporate media to be racist, homophobic, and the like.
So, what happens when art is corrupted by the very thing it seeks to address? We get Cuties, which, similarly, reflects the extent to which our institutions have decayed and pervaded our society. Even our correcting mechanisms have been tainted.
Of course, this isn’t to say that all hope is lost. To the contrary, there are many major figures – both political and cultural – who have joined the fight against “Cuties.” Senator Ted Cruz has written to the Department of Justice requesting an investigation into Netflix; former Presidential candidate and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has denounced the film; actress Evan Rachel Wood has warned that it “normalizes” pedophilia.
Maybe – just maybe – Cuties will be a wakeup call for many.