“Cuties”: Criminality vs. Art

I’ve been silent the past few months because 2020 is deafening, but today a friend shared a link defending the Netflix film, Cuties. I had to speak up.

The concept of porn having a deeper message is not revolutionary. People have defended porn by calling it art for years. That’s one of the cop-outs used to subdue outrage over sex trafficking in its various forms. However, this film is disgusting and there is no defense for it. 11-year-old actors being filmed in sexualized ways? By encouraging people to take a nuanced view of this film, we assist the manipulation of the public conscience. “Well, maybe it’s not so bad. . .”

The strategy right now is two-fold:
First, groom adults into pedophilia through diminished sensitivity to the sexual exploitation of children. Pedophiles clearly want the public to approve of this sexualization and even be turned on by children, so that people of a defiled conscience have no moral authority with which to denounce pedophilia. They hope this will make it so there is less outrage, and people are less passionate about seeing pedophiles put in prison. This works to the advantage of pedophiles who should be in jail – (see: MOTIVE).

Second, groom the children to fulfill the appetites of pedophiles. I fully agree that child dance shows, beauty pageants, doll manufacturers, and child fashion lines need to be held accountable as well. The sexualization has gone so far, people actually think the merit of this film is debatable and a lot of children won’t see the problem. That says a lot.

The public doesn’t seem to realize that the sexualized images of children victimize them (the adult public) as well. Who in their right mind wants to be exposed to these images? Only pedophiles. How many innocent men in particular will watch this and find it puts a picture in their head they want to unsee? It’s evil. If anyone wants to see these images, they need to seek help and change their ways at any cost.

Cuties is strategically brilliant because the story itself is “anti child-sexualization,” they claim. That claim is designed to take the wind out of the sails of people who are disgusted and outraged by all the crotch shots, grinding, sex mimicking, dry humping, creepy voyeuristic adult men, and the exposed breast.

Gaslighting, anyone?

I love artists. I am an artist. Artists aren’t stupid. We’re not a group of people who somehow can’t line up to the same moral standards as of the rest of the world. We aren’t called to “defy morality.” Aritsts aren’t just terribly misunderstood – we’re often terribly pandered to. Artists are expert, genius communicators. Artists are often gifted in strategic planning, are fiercely self-disciplined, have voracious appetites for knowledge and ideology, and are skilled at persuasion. Some hunger for power, just like businesspeople and politicians. Artists know how to create a piece that achieves an end.

Maybe not everyone involved in this film had an agenda, and maybe some really believed the propaganda: that there was a deeper meaning. But artists need to expect their work to be held up to the standard of the law. The laws of the land are designed to cut through the noise. The scenes in this film line up with the definition of child sexual exploitation. Those involved should be prosecuted appropriately.

I am of the opinion that some (if not all) of these filmmakers and distributors knew exactly what they were doing. This message could have been conveyed without sexually exploiting these child actors. I give no credence to their hollow excuses.

I’m less concerned with whether anyone watches Netflix again (go for it if there’s something worth watching), and more concerned that the parties involved in the creation and distribution of this film are criminally charged. I urge anyone who isn’t sure whether this movie falls under the category of artistic expression or child exploitation to do research on the legal definition of child sexual exploitation. Also think about what sexual images of children do to adult men. Do some research on how porn affects the brain. This film is not innocent. Push for its cancellation, push for legal action.