The Franco-Senegalese director Maïmouna Doucouré finds herself in spite of herself at the heart of a heated controversy in the United States.
At 35, the filmmaker who won the Sundance Film Festival for Best Director for her first feature film, "Mignonnes", has been the subject of violent attacks from the American far right since the release of her film on Netflix on September 9.
"Mignonnes", translated in its English version by "Cuties", tells the story of Amy, an 11-year-old Parisian girl, at the dawn of her adolescence.
The young girl dreams of joining a dance group, formed by three other girls from her neighborhood, whose choreographies are sometimes suggestive, like many current pop stars.
The film, which denounces the hypersexualization of the society with which these pre-adolescents are confronted, is accused across the Atlantic of promoting "child pornography".
Tight outfits and lustful poses
Screened in French cinemas in mid-August, "Mignonnes" did not make such waves in France.
It was the Netflix poster - on which Amy and her friends are pictured in tight-fitting outfits and lascivious poses - that ignited the powder at the end of August, when it was promoted in the United States.
A very different visual from that used at the same time in France, where we see the same young girls walking in the street throwing confetti.
This boycott started in the United States #CancelNetflix on the film Mignonnes, it is the story of the idiot, the Moon and the finger.
The movie shows something, and some take offense to the movie more than the thing shown. # NetflixPedofilia pic.twitter.com/qR6OjCKuJe
- Wladimir Garcin-Berson (@vladogb) September 11, 2020
Accused by Internet users of promoting pedophilia, the platform quickly took a low profile.
“We are deeply sorry for the inappropriate visual we have used for Cute / Cuties,” the Netflix team said on social media.
"It was neither good nor representative of this French film awarded at the Sundance festival. We changed the poster and the description [of the work]".
Too late.
The Twitter machine has already taken off.
Three weeks later, over 200,000 tweets are used with the hashtag #CancelNetflix (remove Netflix), which even made it the world's first “hashtag” on Twitter on September 10.
Political recovery in the midst of the presidential campaign
Very quickly, the American conservatives seized on the debate.
Political figures, members of the Republican Party, some of whom are candidates for Congress, denigrate the French film.
"Child pornography is illegal in America," tweets DeAnna Lorraine, who was a Republican candidate in California for a seat in the House of Representatives.
Child pornography is illegal in America.
#CancelNetflix
- DeAnna Lorraine 🇺🇸 (@ DeAnna4Congress) September 10, 2020
"The hypersexualization of girls (and boys) is disgusting", we can read on the thread of Omar Navarro, another Republican politician.
"It is morally and ethically reprehensible. Pedophiles, child rapists and perverts would feast on #Cuties."
The case goes back to the very conservative Ted Cruz, senator from Texas who likes to compare himself to Ronald Reagan.
He, who admits not having seen the film, calls for Netflix and Maïmouna Doucouré to be sued, under the laws protecting minors in the United States.
Following @ netflix's disturbing promotion of “Cuties,” I sent a letter calling on @TheJusticeDept to investigate whether Netflix, its executives, or the filmmakers violated any federal laws against the production and distribution of child pornography.
pic.twitter.com/P7wLXixU6X
- Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) September 12, 2020
However, "Mignonnes" does not include any sex scene and none of the young girls appear naked.
"Watch the film and you will understand that we are leading the same fight", reacted on September 15 the director Maïmouna Doucouré during a virtual round table organized by UniFrance, an organization responsible for the promotion and export of French cinema in the world.
The director has always presented her film as a "cry of alarm" against the hypersexualization of young women encouraged by the "likes" collected on social networks and the pressure facing the younger generations.
"To stimulate debate", explains Maïmouna Doucouré, "is necessary to try to find solutions".
Aware of the impact of her film, in which very young actresses mimic sexual dance scenes, the filmmaker took care to protect her actresses with the help of a psychologist "throughout the filming to accompany them".
"We also exchanged a lot on the psychological aspect so that they understand the message of the film," she said in the presentation file of "Mignonnes".
Netflix records a record of unsubscribes
Just as dismayed that the film crew, ARP, a structure that represents French authors, directors and producers, called for support for Maïmouna Doucouré.
The call to boycott "Mignonnes" in the United States is "a serious attack on the freedom of creation", ruled the organization.
Less than two months before the US presidential election, the French film finds itself held hostage in a political war.
Netflix has been in the crosshairs of American conservatives since the platform decided to broadcast documentaries produced by the Obama couple.
This controversy represented the perfect opportunity to attack the Web giant while strengthening the pro-Trump electorate very permeable to conspiracy theories, in particular that of QAnon.
This theory, of which no element has ever been demonstrated, would like in particular that personalities, on the left for the most part, organized a vast pedophile ring, which Donald Trump would have the mission of dismantling.
The Obama couple would obviously be part of it and the accusations of promoting child pornography against Netflix thus come to consolidate the followers of this movement.
Bye Bye @netflix
Canceled for good. # Boycottnetflix pic.twitter.com/FbxKXwakNo
- Jeremy Crawford (@thejercraw) September 13, 2020
The fact remains that since the end of August, Netflix has taken for its rank.
Calls to boycott detractors of "Mignonnes" have been heard.
According to the firm YipitData, unsubscriptions increased after the film was posted online, reaching, on September 12, eight times the daily average recorded in August.
With AFP
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