1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,360
Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Internet Hey Machine. I am

2
00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,360
Speaker 1: so excited to be joined my producer Sophie. Sophie, thank

3
00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,000
Speaker 1: you for being here. How are you. I'm well, Bridget

4
00:00:09,039 --> 00:00:10,799
Speaker 1: I am always happy to be here. How are you?

5
00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:14,840
Speaker 1: I am doing well? And I am super excited to

6
00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:16,720
Speaker 1: get into this topic because it's a topic that I

7
00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:19,080
Speaker 1: It's one of those things that I talk at my

8
00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:21,479
Speaker 1: friends about and they're like, we get it. You have

9
00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:24,400
Speaker 1: big feelings about this, so I'm excited to actually do

10
00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:26,600
Speaker 1: a podcast about it. It's been a long time coming.

11
00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,240
Speaker 1: That's my That's honestly my favorite type of things where

12
00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:32,519
Speaker 1: you have like a dinner party or you're with your

13
00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,120
Speaker 1: friends and you go on a random tangents about something

14
00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:37,040
Speaker 1: in you and then you make it. You make it

15
00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:43,440
Speaker 1: work exactly. I'm very guilty of that. Oh my god,

16
00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:45,479
Speaker 1: so many things. My friends are like, why don't you

17
00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:47,440
Speaker 1: don't do have anybody else who could talk to about this?

18
00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:50,479
Speaker 1: We get it? You're like, yeah, all the people that

19
00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:53,320
Speaker 1: subscribe to listen to me talk um ever heard of

20
00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:58,279
Speaker 1: a podcast? Cool bro. So if you were on the

21
00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,800
Speaker 1: internet at all in a you probably remember the backlash

22
00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:05,600
Speaker 1: against the film Cutie's It was all over social media

23
00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,000
Speaker 1: and the Internet, in part because it kind of got

24
00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:12,920
Speaker 1: glamed in with the whole save the children thing and

25
00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:16,400
Speaker 1: the whole quan On conspiracy thing that, as you'll probably know,

26
00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:19,880
Speaker 1: have really plagued our online discourse and are still with

27
00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:22,240
Speaker 1: us today, like they really haven't gone anywhere, even though

28
00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:26,800
Speaker 1: they might be out of the headlines. Yeah, the whole

29
00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:31,039
Speaker 1: other a whole couple of shows about that. Yeah, you

30
00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:33,560
Speaker 1: know all about it, the way that the ways that

31
00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,959
Speaker 1: it can be so insidious, and the ways that things

32
00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:40,080
Speaker 1: can really be taken out of context to become evidence

33
00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:45,240
Speaker 1: of this grand conspiracy around Quanan and child predators. So

34
00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:47,880
Speaker 1: I really think the situation around the movie Cutis is

35
00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:50,040
Speaker 1: kind of a case study of all the different ways

36
00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:53,680
Speaker 1: that online rhetoric can become weaponized because it has so

37
00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:58,760
Speaker 1: many of the textbook hallmarks of bad actors hijacking a conversation,

38
00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:00,960
Speaker 1: and I think it reveals a lot about how messed

39
00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:03,080
Speaker 1: up our online discourse has gotten and the ways that

40
00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:07,320
Speaker 1: it can be weaponized against marginalized people, specifically to undermine

41
00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:11,080
Speaker 1: and exploit the very thing that it is supposedly championing,

42
00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:14,400
Speaker 1: in this case, protecting children. Something to keep in mind

43
00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:16,760
Speaker 1: is that a common tactic of bad actors is to

44
00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,760
Speaker 1: hijack a sensitive conversation, you know, one that takes a

45
00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,200
Speaker 1: little bit of nuance or thoughtfulness to discuss properly, and

46
00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,320
Speaker 1: create an uproar around it that conveniently aligns with some

47
00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:32,160
Speaker 1: kind of preconceived political grievance. And that is exactly what

48
00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:36,200
Speaker 1: happened with the movie Cuties. I also think it's one

49
00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:39,040
Speaker 1: of those things where, you know, I guess I would

50
00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,079
Speaker 1: be willing to bet that the majority of people raising

51
00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:45,800
Speaker 1: an issue about the film have not actually even sat

52
00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:49,440
Speaker 1: down and watched it to know exactly what they're raising

53
00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:52,960
Speaker 1: an objection over. Well, yeah, I mean, bad actors never

54
00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:56,959
Speaker 1: do their research, oh never, And I think they rely

55
00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:00,720
Speaker 1: on other people like not doing their research or like

56
00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,959
Speaker 1: being a cat like low information folks. Where's like, I

57
00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,200
Speaker 1: don't I've not seen the movie, but you're telling me

58
00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,040
Speaker 1: that this movie is, you know, the work of a

59
00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:11,120
Speaker 1: child predator. So I guess I'll believe that. You know,

60
00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:13,160
Speaker 1: I think that they're counting on people doing that. Do

61
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,280
Speaker 1: you remember do you remember that phase of Twitter when

62
00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:18,840
Speaker 1: they were like do you want to read the article

63
00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:23,440
Speaker 1: before you share it? I will say I remember when

64
00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:25,639
Speaker 1: Twitter rolled that out and it did get me a

65
00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:27,480
Speaker 1: few times where I'm like, damn, I probably should read

66
00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:30,360
Speaker 1: it right, Like I'm even as somebody who makes content

67
00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:35,840
Speaker 1: about missing disinformation, I am not immune to sharing something

68
00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:38,200
Speaker 1: quickly before I've really given it a read through. And

69
00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:40,280
Speaker 1: so it's a good reminder that we could we could

70
00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,200
Speaker 1: all be a little bit better about the source material

71
00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:46,160
Speaker 1: before commenting on the source material that we're that we're

72
00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:50,920
Speaker 1: responding to. Absolutely, that's exactly what our own I'm like,

73
00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:52,680
Speaker 1: did you did you? Did you read that? Do you

74
00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:54,520
Speaker 1: want to read that before your shirt? And it's like,

75
00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:58,800
Speaker 1: you know, like fair enough, robot. Um, I'll get right

76
00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:03,960
Speaker 1: on that, thank you, fair enough robot. So the movie

77
00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,680
Speaker 1: Cutie's is, I should say, very much in line with

78
00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:10,760
Speaker 1: my own personal interests. I am a movie person. I

79
00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:15,280
Speaker 1: love movies. I love French cinema specifically and specifically French

80
00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:17,960
Speaker 1: Senegalese cinema. I have a thing for I am a

81
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,520
Speaker 1: sucker for any kind of coming of age film about girlhood.

82
00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:26,320
Speaker 1: You know your Crooklands, your fish tanks, your thirteen love

83
00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:28,080
Speaker 1: them all. If that's a if it's a movie about

84
00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:32,159
Speaker 1: a young girl becoming like figuring out girlhood or like

85
00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:35,480
Speaker 1: young adulthood. I am in and I also grew up

86
00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:39,000
Speaker 1: doing dance squads and like dance teams, which I have

87
00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:41,880
Speaker 1: to say, like growing up in the South, sometimes those

88
00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:44,200
Speaker 1: dance squads were a little bit questionable, I can I

89
00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,440
Speaker 1: can admit that. And so when Cutie's premiered, which is

90
00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:51,039
Speaker 1: a movie about a young French Senegalese girl coming of

91
00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:54,159
Speaker 1: age who was involved in dance, I was super super

92
00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:56,520
Speaker 1: excited to see it. I saw it immediately, like before

93
00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:58,600
Speaker 1: it was on Netflix. I had already seen it um

94
00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:00,680
Speaker 1: And so this is not men to be like a

95
00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:04,200
Speaker 1: review of the movie. There are some spoilers. I will

96
00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,480
Speaker 1: try to warn folks beforehand if you're planning on watching Cutie's,

97
00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:08,840
Speaker 1: which I think that you should because I do think

98
00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:11,520
Speaker 1: it's a worth bold movie. But I want to get

99
00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:16,040
Speaker 1: into the conversation about what exactly happened with the uproar

100
00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,640
Speaker 1: and backlash around this film. Cutie's is a French film

101
00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,279
Speaker 1: by director Mimona do Say. It tells the story of

102
00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,280
Speaker 1: a coming of age story of Amy, a Muslim Senegalese

103
00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:29,800
Speaker 1: eleven year old in France. It opened at the Sundance

104
00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:33,640
Speaker 1: Festival to rave reviews, accolades, and awards before being acquired

105
00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:36,800
Speaker 1: by Netflix. The plot revolves around an eleven year old

106
00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,760
Speaker 1: girl named Amy. Amy's mom and aunt want her to

107
00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:43,080
Speaker 1: be sort of chased and modest and girlish, but she

108
00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:45,880
Speaker 1: ends up meeting this group of cool girls who are

109
00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:48,720
Speaker 1: all on a dance team together. So Amy finds herself

110
00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:52,279
Speaker 1: kind of caught between these two worlds, the traditional chaste

111
00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:56,159
Speaker 1: world represented by her mother and aunt and Islam, and

112
00:05:56,240 --> 00:06:00,279
Speaker 1: this cool, secular, grown up world represented by these cool

113
00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,200
Speaker 1: girls on the dance team at her new school. So

114
00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:07,039
Speaker 1: Cute's Explorers. These common themes that most coming of age

115
00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:10,479
Speaker 1: films deal with, you know, family and drama, feeling alienated

116
00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:12,760
Speaker 1: from your family, wanting to fit in and be cool

117
00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:15,920
Speaker 1: and grown up your first period, vying for likes on

118
00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:21,400
Speaker 1: social media, and sexuality. This was the director Deuceray's first film,

119
00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:23,279
Speaker 1: and she said that she saw a bunch of young

120
00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:27,520
Speaker 1: girls dancing on stage in Paris, scantily clad and revealing clothing,

121
00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:29,280
Speaker 1: who were dancing in front of a crowd, and it

122
00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:33,000
Speaker 1: got her curious about the way that society confronts and

123
00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:36,480
Speaker 1: deals with the budding sexuality of girls. So she spent

124
00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:40,039
Speaker 1: a year researching and interviewing preteen girls about their experiences

125
00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:42,880
Speaker 1: and how they felt in society, and that became the

126
00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:46,040
Speaker 1: movie Cuties. She wrote a version of herself as an

127
00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,880
Speaker 1: eleven year old um to be the kind of stand

128
00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:51,800
Speaker 1: in for the main character Amy. The film premiered at

129
00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:57,839
Speaker 1: Sundance with zero controversy until it was acquired by Netflix.

130
00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,919
Speaker 1: Before A Cutie's was even least for American streaming audiences

131
00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:05,720
Speaker 1: on Netflix, Cutie's first generated controversy when Netflix put out

132
00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:08,200
Speaker 1: a poster for the film. So I'm going to keep

133
00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,040
Speaker 1: in mind is that it is a textbook staple of

134
00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:16,840
Speaker 1: things like conspiracy theories or mal information, where it will

135
00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:20,640
Speaker 1: be based on an actual nugget of truth. And so

136
00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:24,120
Speaker 1: what it's absolutely true here is that Netflix made a

137
00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:28,960
Speaker 1: very very bad decision about the poster for the film Cutis.

138
00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:32,120
Speaker 1: The poster that they released shows the girls who were

139
00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:36,720
Speaker 1: all like eleven or twelve, posing provocatively in their very

140
00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:41,560
Speaker 1: skimpy dance team outfits, and honestly, like that image is

141
00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:44,840
Speaker 1: not even really representative of the entirety of like what

142
00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:47,160
Speaker 1: the film is about. And it needs to be said

143
00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:51,080
Speaker 1: that the poster that Netflix used is very different from

144
00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:53,200
Speaker 1: the one that was used when it first premiered at

145
00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:57,240
Speaker 1: Sundance before being bought by Netflix. Um So Bridget has

146
00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,640
Speaker 1: a screenshot of the two different film post. I thought

147
00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:03,200
Speaker 1: you were showing me two different movies, Like I thought

148
00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:07,800
Speaker 1: there were two different films. Um they look you, they're

149
00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:12,600
Speaker 1: not even there's no correlation exactly right. And so the

150
00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:15,880
Speaker 1: French version that that they used when the movie first

151
00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:19,360
Speaker 1: came out on Sundance has these girls they're shopping. They're

152
00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:23,480
Speaker 1: like wearing age appropriate regular clothes and they're like they

153
00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:25,280
Speaker 1: look like little girls right, Like it's like it's like

154
00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:30,520
Speaker 1: an age appropriate cover. One one reads like fun coming

155
00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:37,839
Speaker 1: of age, and one reads like dance moms toddlers in trs. Yes,

156
00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:42,920
Speaker 1: and I think like the Netflix poster, the girls who

157
00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:46,600
Speaker 1: are quite young are in these provocative poses. It's very

158
00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:51,440
Speaker 1: dance moms. Like as I said, I mean for better,

159
00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:55,880
Speaker 1: for for whatever it's worth. Growing up doing dance team

160
00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:59,120
Speaker 1: and dance groups. These are outfits that we would have

161
00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:01,120
Speaker 1: worn like like I'm I'm not going to act like

162
00:09:01,679 --> 00:09:03,920
Speaker 1: this is like beyond the pale for what little girls

163
00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,800
Speaker 1: will will sometimes where in dance teams or pageants, whether

164
00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:10,120
Speaker 1: or not, it's like good or bad or right or

165
00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:13,400
Speaker 1: wrong like that. It's it's fairly common. It's not something

166
00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:15,480
Speaker 1: that is totally beyond the pale in our culture. No,

167
00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:20,800
Speaker 1: absolutely not. But the freeze frame of the dance moves

168
00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:23,200
Speaker 1: that I think they're doing there, like like their mid

169
00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:28,559
Speaker 1: move the poses are are are very matures, what I'll say, yeah,

170
00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:32,960
Speaker 1: very mature. And so right away people had the exact

171
00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:35,880
Speaker 1: same response that you just had, and they seized on

172
00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:38,440
Speaker 1: this film that wasn't even out yet because of this

173
00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:42,880
Speaker 1: pretty gross poster that was not really representative of the film.

174
00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:46,320
Speaker 1: I believe that had Netflix not made such a big

175
00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:49,199
Speaker 1: error in how they promoted and marketed this movie, we

176
00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:51,360
Speaker 1: wouldn't even be making this episode. I don't think, like

177
00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:54,720
Speaker 1: I don't think that if they had used the original

178
00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:58,400
Speaker 1: French movie that's like Girls Coming of Age, like totally normal,

179
00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:01,240
Speaker 1: that we would even have seen the kind of controversy

180
00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:04,960
Speaker 1: that accompanied the film. So Netflix apologized for the poster

181
00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:08,720
Speaker 1: and importantly to the filmmaker, and I actually have to

182
00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:12,080
Speaker 1: give Netflix the tiniest bit of credit here. Amidst the

183
00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:16,400
Speaker 1: backlash around the poster, Netflix made it clear that that

184
00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:19,960
Speaker 1: poster was entirely They're bad, you know, they could have

185
00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,559
Speaker 1: made a big show of cutting ties with the filmmaker

186
00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:27,640
Speaker 1: publicly and like blaming her. We've seen we've certainly seen

187
00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,599
Speaker 1: brands do that before where they're just like, oh, controversy,

188
00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:32,760
Speaker 1: better blame this black woman. But they didn't do that.

189
00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:36,800
Speaker 1: I will. I will give them that Netflix bare minimum,

190
00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:40,680
Speaker 1: bare minimum like way to like do a little Netflix

191
00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:48,440
Speaker 1: co ceo Ted Sara donuts. I'm probably saying that wrong, Ted, okay, Uh.

192
00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:51,920
Speaker 1: Netflix co CEO Ted Saradonus was said to personally called

193
00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:55,640
Speaker 1: Docerae to apologize and to talk to her about, you know,

194
00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:59,439
Speaker 1: potential new projects on Netflix that she could do um

195
00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:02,200
Speaker 1: and the filmmaker said that she felt like that was

196
00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:06,120
Speaker 1: genuine like she she responded very gracefully, and she was like,

197
00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:08,600
Speaker 1: I think that they genuinely felt bad and that they

198
00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:12,240
Speaker 1: were giving me like a genuine apology, but the damage

199
00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:16,600
Speaker 1: was already done. Yeah, too little, too late. So Cuti's

200
00:11:17,559 --> 00:11:20,720
Speaker 1: is a film that I believe is trying to present

201
00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,480
Speaker 1: like a complex portrait of the pressures that young girls

202
00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:29,120
Speaker 1: feel around facing their own kind of budding sexuality. But

203
00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:32,839
Speaker 1: because of that poster, the internet hate machine, fueled by

204
00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:36,880
Speaker 1: a combination of right wing grifters, shitty elected officials, and

205
00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:41,440
Speaker 1: Instagram quan on influencers that target women. That whole thing

206
00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:44,480
Speaker 1: that do say was trying to do was completely lost,

207
00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:47,720
Speaker 1: and instead the film was branded as a Netflix's attempt

208
00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:52,560
Speaker 1: to groom children, normalized pedophilia, and in some cases said

209
00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:56,600
Speaker 1: that the film was actually child sexual abuse material or

210
00:11:56,640 --> 00:12:00,000
Speaker 1: like child pornography, and people were just saying that Netflix

211
00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:03,719
Speaker 1: was harming children. They blamed the filmmaker personally, like if

212
00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:07,560
Speaker 1: you google the filmmaker's name, some of the first things

213
00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:10,679
Speaker 1: that like auto complete are like did she go to jail?

214
00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:13,440
Speaker 1: Was she arrested? And I think that gives you a

215
00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:18,679
Speaker 1: sense of how personalized this particular smear that she harmed

216
00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:22,520
Speaker 1: children with this movie became. What's really said is that

217
00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:26,720
Speaker 1: this director had nothing to do with that poster. She

218
00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:30,000
Speaker 1: told Deadline. I discovered the poster at the same time

219
00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:32,959
Speaker 1: as the American public. I didn't understand what was going on.

220
00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:35,559
Speaker 1: That was when I went and saw what the poster

221
00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:38,800
Speaker 1: looked like. I received numerous attacks on my character from

222
00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:40,920
Speaker 1: people who had not seen the film, who thought I

223
00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:43,720
Speaker 1: was actually making a film that was apologetic about hyper

224
00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:47,360
Speaker 1: sexualization of children. I received numerous death threats, and so

225
00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:50,600
Speaker 1: you know, I've seen this film. I actually like enjoyed it.

226
00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:54,000
Speaker 1: But whether or not you like this film, or whether

227
00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:56,920
Speaker 1: or not you think it accomplishes its goals of exploring

228
00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:00,200
Speaker 1: the dangers of the hyper sexualization of children and girl else,

229
00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:03,600
Speaker 1: I think it's pretty clear what she was trying to

230
00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:06,120
Speaker 1: do with this film. Maybe you think she didn't accomplish that,

231
00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:08,560
Speaker 1: maybe you think it didn't meet his schools. Fine, but

232
00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:11,760
Speaker 1: like to say that she was making this film to

233
00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:16,839
Speaker 1: exploit and harm girls, it's just not correct. No, it's

234
00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:21,400
Speaker 1: just another example of like the worst people on the

235
00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:24,880
Speaker 1: internet pulling the finger and putting blame on a black

236
00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:29,439
Speaker 1: woman exactly, Like I don't I guess we'll never know,

237
00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:32,800
Speaker 1: But I don't think had she been a white woman

238
00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:36,080
Speaker 1: from Ohio that there would have been the same level

239
00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:40,079
Speaker 1: of scrutiny and controversy from this movie. Like, I think

240
00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:43,720
Speaker 1: that something about her was inherently other and made it

241
00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:46,640
Speaker 1: really easy for folks to jump on the bandwagon of,

242
00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:50,679
Speaker 1: you know, attacking her for being somebody who puts children

243
00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,600
Speaker 1: at risks. So she published a piece in The Washington

244
00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:56,360
Speaker 1: Post about the film, and she writes the stories that

245
00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:58,320
Speaker 1: the girls that I spoke to that they shared with

246
00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:01,680
Speaker 1: me were remarkably similar. They saw that the sexier woman

247
00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:04,160
Speaker 1: is on Instagram or TikTok, the more like she gets.

248
00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:07,120
Speaker 1: They try to imitate that sexuality in the beliefs that

249
00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:09,560
Speaker 1: it would make them more popular. Spend an hour on

250
00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:12,920
Speaker 1: social media and you'll see preteens, often in makeup, pouting

251
00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:15,480
Speaker 1: their lips, shrutting their stuff as if they were grown women.

252
00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:17,960
Speaker 1: The problem, of course, is they are not grown women,

253
00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:21,000
Speaker 1: and they don't realize what they're doing. They construct their

254
00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:23,560
Speaker 1: self esteem based on social media likes and the number

255
00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:26,720
Speaker 1: of followers they have. Some people have found certain scenes

256
00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,680
Speaker 1: in my film uncomfortable to watch, but if one really

257
00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:33,560
Speaker 1: listens to eleven year old girls, their lives are uncomfortable.

258
00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,320
Speaker 1: Here's the director of talking about it for a segment

259
00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:40,240
Speaker 1: called Why I Made Cuties from Netflix. Our girls see

260
00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:43,920
Speaker 1: that the more a woman is overly sexualized on social media,

261
00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:48,520
Speaker 1: the more she's successful. And the children't just imitate what

262
00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:52,360
Speaker 1: the c trying to achieve the same result without on

263
00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:58,640
Speaker 1: this term the meaning and yeah, it's zangerus. Can I

264
00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:03,160
Speaker 1: just say this woman is it? She's gorgeous. She's gorgeous,

265
00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:07,480
Speaker 1: and like the she just oh, such a cool person.

266
00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,080
Speaker 1: I'll get into this in the end. But luckily this

267
00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:13,760
Speaker 1: did not like her career is going to be fine,

268
00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:15,200
Speaker 1: Like this is not. We we have not heard the

269
00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:19,160
Speaker 1: last of her. She's fantastic. So I think there is

270
00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:21,960
Speaker 1: definitely a conversation to be had about whether or not

271
00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:25,840
Speaker 1: the film accomplishes the goal of really showing the pitfalls

272
00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:29,160
Speaker 1: and dangers of sexualizing young girls. I love the film.

273
00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:30,480
Speaker 1: I think it does a great job and think it

274
00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:33,680
Speaker 1: hits close to home. However, we didn't really get to

275
00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:36,480
Speaker 1: have the conversation about the film it's merits whether or

276
00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:40,160
Speaker 1: not in it, she's its goals. What actually happened instead

277
00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:44,040
Speaker 1: is where it was like a voltron of bad actors

278
00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:47,360
Speaker 1: from various backgrounds coming together for one goal. You know.

279
00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,200
Speaker 1: It was your typical right wing drifters, save the children,

280
00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:53,840
Speaker 1: influencers and elected officials all coming together to say that

281
00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:58,960
Speaker 1: this film was evidence of the elite in quotes, grooming

282
00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:03,240
Speaker 1: kids and support ing pedophilia. This then turned into the

283
00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:07,400
Speaker 1: claim that the film itself was child pornography made by

284
00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:11,840
Speaker 1: a French black pervert, lifestyle influencer and Q and on

285
00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:15,440
Speaker 1: conspiracy theorist Rebecca Peiper or better known as love Beck,

286
00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,160
Speaker 1: who at the time had a hundred and sixty Instagram

287
00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:22,640
Speaker 1: followers before her account was deleted, posted don't believe pedophilia

288
00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:26,000
Speaker 1: is a rampant problem and don't believe the elite support it.

289
00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:28,040
Speaker 1: How the hell does a show like this and make

290
00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:30,840
Speaker 1: it to a major streaming network. Formerly one of the

291
00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:33,280
Speaker 1: biggest q and on accounts on Instagram, a little miss

292
00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:38,560
Speaker 1: Patriot posted that cuties proves that Netflix promotes pedophilia, and

293
00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:43,640
Speaker 1: she posted this in like that kind of pretty pastel

294
00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:48,160
Speaker 1: instagrammy kind of carousel grid post, and I have to say,

295
00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:50,960
Speaker 1: as a side note, it really calls into question those

296
00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:55,920
Speaker 1: Instagram accounts that will use like a pretty carousel grid

297
00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:59,160
Speaker 1: posts on Instagram to educate you, because let's keep it real,

298
00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,680
Speaker 1: like anybody can get a canvas subscription and say whatever

299
00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:06,160
Speaker 1: they want just because it's a pastel, pretty Instagram carousel

300
00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:09,520
Speaker 1: post doesn't mean they're actually saying something that is correct

301
00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:13,240
Speaker 1: and true. So conspiracy theory started pushing the hashtag cancel

302
00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:17,399
Speaker 1: quti's campaign, telling their followers to boycott Netflix by pulling

303
00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:21,800
Speaker 1: their subscriptions, and it seems like it actually had an impact. Antenna,

304
00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:24,840
Speaker 1: which is a data analytics firm that tracks Netflix subscribers

305
00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:29,120
Speaker 1: reported a quote meaningful spike in the rate of people

306
00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:32,840
Speaker 1: cutting subscriptions shortly after the hashtag cancel Netflix went viral,

307
00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:36,440
Speaker 1: and another analytics firm, yipp it Data, also reported that

308
00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:39,600
Speaker 1: in mid September, the churn rate, which is this the

309
00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:43,159
Speaker 1: rate of people who cancel subscriptions in the United States,

310
00:17:43,359 --> 00:17:47,320
Speaker 1: rose materially as the result of the Cuties backlash. Days

311
00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:50,760
Speaker 1: after the hashtag went viral. Yippit Data said that unsubscribes

312
00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:53,640
Speaker 1: are running at nearly eight times the daily levels observed

313
00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:56,919
Speaker 1: in August and reached a multi year high. And I

314
00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:01,240
Speaker 1: had to say, like, even though Netflix publicly did stick

315
00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,639
Speaker 1: by Doucerae when this was all happening, there are reports

316
00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:08,320
Speaker 1: that they suppressed the film on their own platform as

317
00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:11,560
Speaker 1: a result of this controversy. According to an interesting report

318
00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:14,760
Speaker 1: by The Verge, Netflix removed Cuties from its Coming Soon

319
00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:18,199
Speaker 1: and popular searches categories, and that it was excluded from

320
00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,400
Speaker 1: searches that include the words cute. This is actually probably

321
00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:23,960
Speaker 1: a responsible tweak that they made to their algorithm. The

322
00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:27,800
Speaker 1: Verge report also says that Netflix adjusted its algorithm so

323
00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:32,040
Speaker 1: that search queries such as steamy or sexual movies did

324
00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:35,440
Speaker 1: not surface any children's films, and that Netflix also made

325
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:38,960
Speaker 1: sure that problematic search terms such as petto did not

326
00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:43,600
Speaker 1: surface Cuti's because their algorithm actually takes into account behavioral data.

327
00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:45,800
Speaker 1: So if you're somebody who was like, I want to

328
00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:48,359
Speaker 1: watch this movie that everyone is saying is like a

329
00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:52,720
Speaker 1: pedophile movie, if you type in petto, ordinarily it would

330
00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:54,800
Speaker 1: have brought up the movie that everyone is typing in

331
00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:57,840
Speaker 1: petal then clicking cutis for. But that they tweaked their

332
00:18:57,840 --> 00:18:59,720
Speaker 1: algorithms so that wasn't the case, so and that in

333
00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:02,199
Speaker 1: that instance, I actually feel like that might have been

334
00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:04,679
Speaker 1: a responsible choice. But it does seem clear from this

335
00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:09,639
Speaker 1: report though, that Netflix did seek to suppress promotion and

336
00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:13,199
Speaker 1: related search queries for Cuties, And I just feel like

337
00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:17,040
Speaker 1: it's pretty shitty for this first time filmmaker that her

338
00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:20,719
Speaker 1: debut film was suppressed on the platform that acquired it

339
00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:23,800
Speaker 1: for reasons that were entirely not her fault, like a

340
00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:27,800
Speaker 1: whole campaign around her film that she had nothing to

341
00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:30,679
Speaker 1: do with. And I think that this that her and

342
00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:34,320
Speaker 1: this project seemed like they both personally took the fall

343
00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:37,359
Speaker 1: for Netflix as bad marketing with that poster and this

344
00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:42,119
Speaker 1: completely disingenuous campaign built on a lot of lies and

345
00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:51,760
Speaker 1: half truth was about her and her film. So I

346
00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:55,840
Speaker 1: actually have a really hard time believing that anybody who

347
00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:59,080
Speaker 1: was making claims about the film being you know, exploitative

348
00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:03,119
Speaker 1: to children actually watched it all the way through because

349
00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:06,080
Speaker 1: much of what is floating around the Internet about the

350
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:10,920
Speaker 1: film or either outright just lies or completely out of context.

351
00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:13,760
Speaker 1: So I want to talk about what actually does go

352
00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:17,800
Speaker 1: down in this movie versus how that was represented online.

353
00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:20,480
Speaker 1: So there's gonna be a spoiler here. So if you

354
00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:22,880
Speaker 1: are planning on watching this movie and you don't want

355
00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:28,440
Speaker 1: it spoiled, there's a spoiler here. So social media accounts

356
00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:32,240
Speaker 1: is pretty big, followings posted like parents warnings and parents

357
00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,919
Speaker 1: guides that got a lot of traction online that contain

358
00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:38,360
Speaker 1: lies or that takes some of the scenes out of context.

359
00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:42,040
Speaker 1: For instance, one viral parents guide that I think denis

360
00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:46,159
Speaker 1: to sues every posted says the film contains nudity of

361
00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,919
Speaker 1: a minor, and that is just not correct. The only

362
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,639
Speaker 1: nudity in this film is a very brief scene of

363
00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:55,359
Speaker 1: a bare breast, and it's the bare breast of someone

364
00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:58,000
Speaker 1: who is meant to be an opposing dance team member

365
00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:02,080
Speaker 1: as she's getting changed. Um within the universe of the film,

366
00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:05,480
Speaker 1: my senses that the audience is like meant to understand

367
00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:09,679
Speaker 1: this particular woman whose bare breast is shown as a

368
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:12,000
Speaker 1: bit older, Like it's not it's not like she is

369
00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:15,520
Speaker 1: meant to be a very young like an obviously very

370
00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:18,679
Speaker 1: young character. There's a scene where like there someone is

371
00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:20,639
Speaker 1: changing and they see part of her bare breast, and

372
00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,000
Speaker 1: it's meant to be like a cool older girl, not

373
00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:27,600
Speaker 1: a child. And the actor herself was eighteen at the

374
00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:30,240
Speaker 1: time the movie was filmed, and so it's just a lie.

375
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,280
Speaker 1: The actor whose bare breast is shown for a second

376
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:37,800
Speaker 1: in that movie, not only is she in the film

377
00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:41,439
Speaker 1: meant to be older, she herself the actor is also

378
00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:44,480
Speaker 1: of age. And so there is no child nudity in

379
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:48,000
Speaker 1: this film of any kind. I saw so many viral

380
00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:54,080
Speaker 1: posts online suggesting otherwise. Another pretty obvious misrepresentation in the

381
00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,920
Speaker 1: film is that in a parents guide they say, there's

382
00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:59,640
Speaker 1: this salacious scene in the film that an eleven year

383
00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:02,399
Speaker 1: old girl all and tight leather pants has her pants

384
00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,359
Speaker 1: are pulled down and the camera zooms in on her butt.

385
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:08,240
Speaker 1: And so this is a this this is a really

386
00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,560
Speaker 1: interesting one because it really shows how bad actors will

387
00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:16,359
Speaker 1: take this nugget of truth and completely explode it and

388
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:20,320
Speaker 1: take it out of context. What actually happened is my question,

389
00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:23,920
Speaker 1: because I just know they're they're out here full cap. Well,

390
00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:27,080
Speaker 1: I can tell you bull cap Okay. So again spoiler. So,

391
00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:30,800
Speaker 1: in the movie, Amy is shown as being less financially

392
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:32,760
Speaker 1: well off than the rest of her friends, and so

393
00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:34,840
Speaker 1: there's a scene where she's trying to look older than

394
00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:39,639
Speaker 1: she is by borrowing her friends like very cool leather pants.

395
00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:42,800
Speaker 1: While she's wearing these pants, trying to say, like it's

396
00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:46,520
Speaker 1: so unbelievably normal, totally like didn't you do that ship

397
00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:51,840
Speaker 1: when you were kid? Yeah, I mean everyone everyone. It's

398
00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:56,119
Speaker 1: like so infuriating that that's what they're Okay. So, in

399
00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:58,880
Speaker 1: the movie, she gets into a fight at school and

400
00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:02,840
Speaker 1: her her leather pants are accidentally yanked off of her,

401
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:05,439
Speaker 1: and when the pants are yanked off of her, it

402
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:09,440
Speaker 1: exposes that she's wearing underneath these cool leather pants, she's

403
00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:16,040
Speaker 1: wearing these childish, ratty, oversized underpants that have like obvious

404
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:18,719
Speaker 1: signs of wear and tear. And so this the scene

405
00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:23,280
Speaker 1: is obviously meant to be embarrassing right, It is not

406
00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:26,719
Speaker 1: a sexy scene. It is clear like she leaves the

407
00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:30,199
Speaker 1: cafeteria in tears and like doesn't come to school the

408
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:33,640
Speaker 1: next day or whatever because she's so embarrassed. But that

409
00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:36,280
Speaker 1: parents guide would have you believe that it's meant to

410
00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:39,639
Speaker 1: be like a sexy scene or essential scene that she

411
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:43,360
Speaker 1: takes down her leather pants. But it is a misrepresentation

412
00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:46,280
Speaker 1: of a scene that actually does kind of occur in

413
00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:49,119
Speaker 1: the movie. But it's clearly made the sound worse than

414
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:53,719
Speaker 1: it is. And that misrepresentation went completely viral, like big

415
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:56,960
Speaker 1: accounts posted it and it got so much traction online,

416
00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:59,520
Speaker 1: And I honestly think that here is like people who

417
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:01,840
Speaker 1: haven't seen the movie but like are like, oh, well,

418
00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:06,520
Speaker 1: I'm you know, I don't want to see children be

419
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:09,960
Speaker 1: exploited in film, Like that's bad. When you read the

420
00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:14,000
Speaker 1: salacious misrepresentation, it makes it seem like there's gotta be

421
00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:16,120
Speaker 1: some truth to that to it, and like I can

422
00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:18,639
Speaker 1: see why people share that without like having seen the movie,

423
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:22,159
Speaker 1: but it totally takes the truth out of context to

424
00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:25,399
Speaker 1: fit a wider agenda. Yeah, I mean I got panted

425
00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:28,440
Speaker 1: in the sixth grade. I was wearing some not greade

426
00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:32,080
Speaker 1: Andy's two not not I relate, Like these are again,

427
00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:36,119
Speaker 1: these are just like fucking normal things in childhood that happened.

428
00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:40,639
Speaker 1: It's just it, come on people. Yeah, And I do

429
00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:45,320
Speaker 1: think it's beaks like a larger discomfort that people have

430
00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:50,639
Speaker 1: around coming of age stories for women and girls. Yeah,

431
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:54,960
Speaker 1: I think that people are really uncomfortable around that and

432
00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:57,080
Speaker 1: like these things, Like there are things in the movie

433
00:24:57,119 --> 00:24:59,720
Speaker 1: that rings so true to me. If you have gotten

434
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:03,760
Speaker 1: pants in elementary school or like middle school, someone saying like, oh,

435
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:06,320
Speaker 1: that was like a sexually charged moment, You're like, actually,

436
00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:11,439
Speaker 1: it was really embarrassing exactly. You're like, you're no, I was.

437
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:16,400
Speaker 1: Come on people, Like, it's like, no, I was pe class,

438
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:19,720
Speaker 1: I was in the sixth grade. Um, I was wearing

439
00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:24,320
Speaker 1: the wrong day of the week underwear and clearly clearly

440
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:30,520
Speaker 1: still still embarrassed by that part. Yeah, like it's Becaure's

441
00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:33,280
Speaker 1: another scene in the movie where she finds a condom

442
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,000
Speaker 1: on the ground and she doesn't know what it is

443
00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:40,760
Speaker 1: and she blows it up like a balloon, and yeah,

444
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 1: describing that as like a sexually charged scene, like I

445
00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:47,000
Speaker 1: would argue that, like that's actually the weird thing to

446
00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:51,239
Speaker 1: be like, oh, little kids ex imploring these things they

447
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,879
Speaker 1: don't totally understand, like that's normal, and showing that on

448
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:58,199
Speaker 1: screen is probably normal and good and fine. Adding some

449
00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:01,400
Speaker 1: sort of nefarious intent to it to something that most

450
00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:03,880
Speaker 1: little kids go through, that's I think it's a little

451
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:06,800
Speaker 1: bit sucked up. So I think that a lot of

452
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:11,720
Speaker 1: the sharing of inaccurate content about Cut's online really came

453
00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:14,760
Speaker 1: from like low information folks who haven't seen the film

454
00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:18,160
Speaker 1: but are interested in standing up against material that harms kids.

455
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:20,600
Speaker 1: Something about those posts is that they always make it

456
00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:25,080
Speaker 1: seem like no reasonable person would not agree that this

457
00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,720
Speaker 1: is exploitation of miners, right, and so they say like, obviously,

458
00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:34,280
Speaker 1: having showing a child naked in a Netflix movie is

459
00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:36,919
Speaker 1: not good, and most people would say like, oh, I agree,

460
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:38,879
Speaker 1: that's not good. But the fact of the matter is

461
00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:41,719
Speaker 1: they didn't do that, and so they just traffic in

462
00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:46,359
Speaker 1: these inaccurate or misconstrued, out of context statements when that

463
00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:49,280
Speaker 1: this isn't the case and in reality. Deu ser Ray

464
00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:52,840
Speaker 1: says that a trained counselor was present on set during

465
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:55,040
Speaker 1: the filming in the movie, and that the project was

466
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:58,720
Speaker 1: approved by the French government's child protection authorities, and that

467
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:01,000
Speaker 1: the actors that they had their parents on set to

468
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:05,520
Speaker 1: and the film does contain a few scenes of young

469
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:11,320
Speaker 1: girls like twerking and dancing in skimpy outfits. Another spoiler,

470
00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:15,240
Speaker 1: like the scene that probably generated the most conversation and

471
00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:18,119
Speaker 1: controversy and the one that has depicted on the poster,

472
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:22,400
Speaker 1: is the movie's big climactic ending. The girls have their

473
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,480
Speaker 1: big dance contest. They've been practicing for the whole film,

474
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:28,640
Speaker 1: and they get on stage and they do this very

475
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:32,200
Speaker 1: age inappropriate dance. They're grinding, they're tworking, and they're wearing

476
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:37,080
Speaker 1: their skimpy outfits. But the entire point of the film

477
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:39,679
Speaker 1: is the crowd that is watching them dance in the movie,

478
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:42,080
Speaker 1: and I guess also us as the audience at home

479
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,200
Speaker 1: is horrified. The crowd is audibly booing, they're covering their

480
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:48,960
Speaker 1: their kids eyes so they can't see it. Some of

481
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,840
Speaker 1: them turn to leave and disgust, and it's clear that

482
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:54,360
Speaker 1: the girls do not have the maturity or the context

483
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,800
Speaker 1: to understand why the way they're dancing like isn't okay

484
00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:00,520
Speaker 1: and why it's not being well received by the audience

485
00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:04,240
Speaker 1: they're dancing for. You know, the main character Amy. When

486
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:07,880
Speaker 1: the audience has this negative reaction, she runs away crying,

487
00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,240
Speaker 1: and at the end of the movie, she has clearly

488
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:13,239
Speaker 1: decided that this this world of like dancing is not

489
00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:16,160
Speaker 1: for her. At the end of the movie, she's living

490
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:19,960
Speaker 1: a much more modest life and like playing age appropriate games.

491
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 1: And it's clear that like, oh, I had this little

492
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:25,040
Speaker 1: interlude with dancing and it was not great for me,

493
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:27,840
Speaker 1: and now I'm not doing it anymore. And so it's

494
00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:33,040
Speaker 1: interesting that people say that this movie, like how can

495
00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:36,439
Speaker 1: I put this? There are plenty of legitimate criticisms to

496
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:38,560
Speaker 1: be made about this film and the way that it

497
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,560
Speaker 1: handles girlhood sexuality. Like I've seen criticisms that say that

498
00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:45,320
Speaker 1: the dancing scenes with the girls are gratuitous. I've seen

499
00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:47,880
Speaker 1: some arguments that seemed to be suggesting that the film,

500
00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:50,440
Speaker 1: which is pretty clearly making an argument against the sexualization

501
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:54,160
Speaker 1: of children, is actually attempting to do that by engaging

502
00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,560
Speaker 1: in the very thing it is critiquing. Like if you've

503
00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:59,520
Speaker 1: seen the movie Kids. When a Kid's First came out,

504
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 1: it was accused of the exact same thing, right that, like, oh,

505
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:06,440
Speaker 1: it's a movie that's supposed to be critiquing child drug

506
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:09,000
Speaker 1: use by showing child drug youse. So this is like

507
00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:14,040
Speaker 1: a well worn film criticism. Those are all, you know,

508
00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:19,320
Speaker 1: fair arguments, but they're very different than accusing this filmmaker

509
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:23,080
Speaker 1: of breaking the law and being a child pornographer, which

510
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:27,000
Speaker 1: is exactly what happened, and so Cutius became this like

511
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:31,560
Speaker 1: very popular thing to bash online. I saw a few

512
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:34,600
Speaker 1: big name people standing up for the filmmaker, but I

513
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:38,000
Speaker 1: really recall there was a climate that this French black

514
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:41,720
Speaker 1: woman made this racy film involving children, and people just

515
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,800
Speaker 1: did not want to take the risk of waiting into

516
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,480
Speaker 1: that controversy. This is actually a tactic called a reputational smear,

517
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:52,680
Speaker 1: where people make your personal brand so toxic that other

518
00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:55,160
Speaker 1: people don't want to take any kind of risk and

519
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:58,320
Speaker 1: being associated with you. And I think do Sae being

520
00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:02,880
Speaker 1: a black woman and also Senegalese and also French, probably

521
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:06,520
Speaker 1: is part of why that can't that kind of attack

522
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:10,240
Speaker 1: was so effective because I think when you're a black

523
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,840
Speaker 1: woman and you're visible, I just think it's different. People

524
00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,480
Speaker 1: are going to be less likely to stick their neck

525
00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:18,920
Speaker 1: out and defend you when you're being attacked in this

526
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:24,880
Speaker 1: like very very uh inflammatory way. And it's funny. I

527
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:28,480
Speaker 1: actually recall when this was all happening. In being nervous

528
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:31,000
Speaker 1: about making a podcast episode about it, I was like,

529
00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:34,480
Speaker 1: the climate is so the climate is, the climate was

530
00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:40,080
Speaker 1: so like tense and it was I was like, it

531
00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:45,800
Speaker 1: wasn't a great time for most people. It absolutely was

532
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:48,720
Speaker 1: not a great time. And you know, I think it

533
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:53,760
Speaker 1: really contributed to this climate of silence where people who

534
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,000
Speaker 1: see what's going on and they see like, oh, this

535
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:59,080
Speaker 1: person is being hung out to dry, are also afraid

536
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:01,240
Speaker 1: to speak up. I think part of the way that

537
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:04,280
Speaker 1: these attacks work, and I recall a lot of bad

538
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:09,640
Speaker 1: actors making and spreading content based on lies and misrepresentations

539
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:13,280
Speaker 1: that made it seem like calling this movie a crime,

540
00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:17,680
Speaker 1: calling this movie child pornography was reasonable even for folks

541
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 1: who had not seen it for themselves, and it created

542
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:24,320
Speaker 1: the condition for a climate where elected officials were condemning

543
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:27,320
Speaker 1: this movie and also urging for the government to take

544
00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:30,400
Speaker 1: action against it. Here's a brief roundup of all the

545
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,800
Speaker 1: different electeds that came out against this movie. U S.

546
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:37,480
Speaker 1: Senator Mike Lee sent a letter directly to Netflix's CEO

547
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:42,280
Speaker 1: Read Hastings, asking for quote an explanation on hastings As

548
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:45,200
Speaker 1: views as to whether or not the potential exploitation of

549
00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:50,320
Speaker 1: miners in the film constitutes criminal behavior. Uh cool, Mr

550
00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:57,240
Speaker 1: Anti Democracy himself got it? Cool? Cool? Who's next, mailed

551
00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:03,600
Speaker 1: presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard. Yeah, Oh, I would love to

552
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:09,160
Speaker 1: never think about her again. I She exceplicitly called the

553
00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:12,000
Speaker 1: movie quote child porn and said that it would whet

554
00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:16,160
Speaker 1: the appetite of pedophiles and help fuel the child sex

555
00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:20,440
Speaker 1: trafficking trade. Like oh girl on yeah, like come on,

556
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:27,800
Speaker 1: Ted Crew coming. You knew he was coming. He sent

557
00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:31,200
Speaker 1: a letter to the Department of Justice to quote investigate

558
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:35,280
Speaker 1: whether Netflix, It's executive or the filmmakers violated any federal

559
00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:39,960
Speaker 1: laws against the production and distribution of chop pornography. Tom

560
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,320
Speaker 1: Cotton and Representative Jim Banks also called to the d

561
00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:46,960
Speaker 1: o J to take legal action against Netflix. Cotton excemplicitly

562
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:50,400
Speaker 1: accused Netflix and Do Surray of a crime, saying, quote,

563
00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:54,120
Speaker 1: there's no excuse for the sexualization of children, and Netflix's

564
00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:57,320
Speaker 1: decision to promote the film Cuties is disgusting at best

565
00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,880
Speaker 1: and a serious crime at worst. On these people watch

566
00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,680
Speaker 1: the movie continue? Oh absolutely, fucking you think fucking Ted

567
00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:07,480
Speaker 1: Crew is sitting through a two hour movie about sucking

568
00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:13,240
Speaker 1: French Senegalese girlhood. Absolutely, it's probably on a plane to Camcoon.

569
00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:20,760
Speaker 1: Representatives Ken Buck and Andy Biggs of Arizona called for

570
00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:23,760
Speaker 1: the d O jay to investigate, and the state attorneys general,

571
00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:26,200
Speaker 1: by the way, I didn't know that the pluralization of

572
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:30,240
Speaker 1: attorney general is attorneys general, so that is it's gonna

573
00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:34,960
Speaker 1: it sounds incorrect, but it is correct. The good you

574
00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:39,080
Speaker 1: know noted um cool. Yeah, if you ever have to

575
00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:44,120
Speaker 1: pluralize attorney general, it's an attorney general. State attors general stated,

576
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:46,760
Speaker 1: I don't like it, very ghoulish. Continue found it sounds

577
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:50,040
Speaker 1: like I'm like, I support you, um, don't don't like it.

578
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:54,400
Speaker 1: I don't like it. But the attorney's general of Ohio, Florida, Louisiana,

579
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:58,400
Speaker 1: and Texas also asked for Netflix to remove the film. Also,

580
00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:02,120
Speaker 1: isn't it funny how nobody talked about like free speech,

581
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:05,160
Speaker 1: cancel culture, These things that people on the right are

582
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:09,000
Speaker 1: supposed to be so aggrieved by didn't even come up.

583
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:12,040
Speaker 1: Government officials asking for Netflix to take down a film

584
00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:14,960
Speaker 1: didn't need free speech, didn't even free speech. Who we

585
00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:18,920
Speaker 1: don't know her didn't even come up. In true truly

586
00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:24,040
Speaker 1: incredible what they what they think is important exactly. So,

587
00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:28,080
Speaker 1: like you said, I would be willing to bet my

588
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:31,319
Speaker 1: entire life savings that at that whole list that I

589
00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:35,560
Speaker 1: read of alexid officials responding did not watch the film,

590
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:41,919
Speaker 1: single one bet my fucking life savings on it. And eventually, this,

591
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:47,440
Speaker 1: you know, went from I guess like grandstanding and puffery

592
00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:51,319
Speaker 1: to a grand jury in Tyler, Texas, indicting Netflix on

593
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:55,760
Speaker 1: the charge of promoting lewd visual material depicting a child.

594
00:34:56,239 --> 00:35:01,560
Speaker 1: The indictment claims that Cuties holds no serious literary, artistic, political,

595
00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:05,480
Speaker 1: or scientific value. And what is wild is that this

596
00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:09,480
Speaker 1: attempt of an indictment is still going on. In November,

597
00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:13,040
Speaker 1: a federal judge issued an injunction that blocks that Texas

598
00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:18,000
Speaker 1: prosecutor from bringing child pornography charges against Netflix for distributing

599
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:22,279
Speaker 1: the film. And just two days ago, December five, the prosecutor,

600
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:26,520
Speaker 1: Tyler County District Attorney Lucas Babin, filed a notice indicating

601
00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:28,880
Speaker 1: that he will appeal the rule the ruling to the

602
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:32,000
Speaker 1: Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. And so this guy is like, no,

603
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 1: I'm not dropping this. I Am going to continue to

604
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:41,319
Speaker 1: pursue pursue charges against this film. And what's interesting to

605
00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:46,000
Speaker 1: me is that most of the elected officials who you know,

606
00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,600
Speaker 1: had a problem with this film and and tried to

607
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:50,719
Speaker 1: pursue the Department of Justice to to look into it,

608
00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:56,080
Speaker 1: they've mostly all dropped this right, like, and I part

609
00:35:56,120 --> 00:36:00,279
Speaker 1: of me wonders, why is it that some one like

610
00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:05,960
Speaker 1: Ted Cruz can be so loud and vocal about attacking

611
00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:09,040
Speaker 1: a film that I bet he hasn't seen, but then

612
00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:13,520
Speaker 1: it can just be quietly dropped, right, Like, I think

613
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:15,200
Speaker 1: it's a it's a it's a mark against the way

614
00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:21,440
Speaker 1: that like right wing elected officials use these cultural flashpoints

615
00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 1: as like little stunts where they want to like speak

616
00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:26,719
Speaker 1: up about them, and I may just drop it, like

617
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:28,520
Speaker 1: I would be curious to know, like, do you still

618
00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:31,200
Speaker 1: think that this movie is child pornography? Do you still

619
00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:33,359
Speaker 1: think the d o J should investigate? Do you still

620
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:35,400
Speaker 1: believe that was an effective use of your time in

621
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:38,759
Speaker 1: terms of you know, your duty to your represent your

622
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:41,040
Speaker 1: your the people that got you in office, Like the

623
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:44,920
Speaker 1: way I'm confident in saying they forgot they tweeted about

624
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:49,360
Speaker 1: it and have moved on to bullying some other marginalized

625
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 1: group of people. Yeah, I would be. I would totally agree.

626
00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:55,360
Speaker 1: And the way that they're able to evoke these things

627
00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:59,000
Speaker 1: loudly and just move on doesn't sit right with me,

628
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:01,359
Speaker 1: because there's real people on the other end of them,

629
00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:03,879
Speaker 1: Like Do Suray is a real person with our real

630
00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,120
Speaker 1: career that she's trying to build. That they can just

631
00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:10,399
Speaker 1: evoke her name and her work misrepresented and lie about

632
00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:13,440
Speaker 1: it and vocally accused her of a crime and then

633
00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:16,600
Speaker 1: just move on really does not sit right with me.

634
00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:25,759
Speaker 1: Something that I think is kind of interesting here is

635
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:29,200
Speaker 1: like you might be thinking, why would all of these

636
00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:33,000
Speaker 1: right wing should heads be interested in attacking Netflix and

637
00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:36,120
Speaker 1: this like kind of obscure French film, And I think

638
00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:37,440
Speaker 1: it has a lot to do with the fact that

639
00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:41,799
Speaker 1: culture is by and large seen as the domain of

640
00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:45,360
Speaker 1: the left, and so these right wing extremists they have

641
00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:49,680
Speaker 1: to attack purveyors of culture. Right these attacks are highly

642
00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:53,480
Speaker 1: politically charged. So on Tucker carlston segment about the film

643
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,640
Speaker 1: and the controversy around it, first he framed it as

644
00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,920
Speaker 1: an attack on what he calls quote the media elite.

645
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:03,360
Speaker 1: Listen to this. I begin this segment with the warning

646
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:05,279
Speaker 1: something we never do, but the footage we're about to

647
00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:07,760
Speaker 1: show you comes from a film that was released yesterday

648
00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:12,360
Speaker 1: on the streaming service Netflix. It's called Cuties. We've edited

649
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,480
Speaker 1: to obscure the most sexual parts because we have no choice,

650
00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:17,960
Speaker 1: but it's still over the top and disturbing. As you

651
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:22,000
Speaker 1: watch it, remember that our media class, the gatekeepers of entertainment,

652
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:25,600
Speaker 1: have no problem with it. In fact, they love it.

653
00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:29,000
Speaker 1: A sure sign the civilization is in trouble. The New

654
00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:31,600
Speaker 1: Yorker magazine, which after almost a hundred years has become

655
00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:36,240
Speaker 1: truly a garbage publication, unfortunately, called this film quote extraordinary

656
00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:39,800
Speaker 1: and said that only evangelicals don't like it. The Telegraph

657
00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:43,000
Speaker 1: newspaper said it's an important film quote in an age

658
00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:48,080
Speaker 1: terrified of child sexuality Late Rome for real. We're not

659
00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:54,200
Speaker 1: going to show you a portion of what. So it's

660
00:38:54,239 --> 00:38:59,440
Speaker 1: interesting how Tucker Carlston frames this film the controversy around it,

661
00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:03,120
Speaker 1: as an attack on the New Yorker, the media elite,

662
00:39:03,239 --> 00:39:07,560
Speaker 1: the Telegraph right like it's so written. I think it

663
00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:12,240
Speaker 1: really reveals how these attacks are just kind of proxy

664
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:17,799
Speaker 1: wars for this larger culture wars, highly politicized thing that

665
00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:19,960
Speaker 1: they're trying to wage here. And it doesn't matter that

666
00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:22,920
Speaker 1: that the first time filmmaker gets sort of like caught

667
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:27,200
Speaker 1: in the crossfire. Um again, here's later into that segment.

668
00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:31,319
Speaker 1: Here's how his guest talks about Uh. The people that

669
00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:35,880
Speaker 1: she says are quote staying silent and allowing this film

670
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:40,600
Speaker 1: to exploit children and yet curiously silent Tucker are the

671
00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:44,279
Speaker 1: Obama's is Susan Rice who's involved. Also, she's on their

672
00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:48,080
Speaker 1: Netflix board. Obama is uh to deal with Harry and

673
00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:51,759
Speaker 1: Megan Harry of England and Megan Markel. Uh, they are

674
00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:55,200
Speaker 1: They've got it like an over reportedly of one million

675
00:39:55,239 --> 00:39:58,239
Speaker 1: dollar deal with Netflix. A word from any of these

676
00:39:58,280 --> 00:40:01,960
Speaker 1: people could stop this in it tracks, and they should.

677
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,520
Speaker 1: They should say something. People. Okay, you guys have it there.

678
00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:08,640
Speaker 1: But the fact is, can I just sit in a

679
00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:11,799
Speaker 1: court of law? Fox what a lawsuit? By saying that

680
00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:15,280
Speaker 1: they couldn't they couldn't imagine anybody to take Chucker Carlson

681
00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:19,759
Speaker 1: seriously as an actual newsperson because clearly he's doing a

682
00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:24,719
Speaker 1: character that that for first of all, Second of all, yeah,

683
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:27,320
Speaker 1: these people are such fucking goals. None of you watched

684
00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:30,359
Speaker 1: the movie. All of you are just prediculous. Yeah, let's

685
00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:32,960
Speaker 1: just that's Harriet Megan. It's like any chance to to

686
00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:38,200
Speaker 1: pick on Megan Markel um cool um exactly the way

687
00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:41,520
Speaker 1: that they effectively like pull make this an attack on

688
00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:46,759
Speaker 1: Megan Markele. Oh my god, another black person. I can

689
00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:50,080
Speaker 1: point the finger at um oh cool. Let's like, let's sake,

690
00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:52,920
Speaker 1: let's take the opportunity for to blame them for a

691
00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:56,839
Speaker 1: movie we have not seen exactly. And so yeah, they

692
00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:00,920
Speaker 1: use this film to take a at the Obama's. The

693
00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:03,239
Speaker 1: Obamas at the time had a high profile deal with

694
00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:06,800
Speaker 1: Netflix to produce documentaries Fox News. As Rachel Campo Stuffy

695
00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:10,520
Speaker 1: wrote in a piece for the Federalists called Michelle Obama

696
00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:15,000
Speaker 1: is complicit in Netflix child porn film Cuties. She writes,

697
00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:17,440
Speaker 1: quote at a time in the left has declared that

698
00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:21,839
Speaker 1: silence is violence, Michelle obama silence on the Netflix's controversial

699
00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:25,439
Speaker 1: movie Cuties has not gone unnoticed. And again, it's such

700
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:31,880
Speaker 1: a disingenuous way to use this film to attack people

701
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:35,280
Speaker 1: that they clearly already have a pre established grievance against.

702
00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:39,120
Speaker 1: And so it's interesting how culture becomes a stand in

703
00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:42,919
Speaker 1: for these political grievances that clearly these It's like they're

704
00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:47,320
Speaker 1: barely able to mask it when they talk about it.

705
00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:53,040
Speaker 1: It's embarrassing for them. It should be embarrassing. And I

706
00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:56,600
Speaker 1: guess all of this is to say that, like, the

707
00:41:56,680 --> 00:41:58,839
Speaker 1: sad part to me about this is the way that

708
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:04,200
Speaker 1: bad acts are so good at you know, I have

709
00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:06,839
Speaker 1: a good part of it is that, like, it all

710
00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:10,239
Speaker 1: comes back to this grain of truth and the reality

711
00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:13,000
Speaker 1: is is that we actually do live in a world

712
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:16,480
Speaker 1: where far too many young people are survivors and victims

713
00:42:16,520 --> 00:42:19,520
Speaker 1: of sexual abuse and violence and things like grooming, and

714
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:22,480
Speaker 1: we don't have a society that offers those folks a

715
00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:26,360
Speaker 1: ton of support. And bad actors they seize on this

716
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:30,520
Speaker 1: heartbreaking reality, and in lieu of support, they offer dangerous

717
00:42:30,560 --> 00:42:35,160
Speaker 1: conspiracy theories and the smearing of regular people as predators

718
00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:38,000
Speaker 1: and threats to children. And my my real question is, like,

719
00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:42,000
Speaker 1: because all of those elected officials were too busy drumming

720
00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:45,600
Speaker 1: up these attacks on the movie Hughties, that was time

721
00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:50,759
Speaker 1: not spent actually scrutinizing the online platforms that we know

722
00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:56,759
Speaker 1: our actual purveyors of child sexual abuse material, platforms like Facebook.

723
00:42:56,760 --> 00:43:01,800
Speaker 1: Facebook is the number one platform responsible or sexually explicit

724
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,440
Speaker 1: material involving the abuse of children. That's just a fact,

725
00:43:04,640 --> 00:43:07,840
Speaker 1: And so isn't it interesting that all these elected officials

726
00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:11,759
Speaker 1: came out against this movie Cutie's but baxt time they

727
00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:15,719
Speaker 1: could have been actually speaking to what we know actually

728
00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:20,160
Speaker 1: pose real threats to children. And I think turning something

729
00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:24,640
Speaker 1: as important as protecting the survivors of childhood sexual abuse

730
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:28,319
Speaker 1: into just another way of scoring cheap political points is

731
00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:31,359
Speaker 1: a symptom of the fact that our society has really

732
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:34,800
Speaker 1: has a problem, Like we're not talking about anything that

733
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:38,920
Speaker 1: can actually be of use to vulnerable people. Were only

734
00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:44,040
Speaker 1: interested in partisan attacks and fucking grandstanding and stunts, and

735
00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:46,520
Speaker 1: it's it makes MU sick. And I think the same

736
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:50,520
Speaker 1: way that the grooming of children is like a real,

737
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:54,279
Speaker 1: very serious issue. But if you turn that into a

738
00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:58,320
Speaker 1: way to attack LGBTQ people or drag queens or whatever,

739
00:43:58,840 --> 00:44:01,799
Speaker 1: the people who are act really grooming kids, they can

740
00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:05,200
Speaker 1: just go on examined. It's like, Okay, well, please continue

741
00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:08,360
Speaker 1: to say that drag queens are the threat to kids,

742
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:11,239
Speaker 1: and I'll just be over here continuing my business of

743
00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:15,000
Speaker 1: actually endangering children. And so the reason why this is

744
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:17,360
Speaker 1: such an important thing to me is that we have

745
00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:20,719
Speaker 1: to figure out a way to have the real conversation

746
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:24,560
Speaker 1: and not allow extremists and bad actors and grifters to

747
00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:29,360
Speaker 1: distract us with you know, the shiny object of this

748
00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:32,959
Speaker 1: film is the threat to children when the real threat

749
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:37,560
Speaker 1: to threats to children go unexamined and fifty percent. Please

750
00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:41,080
Speaker 1: stop worrying about movies you have not seen. Do not

751
00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:43,520
Speaker 1: do not cover what you think they cover. Please stop

752
00:44:43,560 --> 00:44:48,759
Speaker 1: worrying about drag queen reading story time at libraries, You

753
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:53,480
Speaker 1: dumb people. I cannot stand to you. I could go

754
00:44:53,520 --> 00:44:57,600
Speaker 1: on a rap. I will not feel like disastrous incompetence

755
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:03,160
Speaker 1: and the negligence to do their jobs is baffling and

756
00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:10,880
Speaker 1: damaging to so many people, specifically marginalized people. And exactly

757
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:14,120
Speaker 1: I hate you all. I can't believe that you are

758
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:19,040
Speaker 1: allowed to decide things for anybody. Yeah, and I mean

759
00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:21,360
Speaker 1: this is like a like a tried and true thing

760
00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:24,200
Speaker 1: that we see when it comes to disinformation and conspiracy theories.

761
00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:26,719
Speaker 1: They just take all the air and the oxygen out

762
00:45:26,719 --> 00:45:29,400
Speaker 1: of the room, and so we don't really have the

763
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:32,640
Speaker 1: space to have our real conversation about the actual threats

764
00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:37,760
Speaker 1: to the people and the kids because so much room

765
00:45:37,840 --> 00:45:40,000
Speaker 1: is taken out of Like when was the last time

766
00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:43,040
Speaker 1: you saw an article that a news article about an

767
00:45:43,040 --> 00:45:46,520
Speaker 1: actual threat to children. It's all these days, it's all

768
00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:51,360
Speaker 1: completely made up threats, right like, And what's really scary

769
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:54,440
Speaker 1: to me is how baselessly accusing someone of being a

770
00:45:54,520 --> 00:45:57,960
Speaker 1: child predator or a pedophile, or a child pornographer or

771
00:45:57,960 --> 00:46:00,359
Speaker 1: a groomer or a threat to children, how has made

772
00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:03,680
Speaker 1: this real comeback as a solid way to attack somebody

773
00:46:03,719 --> 00:46:06,120
Speaker 1: that you don't like, just like what happened to the

774
00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:09,560
Speaker 1: filmmaker Douce Array. It is dangerous, It can lead to

775
00:46:09,640 --> 00:46:12,280
Speaker 1: real world violence, and in fact, we know it already has.

776
00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:14,680
Speaker 1: I would be remiss to not mention the fact that

777
00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:18,600
Speaker 1: just last week Elon Musk smeared Yol Roth, Twitter's former

778
00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:22,239
Speaker 1: head of trust and Safety, who is gay, baselessly insinuating

779
00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:24,719
Speaker 1: that he is a child predator, and of course a

780
00:46:24,719 --> 00:46:27,920
Speaker 1: few days later CNN reported that Roth had to flee

781
00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:30,759
Speaker 1: his home for his own safety. We should really be

782
00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:33,759
Speaker 1: afraid that basically attacking anybody that you don't like is

783
00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:37,359
Speaker 1: a child predator is now a go to strategy for extremists.

784
00:46:37,880 --> 00:46:40,400
Speaker 1: And so that's my big thing is like when we

785
00:46:40,480 --> 00:46:45,600
Speaker 1: have a culture where made up threats based on conspiracy theories,

786
00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:48,520
Speaker 1: lies and attacks on people's identity are able to take

787
00:46:48,600 --> 00:46:52,120
Speaker 1: up a lot of room. It endangers us all because

788
00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:55,080
Speaker 1: we're not able to make room for the conversation about

789
00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:57,560
Speaker 1: how we keep people safe that we need to be having.

790
00:46:57,600 --> 00:47:00,239
Speaker 1: And so yeah, this is my this is my plea

791
00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:03,400
Speaker 1: to to be better. We can't have that, like, like

792
00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:08,719
Speaker 1: maybe focus on the sex trafficking of indigenous girls, not

793
00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:11,760
Speaker 1: on a movie, not on a movie that you haven't seen. Again,

794
00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:15,160
Speaker 1: Like I can't emphasize this enough. They have not seen

795
00:47:15,239 --> 00:47:19,200
Speaker 1: the movie, and they have formed opinions off of some

796
00:47:19,239 --> 00:47:22,080
Speaker 1: tweet Like I said, do you want to read the

797
00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:26,839
Speaker 1: article before you share it? Literally? This is exactly that exactly,

798
00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:29,680
Speaker 1: and like I could talk all day about this, but like,

799
00:47:30,520 --> 00:47:34,760
Speaker 1: there are so many ways that children and young people

800
00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:38,719
Speaker 1: are being endangered and exploited in the United States, and

801
00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:42,200
Speaker 1: if you actually gave a ship about that, there are

802
00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:44,280
Speaker 1: things that you could do. Some of them are big

803
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:47,520
Speaker 1: systemic things, but some of them are like pretty easy

804
00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:50,760
Speaker 1: to accomplish. We don't even have that conversation and instead

805
00:47:50,840 --> 00:47:54,279
Speaker 1: we're given a conversation about sucking nonsense. And so I

806
00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:57,800
Speaker 1: would like to posit that we need to stop paying

807
00:47:57,800 --> 00:48:01,120
Speaker 1: like we cannot allow for the non sense to proliferate

808
00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:02,919
Speaker 1: and take all the air out of the room, because

809
00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:05,799
Speaker 1: that is exactly what they're counting on. People like Ted

810
00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:09,359
Speaker 1: Cruz don't have actual solutions to offer people. All they

811
00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:12,040
Speaker 1: have the stunts and grandstanding, and so I think the

812
00:48:12,120 --> 00:48:15,240
Speaker 1: more that we can peel back the curtain and show

813
00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:17,839
Speaker 1: that that's all they have to offer us, the better

814
00:48:17,920 --> 00:48:21,160
Speaker 1: we all will be. I think that's where we ended.

815
00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:25,840
Speaker 1: That's all I got, Sophie, thank you so much for

816
00:48:25,920 --> 00:48:28,000
Speaker 1: being down to have this conversation with me. I get

817
00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:32,359
Speaker 1: a little rag, but there's no because I too love

818
00:48:32,400 --> 00:48:34,840
Speaker 1: a dinner party and I too love saying about things

819
00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:37,440
Speaker 1: and then making it into a podcast. So I'm glad

820
00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:40,640
Speaker 1: that we're on the same page here. If you would

821
00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:43,400
Speaker 1: like me to come to your dinner party and scream

822
00:48:43,480 --> 00:48:46,839
Speaker 1: about Cutie's, just let me know. I'm happy to, yeah,

823
00:48:46,920 --> 00:48:50,120
Speaker 1: And if you don't, what's wrong with you? It's so interesting? Bridget,

824
00:48:50,160 --> 00:48:52,160
Speaker 1: thank you so much for having me on Um. Where

825
00:48:52,200 --> 00:48:54,640
Speaker 1: can people follow you? Well? You can follow me on

826
00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:57,920
Speaker 1: Twitter at Bridget Marie. Yeah I'm still they're tweeting away.

827
00:48:58,400 --> 00:49:00,879
Speaker 1: Follow me on Instagram at Bridget Marie. You see, and

828
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:04,000
Speaker 1: as always, check out the whole slate of cool Zone

829
00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:07,160
Speaker 1: Media shows because they're looking awesome and you should be listening.

830
00:49:07,600 --> 00:49:10,320
Speaker 1: I have no bias there, and I completely agree. I

831
00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:14,960
Speaker 1: also think that they are wonderful. Thank you so much

832
00:49:15,040 --> 00:49:20,279
Speaker 1: for having me on uh the show that I produce. Um,

833
00:49:20,520 --> 00:49:22,880
Speaker 1: we'll be back probably with a with some kind of

834
00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:25,880
Speaker 1: a bonus, a bonus there, or another episode. Let's just

835
00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:28,400
Speaker 1: look out for it. You're subscribed and if you're not,

836
00:49:28,680 --> 00:49:37,440
Speaker 1: why Okay, Bye bye. Internet Hate Machine is a production

837
00:49:37,480 --> 00:49:40,399
Speaker 1: of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media,

838
00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:43,080
Speaker 1: check out our website cool zone media dot com, or

839
00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:45,640
Speaker 1: find us on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

840
00:49:45,719 --> 00:49:47,319
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.