1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:05,880 Speaker 1: There Are No Girls on the Internet, as a production 2 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 1: of My Heart Radio and Unbossed Creative. I'm Bridget Todd, 3 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: and this is There Are No Girls on the Internet. Hey, y'all, 4 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:20,960 Speaker 1: Bridget here. I wanted to do a quick supplementary episode 5 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: about the Netflix movie Cuties. First of all, I was 6 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:26,320 Speaker 1: a little bit nervous to even talk about this film. 7 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: It's such a big controversy right now, but I kind 8 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:31,480 Speaker 1: of felt like I had to so just to get 9 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: this out of the way. Cutie's is a movie that 10 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:36,560 Speaker 1: is very much in line with my interests. I love 11 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:40,199 Speaker 1: French cinema, specifically French cine gallee cinema. I live for 12 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:42,559 Speaker 1: a coming of age story, especially a story about a 13 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:46,560 Speaker 1: girl navigating her way through a rocky girlhood. Movies like 14 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 1: Fish Tank or Thirteen love them. Also, I grew up dancing. 15 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 1: I grew up in doing competitive dance, being in dance 16 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: troops that were sometimes a little bit questionable. So it 17 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: does seem like a movie that is tailor made for 18 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: my interest. This is not meant to be a movie review. 19 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:05,160 Speaker 1: I'm just trying to give you the broad strokes of 20 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,119 Speaker 1: the controversy and the criticism and what's happening. However, there 21 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: will be some spoilers, and so if you don't want 22 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: this movie spoiled for you, I definitely recommend you check 23 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,320 Speaker 1: it out before listening to this episode. I will try 24 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: to warn you before the spoilers. So what is Cutie's? 25 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: Cutie's is a French film by first time director Mimo 26 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: No Doucere. It tells the coming of age story of Amy, 27 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:28,800 Speaker 1: a Muslim synegales eleven year old living in France. It 28 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: premiered at Sundance this winter to rave reviews before being 29 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:35,280 Speaker 1: acquired by Netflix. I was actually at Sundance and tried 30 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: to see it, but unfortunately it was sold out. So 31 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: the broad strokes plot of the film Cutie's is that Amy, 32 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:45,039 Speaker 1: this eleven year old, she kind of balances these two worlds. 33 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 1: The one world is her mother's world of sort of 34 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 1: traditional Synegalese values. Her mom wants her to be this 35 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: sort of chased, girlish, traditional girl, but she's living in France, 36 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: and so the second world that she's balancing is the 37 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: world of these kind of cool, grown up seeming girls 38 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: in her class who all do dance together. The film 39 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: explorers fairly common coming of age tropes around movies about girlhood, 40 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: things like getting your first period, things like feeling alienated 41 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:15,839 Speaker 1: from your family, things like wanting to fit in and 42 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:18,639 Speaker 1: being grown up and cool and sexy, vying for likes 43 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: on social media, and of course sexuality. The filmmaker said 44 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 1: that she saw young girls dancing on stage in Paris 45 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,679 Speaker 1: in the scantily clad outfits and that she was sort 46 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 1: of fascinated by this. She was fascinated by the girls, 47 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: fascinated by the adults who were watching, and like letting 48 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:35,839 Speaker 1: this happen these girls parents and their families. She ended 49 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 1: up spending a year researching dance troops in France, researching 50 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: preteen girls, interviewing them and talking to them about society, 51 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:46,919 Speaker 1: their bodies, how they felt at school, things like fitting in, 52 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: and the result was his film Cuties. So the film 53 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 1: first generated controversy before it ever came out on Netflix 54 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: because of the poster. So the poster for this film 55 00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: when it first debuted at Netflix was pretty run of 56 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:00,919 Speaker 1: the mill, had the picture of the of the girls 57 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: in the film running down the street doing like a 58 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: shopping spree. But when the film was acquired by Netflix, 59 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: the poster they went with was very different. It was 60 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: the girls kind of scantily clad, wearing their dance team outfits, 61 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 1: which are sort of short shorts and shirts that show 62 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,800 Speaker 1: their bellies, and they're in these like very adult postes. 63 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 1: So think about dance movies like Step Up or they 64 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 1: have dancers who were scantily clad posing on the on 65 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:30,239 Speaker 1: the poster, but those are usually grown women. The Netflix 66 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: poster for Cutis was like that, but with eleven year 67 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: old now, I completely agree that this poster was not 68 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: a good way to market this film and it isn't 69 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 1: even really representative of what the film was about. Netflix 70 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: later apologized for the poster, but it was kind of 71 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 1: too late. The director of the film responded to the 72 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 1: poster controversy, saying, I discovered the poster at the same 73 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 1: time the American public did. I didn't understand what was 74 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: going on, and that's when I went and saw what 75 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: the poster looked like. I received numerous attacks on my 76 00:03:57,520 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: character from people who had not seen the film, who 77 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 1: thought I was actually making a film that was apologetic 78 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: about the hyper sexualization of children. I also received numerous 79 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: death threats, So it's kind of fucked up that this 80 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:13,119 Speaker 1: first time director was really attacked for Netflix is very 81 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: real mistake in terms of marketing this film. I think 82 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 1: that poster really did a lot of damage in terms 83 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:21,040 Speaker 1: of how that film was going to be seen by 84 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:22,840 Speaker 1: people who hadn't even had a chance to see it. 85 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:26,479 Speaker 1: The vocal criticism of the film only continued after it 86 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:29,559 Speaker 1: was released on Netflix in early September. The director actually 87 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: published a piece in The Washington Post about why she 88 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: decided to make the film. She writes, the stories of 89 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: the girls I spoke to shared with me were remarkably similar. 90 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:40,640 Speaker 1: They saw the sexier woman is on Instagram or TikTok, 91 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:43,359 Speaker 1: the more like she gets. They tried to imitate that 92 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:45,839 Speaker 1: sexuality and a belief that it would make them more popular. 93 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:48,920 Speaker 1: Spend an hour on social media and you'll see preteens, 94 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,559 Speaker 1: often in makeup, pouting their lips and strutting their stuff 95 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:54,279 Speaker 1: as if they were grown women. The problem, of course, 96 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: is that they are not grown women, and they don't 97 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 1: realize what they're doing. They construct their self esteem based 98 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: on social media likes and the number of followers they have. 99 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: Some people have found certain things in my film to 100 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: be uncomfortable to watch, but if one really listens to 101 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: eleven year old girls their lives are uncomfortable. Here's what 102 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:12,720 Speaker 1: she had to say on a Netflix short film on 103 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:16,159 Speaker 1: YouTube called Why I Made Duties with the hundreds of 104 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: preteens who told me that a story. I needed to 105 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: know how they felt about their own community in today's 106 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 1: society and how they deals with their self image at 107 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:31,280 Speaker 1: a time when social media is so important. Our girls 108 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: see that the more a woman is overly sexualized on 109 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 1: social media, the more she's successful, and the children just 110 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:43,239 Speaker 1: imitate what they see, trying to achieve the same result 111 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 1: without understand the meaning. So one thing to note is 112 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,360 Speaker 1: that this controversy has taken a political band. Senator Ted 113 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:52,480 Speaker 1: Crews is calling on the Justice Department to launch an 114 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: investigation into the production and distribution of the film to 115 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: determine whether it violates any child porn laws. Toulci Gabbert, 116 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 1: who you might member, ran for president and successfully called 117 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:06,719 Speaker 1: it child porn and somehow the Obamas are involved because 118 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:09,240 Speaker 1: the Obama's had a high profile deal with Netflix to 119 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:12,920 Speaker 1: make documentaries through their production company Fox News is Rachel 120 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:16,240 Speaker 1: Campo Stuffy published a piece in The Federalist called Michelle 121 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: Obama is complicit and Netflix's child porn film cuties, She writes, 122 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:24,040 Speaker 1: at a time when the left has declared that silence 123 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: is violence, Michelle Obama's silence on netflix controversial movie Cutie's 124 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,559 Speaker 1: has not gone unnoticed. The hashtag cancel cutis was picking 125 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,919 Speaker 1: up steam, and Antenna, a data analytics company, found that 126 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 1: there was a meaningful spike in Netflix cancelations. Now, some 127 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:41,120 Speaker 1: of the big arguments I've seen about this film seemed 128 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: to be suggesting that the film, which is pretty clearly 129 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:46,919 Speaker 1: making an argument against the sexualization of children, attempts to 130 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:49,280 Speaker 1: do that by engaging the very thing it is meant 131 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: to be critiquing. By that, I mean, even though the 132 00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:54,960 Speaker 1: film pretty clearly is meant to call out and condemn 133 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:58,200 Speaker 1: the sexualization of children and girls, critics argue that the 134 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:01,839 Speaker 1: film actually sexual as girls in trying to make that point. 135 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 1: I think it's worth pointing out that many films have 136 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:06,799 Speaker 1: been accused of this very same thing. I'm thinking about 137 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: movies like Kids, which the Washington Post called child porn 138 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 1: when it was first debuted back in So I want 139 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: to talk about what actually goes down in the film. 140 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 1: Here's where you might find some spoilers. So if you 141 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: don't want the movie spoiled for you just know that 142 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: going forward. So I have to say that I think 143 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 1: a lot of the criticism of this film is being 144 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: done by people who haven't actually seen it. I have 145 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 1: seen it. I actually just got finished rewatching it, so 146 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:33,040 Speaker 1: let's talk about it. I saw a few viral warning 147 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,880 Speaker 1: posts floating around social media, and some of those seem 148 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: to actually take some of this film out of context. 149 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:43,679 Speaker 1: For instance, one viral quote parents Guide said the film 150 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 1: contains nudity of a minor. That is not true. The 151 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: only nudity in the entire film is a very brief 152 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: scene with a bare breast of an opposing dance team member. 153 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: My sentence in the film is that this opposing dance 154 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:58,680 Speaker 1: team is meant to be a little bit older within 155 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 1: the context of the film, and actually the actress whose 156 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:04,480 Speaker 1: bare breast you see for a second herself is an adult. 157 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: She's over eighteen, so there is no minor nudity in 158 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,080 Speaker 1: this film. This post also warns that there's a scene 159 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: where a minor girl in tight leather pants has her 160 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,160 Speaker 1: pants pulled down while the camera zooms in on her butt. 161 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 1: Now on its face, that sounds disgusting, but it actually 162 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 1: doesn't really capture what happens in that scene. In that scene, Amy, 163 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: the eleven year old in question, is kind of meant 164 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 1: to be poorer than the rest of her friends, and 165 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: this is the part in the film where she's trying 166 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 1: to see more grown up and cooler than she is, 167 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: So she borrows her friends leather pants and wears into school. 168 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:37,560 Speaker 1: She ends up getting into a fight with an older 169 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:40,080 Speaker 1: girl in the schoolyard, and in the fight, her pants 170 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 1: are kind of pulled part way down and it exposes 171 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: that she's wearing these really childish, kind of oversized, dirty 172 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: ratty underpants. It is not a scene that is played 173 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 1: for sexuality. This is an incredibly embarrassing scene for her. 174 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:56,000 Speaker 1: She runs off crying and her friends won't talk to 175 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:58,960 Speaker 1: her because they're so embarrassed by by what happens. And 176 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 1: to say that the scene is like sexy or played 177 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:06,439 Speaker 1: or played for sexualization, it just is not. And so 178 00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of things floating around on social 179 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:12,800 Speaker 1: media that go viral that make very controversial claims about 180 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:14,680 Speaker 1: what kind of things are and contained in this movie 181 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:18,360 Speaker 1: that are actually either a not true or be kind 182 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:21,200 Speaker 1: of taken out of context. This is clearly meant to 183 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:25,199 Speaker 1: be an embarrassing scene, not a sexy one. Now I 184 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 1: can confirm the film does contain scenes of young girls 185 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,080 Speaker 1: twerking in shorts, and I've read a few critiques that 186 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 1: say that those scenes feel gratuitous, are overdone, And even 187 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: if I don't personally agree with those criticisms, I think 188 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:39,760 Speaker 1: that's a fair point. Here's a pretty big spoiler. At 189 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:41,440 Speaker 1: the end of the movie. The girls have their big 190 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:43,600 Speaker 1: dance contest that the film has been building to the 191 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 1: entire time. It's full of inappropriate dances, twerking, grinding, all 192 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: that stuff done by eleven year olds. But the whole 193 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:54,359 Speaker 1: point is that the audience finds this whole display horrifying. 194 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: They're doing it thumbs down and booing, and some of 195 00:09:56,920 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: them are getting up and walking out of the audience. 196 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 1: And the point of the film is that the girls 197 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:05,680 Speaker 1: really don't have the maturity to understand why these dances 198 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:07,559 Speaker 1: are not appropriate. They thought they were going to get 199 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:09,559 Speaker 1: on stage and everyone was going to love these dances, 200 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: but in fact all the adults are horrified. It's kind 201 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:14,720 Speaker 1: of like the final dance scene in Little Miss Sunshine, 202 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:16,480 Speaker 1: when she thinks her dance is going to be so 203 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:19,840 Speaker 1: great and it's actually not appropriate. Amy, the main character, 204 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:23,440 Speaker 1: is really sad. She cries on stage at this reaction. 205 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:25,960 Speaker 1: It's also really important to point out that by the 206 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:28,320 Speaker 1: end of the film, it's clear Amy has made a 207 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,600 Speaker 1: choice that the whole world of perking and dancing and 208 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,080 Speaker 1: grinding and trying to be sexy for social media is 209 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:36,560 Speaker 1: not for her. At the end of the film, she's 210 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: clearly decided to sort of live a more youthful life. 211 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:40,800 Speaker 1: The final scene of the film is her going on 212 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:43,319 Speaker 1: and playing jump roping on the street and dressing like 213 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:45,559 Speaker 1: a little girl. So I think it's fair to say 214 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:49,840 Speaker 1: this film is certainly not trying to valorize the sexualization 215 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:51,880 Speaker 1: of girls. Now. I also want to say that the 216 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:54,720 Speaker 1: director says that a trained counselor was present on the set, 217 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:57,200 Speaker 1: and the project was even improved by the French government's 218 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:00,440 Speaker 1: child protection authorities. So that's sort of the broad strokes 219 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:02,479 Speaker 1: of what's going on with this film and the controversy 220 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:06,120 Speaker 1: around it. And in case you're curious, here's my opinion. 221 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:09,720 Speaker 1: I actually really liked the film. It certainly wasn't perfect. 222 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:12,360 Speaker 1: There's some scenes in it that I think ring really 223 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 1: true to a specific kind of black Girlhood. There's a 224 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 1: scene where Amy tries to straighten her very curly hair 225 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:20,560 Speaker 1: by ironing it on an ironing board, which I definitely 226 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:22,800 Speaker 1: tried when I was young. There's a lot of scenes 227 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:25,200 Speaker 1: where Amy listens to her mother and her aunts have 228 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:28,600 Speaker 1: very grown woman conversations that I can really relate to. 229 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:31,520 Speaker 1: There's also a scene where Amy's friends make fun of 230 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: her having a flat butt, and she goes back home 231 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:35,960 Speaker 1: and starts noticing that all of these women in her 232 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,199 Speaker 1: family have these curvy bodies and wonder and you can 233 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:41,079 Speaker 1: tell that she's wondering when she's gonna get one or 234 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:43,920 Speaker 1: if she's gonna get one. I certainly can identify with that. 235 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: So Yeah, I really enjoyed the film, and I'm glad 236 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:50,120 Speaker 1: I saw it. I think that the criticisms that people 237 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: make that this film kind of traffics in the kind 238 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:56,880 Speaker 1: of sexualization of girls that it's trying to prevent or 239 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:59,600 Speaker 1: trying to call out, I think those are fair criticisms. 240 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 1: I don't think those criticisms are completely missing the mark. 241 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:04,000 Speaker 1: I don't happen to agree, but you know, I think 242 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 1: when you're talking about film and art, people are allowed 243 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:08,160 Speaker 1: to have their own opinions. And make up their own minds. 244 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:11,080 Speaker 1: I also feel like I have to say that we've 245 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: talked in other episodes of Tangoti around how bad actors 246 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:18,240 Speaker 1: online will use sensitive topics to push division and chaos online, 247 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:22,720 Speaker 1: and unfortunately, right now, one of those sensitive topics happens 248 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 1: to be child abuse and child exploitation, which is really 249 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:29,520 Speaker 1: horrifying because child abuse is such a serious topic that 250 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:31,599 Speaker 1: it's kind of horrifying to think of people turning it 251 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:34,480 Speaker 1: into a meme or or spreading and misleading or false 252 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:37,320 Speaker 1: information about it online. There's a link to a good 253 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: BuzzFeed article in the show description that gives you more 254 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:42,560 Speaker 1: context about that particular part of the conversation. But I 255 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:44,400 Speaker 1: just want to make very clear that I think it's 256 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,600 Speaker 1: really terrible that people are exploiting this very serious issue 257 00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:51,080 Speaker 1: and in doing so, they're kind of drowning out legitimate conversation, 258 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:55,199 Speaker 1: both critical and positive around this film. And overall, I 259 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:58,520 Speaker 1: think it's really disappointing that this Singalese first time female 260 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: filmmaker is having her debut drowned out like all of 261 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:06,240 Speaker 1: this controversy. I think Netflix was in the wrong for 262 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:08,599 Speaker 1: putting out that poster, but that wasn't her decision and 263 00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 1: wasn't her fault, And I think they kind of set 264 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:13,920 Speaker 1: her up for a lot of attacks because we're in 265 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 1: this time where everything is charged, everything is a political debate, 266 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:20,160 Speaker 1: and it seems like sometimes people can't have good faith 267 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: conversations anymore, particularly online. So I find it disappointing that 268 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 1: she's really gotten wrapped up in this. But most importantly, 269 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:31,040 Speaker 1: I think people should really see the film themselves. I've 270 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:33,840 Speaker 1: seen so many viral things on social media trying to 271 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 1: get people just to not see this film, trying to 272 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:39,840 Speaker 1: get people to cancel Netflix because of this film, and 273 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:42,680 Speaker 1: I think people should really make up their own minds. 274 00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:45,079 Speaker 1: You might disagree with me, and that's totally fine. It 275 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:46,920 Speaker 1: would not be the first time that somebody has disagreed 276 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:50,000 Speaker 1: with my film Takes. Just ask anybody that I've made 277 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:52,320 Speaker 1: watch a film that I don't love. The idea that 278 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: people are trying to dissuade others from even seeing this film. 279 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:57,640 Speaker 1: I've seen so many people posting like, oh should I 280 00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 1: watch it? Is? It horrifying? And I think it's an 281 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:02,120 Speaker 1: important to encourage people to make up their own minds. 282 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 1: So here's where I want to know what y'all think. 283 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:08,320 Speaker 1: Did you see Cutie's What did you Think? You can 284 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:10,520 Speaker 1: hit us up at Hello at tangili dot com and 285 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,320 Speaker 1: let us know. You can also find transcripts for today's 286 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:15,760 Speaker 1: episode at tangidi dot com. There Are No Girls on 287 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:18,120 Speaker 1: the Internet was created by me Bridget Tod. It's a 288 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:21,320 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio and Unboss creative Jonathan Strickland 289 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 1: as our executive producer. Terry Harrison is our producer and 290 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:27,840 Speaker 1: sound engineer. Michael Amato is our contributing producer. I'm your host, 291 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:30,680 Speaker 1: Bridget Todd. If you want to help us grow, rate 292 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:33,840 Speaker 1: and review us on Apple Podcasts. For more podcasts from 293 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,480 Speaker 1: I heart Radio, check out the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, 294 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.