Cuties

 

We all view life through a lens. That lens is the filter which is made up of all the experiences we have had. It is informed by our skin colour; our country; our class; our education and our values. It just is.  We view all of life through this unconscious lens. All our biases, stereotypes and prejudices are run through the lens.  Understanding the different filters on our lenses, helps us to adjust where we need to. For me, this is the pain and joy of being human. It is where struggle and shifts meet.

This week the movie “Cuties” was released onto Netflix.

It is not the first time or the last time a movie has or will create a storm. Interestingly people of all sorts of faith persuasions or those of no faith outlook, have been debating this particular movie. I am a Christian,, white women who lives in South Africa. I am 51 years old. I write this all purposefully, because these parts of seemingly unimportant bits of information , are part  the filter I would bring to watching a movie- even to deciding whether I should watch a movie. Many Christians in particular have called for the cancelling of Netflix on the back of this movie. Some have strongly suggested Christians should not watch it. Others have gone as far as telling ALL Christians they should not watch it. To be fair, this call comes from a place of care and from having read some articles or commentary on the movie. Their call is not entirely from a place of ignorance. We are free, as Christians, to decide whether to watch a movie like Cuties or not.   However, having watched the movie, I can say that the critics fall short of seeing the movie as a whole. I can focus on any one theme in a movie and that will give it a particular flavour. Perhaps a movie might have one key theme. But in the case of  Cuties, there are multiple themes. I think the writings on this movie have failed to explore the big themes and in particular failed to note the working-class context of this movie.  This is important when I come to my lens idea. If I fail to note the setting, I will view this important part of the movie through my middle-class lens. Particularly my Christian, nuclear family (mom and dad) lens. We fail to see with clarity the reality of life for children in places that are different from mine. We critic it through our narrow, safe lens. We fail to see the big idea that the director was clearly trying to express.  This movie is a movie that is honest, raw and rases many questions but it is also sensitive and thoughtful. It will leave a mark. 

  Those who have written on it have focused on the hyper sexualization of the group f 11-year-old teenage girls. The story is set in a French,  inner city , working-class, community. The focus is on a foreign, black, African family and their 11 year old daughter, Amy. A poignant story which very clearly and carefully looks at life through the eyes of this teenager, struggling to find her place in the harsh world of teenagers. She is desperate to belong and endures bullying to make a place for herself amongst a fairly cut throat group of 11 year old girls.  The movie continues to explore the journey through their friendship, giving snapshots of times spent together. Some of these times are spent with the one girl friend who lives in her block of flats. These girls get up to all sorts of girlie silliness and some clearly delinquent behaviour.  The delinquent beahviour is one of the parts I found profoundly sad and the other was the raw bullying, which was disturbing . There are moments of little girl fun and then moments when the girl fun collides with social reality – particularly explored through interaction with social media. The journey of the group from dancing under a bridge to a local, fairly odd and non-event, competition is also a part of the story but it is not the focus theme. The hyper sexualization of these 11 year old girls is explained through the stumbling of a semi pornographic women dance “movie” which influences their dance ‘moves’. The sexualized movements are not sexy. They are not portrayed as sexy or desirable.  They are not beautiful or intimate or compelling in any way. They are an oxymoron and the movie is excellent in clearly portraying this. There is an element of shame surrounding the dancing, particulalry the last dance.  At no time did we think … wow. That is beautiful dancing. Not once! And this is the point.

The focus point of denouncing the movie, for many,  has been the sexualisation of the girls in much of the outrage I have come across. But I want to argue that this movie is not just about this.  Yes, it is about this but not just about this. It is a careful and thoughtful movie exploring the world of women. It is a movie exploring the world of working class people. It explores, as I have mentioned, issues of being a foreigner ; a foreign women with 3 young children and a husband, who we never actually meet, who is bringing a new wife home to their small flat. It explores patriarchy and offers her choices. While she wrestles with her pain, she is absent from her daughters life, emotionally, and when she interacts with her , it is either in a violent outrage or in religious ritual. Except toward the end of the movie, as she is coming to terms with her own situation – she shows some kindness toward her daughter.

This is a deeply moving exploration of women. There are hardly any men in the movie and the one character that stood out for me was the spiritual man who visits the home to see if Amy is possessed ( the only answer for her behaviour?). The movie is thus also raising questions around religion and how we view our children and interact with them, especially when things get messy. and they do for Amy. 

Back to the man....this one man shows kindness. 

He asks her a question. ‘How are you?” 

It was such a touching moment for me because not once throughout this entire movie does anyone who cares for Amy , ask her how she is. And she is clearly not ok. Amy knows she is not ok too. Introducing the theme of a growing self-awareness and the reality that we all have to face- that of making choices. Amy is faced with this truth and in the end of the movie she resolves the conflict in her. The conflict of who she is given her African culture and living in France. It is a healthy and beautiful moment.

I worked in London, at a school in the borough of Millwall. I worked at a school on a council estate. I worked there for a year. My children came from working class homes. They were good people, trying to do their best with what life had dealt them. Some had tough circumstances. It was a tough school to work in. At times, some of the parents would gather the drug used needles lying around the estate. The children could easily have stumbled upon these. In this movie, the girls find a used condom. I immediately reflected back and thought about life on council estate in inner city London. Of course, there were used condoms lying around. Of curse kids can find them and probably do. It might not be real life for me or my family, but it is life for many.

This is a carefully thought through and purposefully constructed movie. It is not beautiful but has a beuaty to it, It is not only art ,although it is in part, but it is deeply touching movie and will stay with me for a while.  I am glad I choice to watch it. It is a movie about injustice, class, struggle and identity ( and more) and woven into this is the reality that we struggle to find ourselves, sexually. It is a social commentary with a very specific focus ( which , I suspect , reflects more of the worlds reality, than mine) with so much to dissect and reflect on. I  found it an excellent watch. As a teacher, parent and activist, I find myself in many different spaces, many that do not  look like the one I am used to, I found this movie extremely helpful.  I would not be bold enough or self-righteous enough to tell anyone to watch this movie or even not to. That is for you to decide.