Same thing that happens when Amy's cousin realizes she has his phone and tries to get it back -- she ignorantly tries to come on to him, thinking this is how women get things from men And he freaks out and is disgusted And this makes him ANGRIER AT HER
-
-
"If Amy's mom had just found that fucking phone and smashed it, or if her cousin had thought to lock it better, this movie wouldn't have happened" Yeah okay whatever Maybe Amy still wouldn't be okay though
Show this thread -
Anyway I didn't exactly plan this thread ahead but sure, this doesn't directly address the question of "Why'd you have to film the dancing for real and film it like it really was a sexy music video and troll everyone into calling you a pedophile for making it"
Show this thread -
Honestly, I don't know if there's a good way around that It may well have just been a mistake, straight up, to make this movie But I think it's pretty clear what Doucouré was going for -- she wanted to show the Cuties' show through their own eyes
Show this thread -
Like it's not so much about what the adult audience thinks when they see it (which is the whole problem, because the adult audience WILL have a very strong reaction to it no matter what) It's about the fact that when they do it they feel sexy, empowered, beautiful
Show this thread -
That's a real desire for them, and in and of itself it's *not a bad thing* If they had better parents they'd know why it's so fucking dangerous to indulge that impulse the way they're doing it but they'd still have it at the age of 20, or 30, or 40
Show this thread -
The problem is that no one else sees it that way, especially adult men What she was aiming for was to trigger that polarized reaction, which she wants to critique -- which she put onscreen in the form of the two security guards
Show this thread -
Either the outraged, shouting "This is TRASH!" from Guard #1 or the leering, drooling "This is traaaash" from Guard #2 But either way it's a dehumanizing reaction, it's letting the "HOLY SHIT TEEN SEX" scandalousness override any feeling of empathy you had for the girls
Show this thread -
(And I guess the controversial thing it's saying, which the people angriest at the film would angrily deny, is that Guard #1 hates/disrespects the girls as much as Guard #2 does That the impulse to "GET THAT SHIT AWAY FROM ME" precludes actually empathizing or helping)
Show this thread -
I dunno It may well be that this movie just shouldn't exist, because inevitably the provocative scenes will be taken out of context and shared as clips (a real and legitimate concern, like I've said repeatedly)
Show this thread -
And it may be that I'm primed to be more sympathetic to Doucouré's choices because of all the people saying the movie is worthless garbage and obviously just "softcore porn" or titillating sexploitation like a true-crime story
Show this thread -
I think there's a good argument this movie shouldn't be on Netflix, that it should be harder to get to -- the kind of movie that in the old days only got released in festivals and small screenings, that today maybe should only be on a niche subscription service for "art films"
Show this thread -
Hell maybe they should just have screenings for women only or whatever, maybe I as an adult man shouldn't be one of the people allowed to see it because it's not for me I'm fine with all of those arguments, honestly, I remain a lot like Guard #1 in my reaction to it
Show this thread -
But I do get Doucouré, I think, as someone who was damaged similarly by a repressive conservative culture, and who's pretty fucking pissed that the religious conservatives are riding this moral panic to another victory in the culture wars I totally get why she did it this way
Show this thread -
One of the reasons the moral guardians came after her for being a degenerate was her saying in early press for this movie that her feelings remained "mixed" about this issue That this movie was partly a response to her mom, who is still the mom in this movie
Show this thread -
That *still* at the age of 35 her mom calls her up and gives her shit about not wearing hijab, about wearing skirts that are too short, about "dressing like a whore" She wouldn't say this, but I do get the feeling this movie is a big "FUCK YOU MOM, THIS IS WHAT IT WAS LIKE"
Show this thread -
Like she's about my age and we didn't have TikTok and smartphones and so forth when we were Amy's age But even so, there was some fucking shit going down among preteens in the 90s You just want to shake them and say "You didn't protect me from jack fucking shit"
Show this thread -
The scene where Amy is fucking practicing twerking when she's supposed to be praying and nobody can tell because her hijab covers her whole body Which people called needless blasphemy and trolling No, it's the whole point of the whole movie in one visual metaphor
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.