Mignones - Cuties
I just watched the french film "Mignones" ("Cuties" in English) on Netflix. In the US, it has raised some controversy because it depicts young girls twerking and doing other sexy dance moves. But if you take the time to watch and think about it, it has some serious and significant themes, and is about a lot more than the sexualization of youth.
At heart this is a story about connections. The main character, Ami, wants more than anything to have a close connection with her family. But her family members all have issues and problems of their own. Her father is absent, her mother is overwhelmed with concerns about the father's second marriage, her aunt is a religious fundamentalist, and her younger brothers are as self-centered and in need of attention as any youth. And so she seeks connections elsewhere: in friendship and societal approval.
The plot reminds me in an odd way of the 80's movie "Sixteen Candles". A young girl is approaching one of the milestones of her c***dhood, but her family is too busy with other concerns to give her the attention that it deserves. Outrageous behavior and social disasters follow. The events are more serious than comedic, but in the end she seems to acknowledge her mistakes and gets some acknowledgement from her family and some inner peace and satisfaction.
Another theme, that was not present in the American movie, is the damage that religion and misogynistic culture can do to a family. Ami is immersed in a conservative Muslim culture that sees women as silent and obedient servants to men. Is it any wonder that she finds the secular Western mores of Paris to be more attractive and self-affirming? Of course the film shows how she goes too far in the other direction, humiliating herself and her friends by extremism in her sexual expression. But in the end, the pendulum swings back to a happy medium, in which she goes back to more age-appropriate dress, and her mother accepts her without insisting that she follow the strict religious ways of the family.
All in all, the film is very much worth watching, and the conservative backlash against the depiction of young girls dressing and dancing provocatively is nothing more than a tempest in a teapot. Don't let them shame you into thinking that watching this movie is some sort of support of pedophilia.
At heart this is a story about connections. The main character, Ami, wants more than anything to have a close connection with her family. But her family members all have issues and problems of their own. Her father is absent, her mother is overwhelmed with concerns about the father's second marriage, her aunt is a religious fundamentalist, and her younger brothers are as self-centered and in need of attention as any youth. And so she seeks connections elsewhere: in friendship and societal approval.
The plot reminds me in an odd way of the 80's movie "Sixteen Candles". A young girl is approaching one of the milestones of her c***dhood, but her family is too busy with other concerns to give her the attention that it deserves. Outrageous behavior and social disasters follow. The events are more serious than comedic, but in the end she seems to acknowledge her mistakes and gets some acknowledgement from her family and some inner peace and satisfaction.
Another theme, that was not present in the American movie, is the damage that religion and misogynistic culture can do to a family. Ami is immersed in a conservative Muslim culture that sees women as silent and obedient servants to men. Is it any wonder that she finds the secular Western mores of Paris to be more attractive and self-affirming? Of course the film shows how she goes too far in the other direction, humiliating herself and her friends by extremism in her sexual expression. But in the end, the pendulum swings back to a happy medium, in which she goes back to more age-appropriate dress, and her mother accepts her without insisting that she follow the strict religious ways of the family.
All in all, the film is very much worth watching, and the conservative backlash against the depiction of young girls dressing and dancing provocatively is nothing more than a tempest in a teapot. Don't let them shame you into thinking that watching this movie is some sort of support of pedophilia.
4 years ago