LogFAQs > #972658498

mybbqrules posted...

I saw it once to see what all the fuss was about. Here is the condensed version of the plot as best as I can piece together from memory.

Girl has a strict religious upbringing that is stifling her. She sees other girls being more open and free, and is intrigued. She learns that the girls compete as a dance group and dance very lewdly. She eventually joins the group and starts emulating them (makeup, clothes, attitude) and feeling happier. Then, the pendulum slides too far to the other side. She assaults one of the other girls to force her way back on the team for a performance, but then she has an epiphany that she doesn't like the hyper sexualized lifestyle she's leaning into, so she goes home, changes into jeans and a shirt (symbolizing her landing in the middle on the struggle between "hyper religious" and "hyper sexualized") and goes out to play with a group of kids.

The dancing in the film made me so uncomfortable I fast forwarded through it. I get what the director was going for, but damn, it still made my skin crawl.

Yeah this topic made me look up old articles about the controversy, because I couldn't remember a lot of it. Between the article I found and your post, it definitely sounds like the backlash was overblown.

They said the film was specifically trying to make a point about how much kids can be influenced by social media. And how little girls often see women become successful by being overly sexualized in social media and they imitate it without fully understanding.

I definitely don't want to see little girls twerking though. My goddaughter is that age, so that would really creep me out. But I know that kind of thing really does happen. For better or worse, kids soak up what they see and hear.