You cannot seriously mention homosexuality between consenting adults and sexualization of children in the same sentence.
> because the French movie in question is fundamentally critical of the existing normalization of sexualization of children.
By engaging in it.. this isn't even a fig leaf, that's like posting insults and slurs to criticize insults and slurs, or saying "no offense, but $incredibly_offensive_thing". Even if that actually is the intention, that is irrelevant, the actions are what matters.
> A lot of fault must be put on Netflix for jacking up the controversy in their US marketing.
Nobody but the defenders of this even care about the marketing; it's about the content, about the minute long close up shots of children "grinding".
Regardless of the attempts to frame it that way, "thinking of the children" isn't just a monopoly of hypocritical, puritan "outrage", it's also what any healthy adult does by default. Even (non-predator) animals in some cases treat the young of other species that way.
> "it's about the content, about the minute long close up shots of children 'grinding'"
This is not the right criterion to evaluate a film's intent.
Action movies spend most of their screen time showing killing. Horror movies contain extended torture scenes. Gaspar Noé's "Irreversible" has a 10-minute extremely realistic rape scene, but it would be absurd to claim that it's a pro-rape film.
> because the French movie in question is fundamentally critical of the existing normalization of sexualization of children.
By engaging in it.. this isn't even a fig leaf, that's like posting insults and slurs to criticize insults and slurs, or saying "no offense, but $incredibly_offensive_thing". Even if that actually is the intention, that is irrelevant, the actions are what matters.
> A lot of fault must be put on Netflix for jacking up the controversy in their US marketing.
Nobody but the defenders of this even care about the marketing; it's about the content, about the minute long close up shots of children "grinding".
Regardless of the attempts to frame it that way, "thinking of the children" isn't just a monopoly of hypocritical, puritan "outrage", it's also what any healthy adult does by default. Even (non-predator) animals in some cases treat the young of other species that way.