An advocacy group demanded Netflix’s CEO remove a film showing “child porn” which, according to the group, depicts “a nine-year-old girl masturbating to the point of orgasm.”
Parent Television Council’s (PTC) letter described the specific scene that warrants the removal of the Argentinian movie “Desire.”
“No doubt you have learned of this controversial film, and the aforementioned scene has been publicly described thusly: ‘Two young girls, approximately ages seven and nine, are watching a western on television and are pretending their pillows are horses. The older girl begins to obviously masturbate as the younger child watches. The camera even takes this scene into a closeup of the child’s face in slow motion, moving up and down and panting like a porn star. The scene is graphic and includes an orgasm.’”
The letter further warned that Netflix was potentially involved in “criminal activity” by streaming such content that placed “profits above responsibility.”
“…Now Netflix has gone from merely showing a reckless disregard for the millions of families that keep your streaming platform alive and viable, and callously placing profits ahead of any sense of corporate responsibility, to potentially engaging in criminal activity.”
Conversely, the film’s director, Diego Kaplan, stressed he anticipated such controversy and the scene was done under the supervision of the girls’ mothers.
Addressing a concern no-one had, director Diego Kaplan said the material in question was a work of fiction and never actually happened.
“‘Despair’ is a film. When we see a shark eating a woman on film, no one thinks the woman really died or that the shark was real. We work in a world of fiction; and, for me, before being a director comes being a father,” said Kaplan in a statement to IndieWire. “Of course this scene was filmed using a trick, which was that the girls were copying a cowboy scene… The girls never understood what they were doing, they were just copying what they were seeing on the screen.”
“No adult interacted with the girls, other than the child acting coach. Everything was done under the careful surveillance of the girls’ mothers. Because I knew this scene might cause some controversy at some point, there is ‘Making Of’ footage of the filming of the entire scene.”
Disregarding the controversial subject matter PTC and others on social media were concerned with, Kaplan instead called out his accusers as depraved.
“Everything works inside the spectators’ heads, and how you think this scene was filmed will depend on your level of depravity,” concluded Kaplan.
Also:
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!