‘Cuties’ Review

By Areya Starke

Young girls around the age of 11, popping and locking in the Netflix original “Cuties”, released on September 9 has caused an uproar in an unexpected way. These reviews about what the movie is really supporting, started to stand out to me as well. Many are saying this film is supporting child predators and sexualizing little girls. Netflix has apologized and even taken down the original poster, which featured the stars in tight and exposing outfits, crop tops and booty shorts.

“We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Cuties. It was not ok…” Netflix wrote. “‘Cuties’ is not pornographic, does not contain underage nudity and does not depict sexual acts, simulated or other wise,” watching the movie I thought differently.

In Senegalese, France, the main character in Cuties, Amy, started out as an almost perfect Muslim girl. She became friends with a group of girls that danced for fun and introduced them to twearking to fit in.

I recommend “Cuties” to only mature audiences. The characters in Cuties laugh at rape victims and sneak pornographic photos of boys in the bathroom, as well as posting inappropriate photos of herself on social media, dancing provocatively infront of older men with disturbing faces. The girls were also lying about their age in order to talk to high school boys and talked to strangers online about explicit topics. They learned how to twerk, and even the camera shots were zooming into things they shouldn’t be. Why would little girls be pondering on subjects of the sort? Sadly, that’s not all, it gets worse but you would have to see for yourselves.

Overall, Netflix’s ‘Cuties’ sexualized young children in a way that could negatively influence our youth. The movie didn’t give me a good feeling, now seeing where these reviews came from. For the children of our generation, it provides a bad outlook on what children of that age should be doing. Everyone of those girls are 11. Netflix deserves the backlash they got for the film, and should do what people are telling them and take it down.

It’s a pageant thing-you wouldn’t understand

By Areya Starke

Kennedy Brown is a sophomore, crowns and sashes is her language, and she does pageants and it’s not like the stereotypical Toddler and Tiaras television perceives it as.

“I started doing pageantry because I got a letter in the mail inviting me to do National American three years ago.”

Crowns and sashes are sophomore Kennedy Brown’s language, as she competes in pageantry and it’s nothing like the stereotypes.

The typical season for state pageants is during the summertime. Then, they have nationals in November in California, Florida or New York.

“I’ve been competing for about three years now,” said Brown. “I’ve done three pageants, two in Nebraska and one in Iowa.”

Last year, Brown got second place for top model, and has also received the Heart of Service award for helping in the community. She’s also been a top ten finalist, and can compete in nationals as an all American.

“I’m usually shy, so it was hard to get at first to get out there and talk to different girls,” said Brown.“There’s this one part of the competition interview, that’s pretty difficult. The judges save you some of the hardest questions like…. “If you’re a magnet what would you attract?” I did not know what to say.”you just brag about yourself basically.”

Competitions can be nerve-wrecking, so Brown always rehearses in her head, tries practicing to make sure she’s ready.

“Only in bigger competitions do they ask questions about politics and bettering the world mostly,” said Brown, regarding the sterotype of contestants answering questions falsey. “For Nationals you really need to be
prepared for anything the judges throw at you.” A big part of pageantry is confidence, keeping the converstaion going.

“Make sure you know what you’re going to say and if you mess up just keep on going. They aren’t gonna judge you if you mess up, judges watch you on how you fix it.” said Brown. One sterotype Brown confirms to be true is how important posture is.

“I like the stage and how they take pictures of you in your outfits That’s probably my favorite part competitions. It’s so much fun.” said Brown.

Northwest may not have a lot of students who are aware of pageantry, but Brown said that she would be more than happy to help with anyone interested in competing. Some people may take a different approach to what they think of pageantry, knowing from a first hand experience, perspective might have changed. Pageantry has taught Brown lessons
she never expected to learn.

*Photo Courtesy of Kennedy Brown

Northwest installs new security system

By Areya Starke and Madeline Stratman

Something new came to Northwest this year to help the students and staff feel safer at school.The fingerprint scanner is the newest part of the high school security system. With the new changes, students have formulated opinions, and staff members have answered some questions students may have.

Senior Alaura Favazza said that student IDs in the past have been used for those entering and exiting the building, especially seniors during lunch. Because of this, some students think scanning IDs to enter the building would be a better alternative to fingerprinting.

“It would probably be easier and more sanitary,” Favazza said.

There are concerns about the dangers of sharing germs and spreading the coronavirus since everyone would be touching the same fingerprint sensor. The administration would like to remind students that it’s a good idea to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer after being fingerprinted to enter the building.

While there are a number of pros to implementing the new fingerprinting system, it has had a few glitches. For example, warm weather can cause the scanner to malfunction. It is unknown how the winter weather will impact it.

Principal Tim Krupicka gives background information on the decision to implement the new fingerprinting scanners.

“The fingerprinting scan was the decision made last year in the spring before the pandemic started,” Krupicka said. “We’ve been talking about this for several years, and Dr. Edwards, our superintendent, decided to move this forward.”
In addition to providing some back story, Krupicka also mentioned the benefits and drawbacks.

“The pros are that it is not used for legal purposes or anything like that,” Krupicka said. “It’s just a scan of different points of your finger. It is not to be used against anybody for any purpose other than getting into the building. Another pro is the fact that we can put students in the different groups, like seniors who go off campus for college classes.”

Even though there are a few kinks yet to work out, this newest addition to Northwest’s security system will keep students, staff and visitors safe.