On the surface, the new movie "Show Dogs' looks like a light-hearted comedy for children, but after an early screening, parents began to criticize the new movie, saying it's sending a very dark message to kids. The film is about a police dog who needs to go undercover at a fancy dog competition, but in order to pass for a show dog, he has to get his genitals inspected. Although the ritual is common among these types of competitions, in the movie, Max the police dog expresses his discomfort with the inspection, which becomes a major storyline in the movie.
What's the problem?
The movie includes the scene where Max gets “inspected" by judges despite his discomfort. Critics say they identified the problem immediately and that the scene is softening sexual abuse for children. In the scene, Max is told to go to his 'zen place' in order to pass the inspection and move on. One film critic said “These are similar tactics child abusers use when grooming children...and afterward reward them for withstanding their discomfort," while several parent bloggers say the scene was disturbing and that they had an immediate feeling of discomfort while watching it.
These are some examples of some parents on twitter sounding off on the grooming scene:
User, Kandace Flanary, asked to "boycott" the movie because of the inappropriate message. Another user, Nuisance Likely says giving someone a "zen place" while being touched against their will is called dissociation. And finally Allison Creamer, calls out the movie's leading actors, Will Arnett and Ludacris saying they should be ashamed of themselves for the message they are sending.
Makers of the movie have responded to the accusations and released an apology that wasn't exactly an apology, saying “The dog show judging in this film is depicted completely accurately as done at shows around the world; and was performed by professional and highly respected dog show judges. Global Road Entertainment and the filmmakers are saddened and apologize to any parent who feels the scene sends a message other than a comedic moment in the film, with no hidden or ulterior meaning, but respect their right to react to any piece of content." Despite the studio taking responsibility, a movie theatre in Australia took action into their own hands and have stopped screening the movie.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation also issued a statement, saying the scenes are “essentially a sextortion scenario…" and applauded the theatre for removing the movie and are asking others to follow suit.
Are people exaggerating?
I don't have kids and I'm not an expert on sexual exploitation. However, if enough people immediately notice something is off, then we should pay attention. Parents aren't the only people complaining about the tone deafness of the film, professional film critics are also seeing the message as problematic.
While I think the disturbing message will go unnoticed by kids, I don't believe a scene like that had any place in a children's movie. I also don't see why the filmmakers needed to be so authentic when portraying a professional dog show. You can play devil's advocate and argue that all children's movie have adult undertones, sexual references, and inappropriate jokes, but audiences should never feel that a scene makes light of exploitation, molestation or assault.
I don't think the movie makers intended to send out this message, but there is something to be said about the fact that no one realized the fact that the scene could be read the wrong way. Especially during this time in our society of #MeToo and sexual harassment, one would think that movie makers would make scenes with genitals (yes even of dogs) with more common sense.
