An exploration of cuteness and its immense hold on us, from emojis
and fluffy puppies to its more uncanny, subversive expressions
Cuteness has taken the planet by storm. Global sensations Hello
Kitty and Pokemon, the works of artists Takashi Murakami and Jeff
Koons, Heidi the cross-eyed opossum and E.T.-all reflect its
gathering power. But what does "cute" mean, as a sensibility and
style? Why is it so pervasive? Is it all infantile fluff, or is
there something more uncanny and even menacing going on-in a
lighthearted way? In The Power of Cute, Simon May provides nuanced
and surprising answers. We usually see the cute as merely
diminutive, harmless, and helpless. May challenges this prevailing
perspective, investigating everything from Mickey Mouse to Kim
Jong-il to argue that cuteness is not restricted to such sweet
qualities but also beguiles us by transforming or distorting them
into something of playfully indeterminate power, gender, age,
morality, and even species. May grapples with cuteness's dark and
unpindownable side-unnerving, artful, knowing,
apprehensive-elements that have fascinated since ancient times
through mythical figures, especially hybrids like the hermaphrodite
and the sphinx. He argues that cuteness is an addictive antidote to
today's pressured expectations of knowing our purpose, being in
charge, and appearing predictable, transparent, and sincere.
Instead, it frivolously expresses the uncertainty that these norms
deny: the ineliminable uncertainty of who we are; of how much we
can control and know; of who, in our relations with others, really
has power; indeed, of the very value and purpose of power. The
Power of Cute delves into a phenomenon that speaks with strange
force to our age.
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