Here is a video that is, yet again, another video about cute cats. I would like to think that a video like this can bring a smile (or at least the rise of one cheek) to someone in the darkest of moods. I am fascinated by the idea of cute and what makes something cute.
This video was posted on November 29 and already has 1.8 million views. When compared to the view counts of other cute videos (including kittens), the rate at which this video is accumulating views is quite impressive.
Yes, cute has saturated the internet, and there is an argument for dismantling cute, but first I ask, what about cute videos (in particular, this one) is so... captivating/attractive? Why are we drawn to them? Is it the high-pitched voices and innocent gestures of familiar creatures that comforts us from the daily drag? What do you think? What does it say about todays culture that cute is so actively sought out? I dare you to find a video that is cuter than this and make an argument for why it is more so, in hopes that the origin of cute may be revealed.
I hope that this will start a scholarly discussion and not diffuse into a comment-less post. I encourage you to really criticize/analyze/attack/defend cute.
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1 comment:
ah yes. cute. what a subject today, with all the puppies and kittens and wabbits and babies on youtube with a million plus hits. perhaps there is an inverse relationship between our consumption of "cute" and our general experience of the harshness of life. i think the subject of "cuteness" is a good launching pad from which to do some creative work commenting on the phenomenon. can you think of ways to take "cute" and re-position it (perhaps only slightly) to comment on its relation to human desire...bring something we don't normally perceive about our need for and obsession with cute? and also, what (and why) are the differences between cute and beauty/glamor? would be a good pursuit.
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