Vanity Fair just came out with this article, which analyzes the grotesque lengths to which "cute culture" has taken our otherwise sane, serious society. It's therapeutic, in a way, since I myself am drawn to many of the websites referenced in the article. As the article explains:
"To some degree, we can’t help ourselves. In the 1940s, ethologist Konrad Lorenz proposed—correctly, as it turns out—that we instinctively want to nurture any creature that has a cute appearance...[E]vidence that human beings undergo a chemical reaction deep in their brains when they look at babies....[T]he act of looking at baby pictures stirs up an ancient part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens."
Well, shit. I'd capitalize on this finding, but I think http://www.fupenguin.com/ has already cornered the market. There's something to be said, though, about relieving the stress of a bad day by taking a five minute "cute break" at work. Maybe our society's become so rabid about it in correlation to our overworked, undersocialized, lonely modern existences? It's a recipe to cure the sads.
Hey, look! A puppy!
3 comments:
You would LOVE the book I bought: "Happy Kitty Bunny Pony" by Charles S. Anderson Design Co. with text by Michael J. Nelson.
"A Saccharine Mouthful of Super Cute" is what it's subtitled. It takes sickenly cute illustrations and tags humorous lines onto each picture making fun of them. Awesome!!! Don't even think twice, just purchase. Perfect coffee table book. An actor friend was doing a dramatic reading of it to my other friends at Thanksgiving. Too funny!! *:)
"an actor friend was doing a dramatic reading..."
ahh, to be a resident of La-La Land :)
Happy Thanksgiving, my li'l Americanista.
I'm thinking of starting up a poster campaign for the less cute creatures out there who still deserve our love and respect.
"Hug a Shark", "Kiss a Cobra", and "Snuggle a Tarantula", are some tentative slogans.
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