Well, since I just posted the cutest video ever a couple days ago, I thought this article might be an appropriate topic!
In the December issue of Vanity Fair magazine, there is an article about "Cute". The author, Jim Windolf, takes on all things cute in his piece. To quote him, ":(... that's me crying over the depressing rise of cuteness." (Even punctuation has become cute in the form of "emoticons"!)
The article points out that with the Internet, we are deluged by cuteness (or cootchie-coo moments) all day, every day. You can find a cute video, picture, or product every where you turn. (It's true. I do all day long - and I share some of them here with you!) The website Cute Overload gets over 100,000 hits a DAY. Tabloid magazines, television shows, books, magazines, everyone is cashing in on our obsession with cute!
The article does say that "to some extent we can't help ourselves. ... we instinctively want to nurture any creature that has a cute appearance." It's all in our brains! We actually have chemical reactions to cute.
The piece is long, but well worth reading. Take a look. What do you think of all the cute we see every day? I tend to be one who sees, and enjoys, a lot of it. Particularly, as you might guess, animal cuteness. We have three very cute cats of our own. We have MANY cute photos of one or the other of them. And I search for videos, stories, etc. all the time to share here!
Is the cute a bad thing? Or a good thing? Do you think it is too pervasive? I don't know the answer. For now, my opinion seems to be - I like it! It makes me smile. And that's not a bad thing, right? (How can you resist the belly of my Oscar? That's him lounging with Luna several years ago!)
--Tammy
I can't get enough cuteness.
Posted by: jan | December 16, 2009 at 11:40 AM
I can see the author's point about being overloaded with an excessive amount of cute things everywhere in our media. I guess that if people don't want to always see the "cute stuff," then they can choose not to and turn off their television or skip opening their e-mail attachments. For me personally, I enjoy the feelings evoked by these "cute triggers" but they are only a symbol of something that's far more important to me...the knowledge that someone took the time to share and the knowledge that there are kind, compassionate, and positive intentions driving it (that's never a bad thing in my book)!
Posted by: Dana | December 17, 2009 at 01:10 PM
I have to say I agree Jan! I like cute - I love the viral videos that go around the internet like wildfire!
I guess we can all get overloaded on anything - cute included. But, for me, I'd rather have a cute overload than a bad news overload! Any day!
Posted by: Tammy | December 17, 2009 at 01:59 PM