May Simon - The Power Of Cute - Hardcover

Binding: Hardcover
Description: 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 Pok mon 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.
Title: The Power Of Cute
Author(s): May Simon
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Barcode: 9780691181813
Pages: 256 Pages, 19 B/W Illus.
Publication Date: 3/19/2019
Category: Social Theory