Part One. What is cuteness?
One. Contrary to the idea of being attractive, cuteness is essentially “loveable ugliness.”
Two. Any creature is loveable because it is helpless, deformed, and crippled. These creatures often have stubs for limbs and warped, exaggerated features. It is grotesque and malformed. See page 135 top.
Three. The embodiment of innocence, see page 134.
Four. Sad, saucer-like eyes.
Five. A creature that triggers maternal feelings, the need to suffocate the object with love and care.
Six. A creature that looks inhuman and even alien. See 135.
Seven. Modeled after trolls.
Eight. A creature mutated to the point of being an outcast. 135.
Nine. Hideous and rejected, the cute object needs to be rescued by us. 135 bottom.
Ten. It is a product that needs to be “adopted.” Read: Needs to be purchased. 136.
Part Two. Why is being caught up in cuteness so immoral?
One. Cuteness is all about being sadistic, making the cute object helpless and enjoying the power over it as you “rescue” it.
Two. We transfer our sadistic orientation from toys to our children. 136.
Three. We seek to maim the very thing we idolize. 136.
Four. Cuteness compels us to dehumanize human beings because they are only adorable as long as they’re helpless, maimed, comatose or semi-conscious. 137
Five. Cuteness encourages narcissism because it creates the illusion of being all-powerful and projects human traits to animals. And we like our babies to imitate us and show us how cute they are by showing how they want to be like us. 138 bottom. And 139 top.
Six. No child can forever live up to the cuteness ideal, so that unhappiness and disappointment are inevitable. 140
Seven. The desire for cuteness is all about having total control over something that is helpless. Therefore the craving for cuteness is evidence of a person who is needy and mentally ill.
Eight. Cuteness is not something we find in a person or creature. It is something we DO to that person or creature. We maim it. See page 136, second paragraph.
Part Three. What is anti-cute?
One. We create the demonic child as an antidote to the cute child. 140 and 141.
Two. One extreme idealization of a child feeds its opposite. 141
Three. Cynicism against childhood has been born from cuteness and this is just as unhealthy as the cult of cuteness. 141
Four. The obnoxious child, like Bart Simpson, is a reaction to cuteness. 141
Part Four. Writing Option for Essay #3:
Write a contrast essay in which you analyze the features of cuteness and anti-cuteness in popular culture. You can use toys, greeting cards, TV shows, films, anything from popular culture that embodies cuteness and anti-cuteness.
A thesis might look like this:
Popular culture images of cuteness such as _____________,________________, and ____________________, can be characterized by _____________________, _______________________, and __________________________. In contrast, anti-cute images, such as ____________________, ___________________, and ____________________ are distinguished by ______________________, _____________________, and ____________________________.
Another sample thesis: Film and TV that adulate cuteness are, as Daniel Harris correctly points out, encouraging a type of dysfunction and immorality as evidenced by ____________________, _____________________, _______________________, and ____________________________.
Another sample thesis: The Simpsons, Family Guy, and South Park are cartoons that champion the antithesis of cuteness: the anti-cute. This anti-cute component is a valuable moral tonic waging war against cuteness by replacing the cute child with a more healthy and alive character distinguished by ____________________, _______________________, _____________________, and ___________________________.
For the above, you might look at sarcasm, bold candor, mockery of cultural icons, and passive-aggression.
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