Sunday, December 17, 2006

On Cuteness

Ya know when you type "baby penguin" into Google Image Search that inevitably - you're gonna start fawning.



Interesting. In searching up this photo, I stumbled upon a New York Times Article on Cuteness. It's true: "Cute cues are those that indicate extreme youth, vulnerability, harmlessness and need" (called "kawaii" in Japan, where everything is eternally cute). According to them, it's our cultural predisposition to go "awww" for anything baby-like.

ie. If you are vulnerable and need help, cute ++

It's always made me wonder. Does that mean you can't be cute and powerful then? What about cute and professional? (Note that sexy + powerful/professional is easy.) I don't think I've ever seen a CEO exude any cuteness, personally. Usually, cold and authoritative gains credibility. A "cute scientist" somehow loses smart points.

Well, unless you get some of those thick-rimmed librarian glasses, but again that falls into the sexy realm (cf. Scrubs 01x1, Elliot Reed)

What a dilemmna. Cute or smart?

2 comments:

Greg said...

> If you are vulnerable and need help, cute ++
> ... Cute or smart?

Well, there's your answer. Feeling vulnerable?

Anonymous said...

When ever i have come across cute + smart... there is usually a lot of sexy involved :D