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Awwww
So the word for the day is "cute" and not just because Felix has learned how to mimic most of the technology in the house. (When you ask him: "Where is your ear?" He shouts and grabs his ears. When you ask him "Where is your nose?" He shouts and grabs his ears. He won't respond at all to queries about his mouth or eyes.) But this isn't about my angry appliances.
A chunk of this morning was spent ogling the ridiculously squeezable images lovingly gathered and offered up on Cute Overload. My husband found this site and I find my reaction to it a little upsetting. I peer at it, while finding my fascination repellent. As a rule I'm interested only in quotidian cute- the private antics of my kid and terrier, the odd dog I meet on the street, Panda Cams and visions gleaned from Sir David Attenborough's wildlife fests. I'm not really that kind of girl.
But I'm not alone apparently because the Science Times has an article addressing my problem. Everyone is susceptible. And it seems, if I understood the article, that I'm extra receptive to cute because I became a mother comparatively recently. The urge to cuddle the cute thing has apparently been linked in a survival of the species way to fact that the cute thing needs cuddling. It looks adorable and vulnerable so that you'll take care of it.
I didn't make this up, but I'm willing to blame motherhood for little shifts in things like Cute Susceptibility and Cinematic Kid Death Intolerance (which I still have). I do appreciate Dr. Dennis Dutton, quoted in the article, who highlights why I feel a bit peeved with myself, even as I twinkle at the January 1st entry, featuring a picture of Oolong, a bunny who has a stack of cookies balanced on his head.
"Cute cuts through all layers of meaning and says, 'Let's not worry about complexities, just love me.'... That's where the sense of cheapness can come from, and the feeling of being manipulated or taken for a sucker that leads many to reject cuteness as low or shallow."
So, yes, I agree with him. I get all gooky, but I still feel like I've been had.
posted by Elise at 7:29 PM
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