Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference 14-17th December 2016 Program Index

7C
The Aesthetics and Affects of Cuteness (Chair, Bieke Zaman)
Further information on the project: http://cuteness-studies.org/
Joshua Paul Dale
Agency and the Appeal of the Cute Object: From “Gloomy Bear” to Tame Siberian Foxes
The aesthetic of cuteness, and the affect that informs it, are a rising trend in global popular culture.
However, the derivation of “cute” from “acute” in English has caused some scholars to mistakenly place
negative qualities such as aggression, violence and sadism at the heart of this aesthetic. Opposing this view, I
analyze the character “Gloomy Bear” (a large, pink, violent bear) to show that the subject discharges
aggressive impulses against itself in order to protect a vulnerable cute object. In the study of cute affect, a
new hypothesis proposes social engagement as the primary motivation behind the cuteness response. This
alternative organizing principle allows for a new theory of agency on the part of the cute object, which I
develop through the case study of a newly domesticated animal: Siberian silver foxes. By exploring these
foxes’ transition from wild animal to tame pet, I offer an expanded palette of characteristics for use in
analyzing cute objects. Expressions of cuteness, whether they emanate from animals, objects, or people,
comprise a form of agency: namely, an appeal aimed at disarming aggression and promoting sociality.
Cesar Albarran-Torres
machines
Kittens, Farms and Wild Pandas: The Aesthetic Paradox of Childlike Cuteness in slot
This paper discusses the role of cuteness in the design of what I call gamble-play media, a category that
includes terrestrial and online slots. In gamble-play media the fun aspects of gambling are privileged over
winning or losing, and cuteness is often a key element in enabling this enjoyment. This shift in focus
establishes new dynamics of seduction and control for a media format in which gambling practices are
staged in ways that resemble other interactive technologies such as video games. In cute slots, imagery that
we might ordinarily associate with children, along with the symbolic dichotomy of care/domination that the
gambler establishes with animal characters featured on and in these devices, is an essential part of the
amusement, as is the sociality that may be released by cuteness. Through a close analysis of the cute slots
OMG Kittens!, Wild Panda and Crazy Farm Race, this paper argues that childlike cuteness is deployed as a
rhetorical tool that foregrounds gambling’s playfulness. Cuteness minimalizes gambling’s many dangers in
terms of problematic consumption and the targeting of vulnerable populations, some of which might be
particularly drawn to images of cute, cuddly animals.
Maria Pramaggiore
Dangerous Cute: American Military Men, YouTube Videos, and the War on Terror
This project examines the dynamics of American masculinity as exemplified in YouTube videos made by US
troops prosecuting the War on Terror. In these post-9/11 remix recordings, military personnel re-stage music
videos by Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Carly Rae Jepsen and others. Originating in the combat theatres of Iraq and
Afghanistan, they have been disseminated to millions of viewers around the world. These cute videos
conform to the conventions of the viral music video while also encoding the precarity of soldiering in the
21st century. Moreover, they serve a strategic purpose that resonates with propaganda for the War on
Terror, whose justification increasingly centers on a starkly drawn gender dualism pitting a secular,
egalitarian West against a backward-facing Islam whose oppressed women are in need of rescue. This paper
argues that these cute, complex, and contradictory performances embody both authority cuteness (as
defined by Brian McVeigh) and sovereign masculinity (as conceived of by feminist philosopher Bonnie
Mann).
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