Cuteness vs. grimness.
Everyone loves it when trend pieces talk, like when you have Jim Windolf at Vanity Fair complaining about our obsession with "cuteness" and A.O. Scott at the New York Times taking on "grimness." In some ways they're actually worried about the same thing. Windolf proposes that we as Americans live in a culture of "growing self-infantilization," what with our addiction to websites about cute lil' puppehs and our habit of posting baby pics on Facebook. He grabs examples from everywhere and anywhere, not all of which have the same weight -- does Weezer's evolution from "Pinkerton" balladeers to Snuggie spokespeople really mean we're all regressing? (Most people agree Weezer's been regressing for years, no?) If this is really the way of the future, what are we to make of Disney's rebranding Mickey Mouse as a silent, mischievous and occasionally cranky figure? Scott's argument is that the sophisticated and surprisingly dark...
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ifc/indieeye/~3/qeErD07QrsY/cuteness-vs-grimness.php