The first thing we need to make sure of is that when a Japanese girl says something is "cute", she is not only saying that something she sees is "cute", but also showing herself, recognizing that this "cute" self is also very "cute".
By using the word "cute," she puts herself into a community of "cute." Mr. Otsuki has been sharply critical of the word "cute," accusing it of being a mantra that causes Japanese women to stop thinking.
He pointed out that the community, called "Cute," is a "community of feelings" that can expand connections between women's communities and reinforce gender norms.
Japanese researcher Kinsella believes that cute is not just an adjective, but a political force that can control women's consumption and daily behavior.
The word "cute" creates a power relationship between the speaker and the listener that places one's own status above that of the person described as "cute." Of course, here is also extremely vague, for example, when a woman describes another woman as "cute", it may have the following two meanings: 1 I am higher than you, I can evaluate your "cute", if you really feel that the other side is much more beautiful than themselves, you should use a heavier tone of the word.
I really think you are beautiful, although there are other words that are more appropriate here, but I say "cute" said too much, can only think of "cute".
We should return to the mantra function of "cute", the word "cute" can indicate that one and the other share a set of "values", the formation of "peer consciousness", and therefore can promote the birth of the so-called "cute community", although the word "cute" because of overuse and its own ambiguity, in fact, is a little unclear.
Where is the cuteness (special) of cuteness when everyone is calling everyone "cute"? (This point will be clarified in two paragraphs.) So what is the meaning of "cute" as an aesthetic consciousness in Japanese, apart from the power relations generated by "cute"? Reiko Koga condensed the definition of cuteness as: a kind of beauty consciousness that loves immature.
This is usually a so-called girly interest, but now it is extended to all women of all ages in Japan, which can make all women in Japan maintain a "girly" state on an unconscious level, and can also strengthen gender norms, that is, all women use the term "girly" to describe all women. Unwittingly, Japanese women frame themselves as girls, an immature attribute that needs to be protected.
Of course, at this point one might wonder: Isn't it a word that women all over the world, or at least most of the world, like to use? But we must remember that in Japan, the word "cute" is unusually powerful.
As cultural anthropologist Michael Bay points out: Although cuteness is not a Japanese culture alone, the word "cuteness" has an unusual power in Japan that is unmatched elsewhere in the world, and the word "cuteness" represents the "standard" aesthetic of "everyday".
This accusation is very important, we can completely remove the "aesthetic", "cute" is the "standard" and "daily" itself.
In Europe and the United States, words such as cute, pretty, or adorable are often used in a negative manner as an irony, but in Japan it has almost no negative connotations.
(According to Sukawa's survey, not one of the dozens of people surveyed used "cuteness" in a negative sense.) If we look at the cultural history, we can understand the relationship between "cuteness" and consumption, and the period when "cuteness" officially emerged as a culture was in the 1970s.
One big event, of course, was the introduction of Hello Kitty. The design on the wrapper of the candy becomes more important than the candy itself, which of course is what Baudrillard calls "symbol consumption."
And around the same time came the so-called "round script," the lovely font JK used.
In this way, the culture of "cute" grows along with the "cute" goods (and cultural products).
Finally, I would like to end this article with the Japanese comparative culture scholar Inuhiko Tagata's description of "cuteness" : Cuteness can be interpreted as a strategy of dependence on others and display of kitschiness. It can also be interpreted as the (simple) act of looking/pointing at something and calling it cute.
And this is such an act of affirmation, the etiquette of ensuring oneself as a member of the lovable community.
Again, in Japan, cuteness is etiquette, it's standard, it's routine.
