It's a shallow analysis, and I say this as a fan of Arnade's prior work. Cartoons and "cuteness" are symbols expanding one's palate of expression.
LINE was the first messenger app to roll out stickers. Those stickers, mostly cartoons, do a vastly better job of encapsulating expression, especially online, than GIFs, Emojis, and Emoticons do.
Stickers are commonplace messages in Korea. Stickers in America, on the other hand, have not caught on. If I had to speculate, it is because the art is shallow, soulless, and an commercial grab.
From Arnade's piece:
> If you make anything and everything a lovable character, that dampens the edges. Makes a life of buying and selling stuff a little less dreary. A little less pointless.
You could say the same for every culture. If you talk to Koreans, they cannot fathom America's addiction to hyperbole, whether it be in everyday conversation or in advertising.
Examples:
"That was an amazing meal."
"It was to die for."
"Absolutely."
"You are the best!"
"What a killer deal!"
Now let's transform Arnade's original observation:
> If you make anything and everything a hyperbole – "perfect" or "the best" – that dampens the edges. Makes a life of buying and selling stuff a little less dreary. A little less pointless.
It fits, no? Would I describe American hyperbole as cope? No, it's merely how we encode emotions into language. Cartoons are the same for Koreans.
Edit: I'd like to proffer a different reason for their prevalence: many cartoons are government-sponsored and are ways for the government to signal that they are welcoming to children as a response to the declining birth rate. You could interpret this dystopically – I just see it as cute.
As someone born in Korea and have lived 20+ years in Seoul, I can say your “preoffered” reason for prevalent cartoon characters is simply wrong. They are not just government propaganda. They are deep into every fabric of life and psyche of Korea’s younger generation. Arnade’s analysis is not shallow. It is insightful beyond any that I have ever read.
Can you expand on that? I just can’t agree with this assertion. It seems like a projection to me.
Take the Jongro logo, for instance. Here’s its origin:
> It was developed and donated free of charge by the Environmental Design Research Institute of Kookmin University in 2001; through opinion surveys and expert advice, it was born in a friendly, resident-centered form that cannot be found in other local governments.
How in any way could you ascribe it’s existence to a deep emptiness?
LINE was the first messenger app to roll out stickers. Those stickers, mostly cartoons, do a vastly better job of encapsulating expression, especially online, than GIFs, Emojis, and Emoticons do.
Stickers are commonplace messages in Korea. Stickers in America, on the other hand, have not caught on. If I had to speculate, it is because the art is shallow, soulless, and an commercial grab.
From Arnade's piece:
> If you make anything and everything a lovable character, that dampens the edges. Makes a life of buying and selling stuff a little less dreary. A little less pointless.
You could say the same for every culture. If you talk to Koreans, they cannot fathom America's addiction to hyperbole, whether it be in everyday conversation or in advertising.
Examples:
"That was an amazing meal."
"It was to die for."
"Absolutely."
"You are the best!"
"What a killer deal!"
Now let's transform Arnade's original observation:
> If you make anything and everything a hyperbole – "perfect" or "the best" – that dampens the edges. Makes a life of buying and selling stuff a little less dreary. A little less pointless.
It fits, no? Would I describe American hyperbole as cope? No, it's merely how we encode emotions into language. Cartoons are the same for Koreans.
Edit: I'd like to proffer a different reason for their prevalence: many cartoons are government-sponsored and are ways for the government to signal that they are welcoming to children as a response to the declining birth rate. You could interpret this dystopically – I just see it as cute.