Q & A with "Kawaii Not"

Kawaii Not is a webcomic about, in its own words, "cute gone bad." Each comic usually features an every day object with a face, saying something funny or shocking. I recently asked its creator, Meghan Murphy, a few questions about the relationship between cuteness and irony, a common topic on recent entries on this blog.


Design Benign: What do you find compelling about the juxtaposition of cuteness with not-so-cute or questionable elements?

Meghan Murphy: That juxtaposition adds levels of interest/fascination for me, and gives the art more options. Cute things are cute, it's true, but at a certain point plain cuteness has no where else to go. Add a dash of darkness, or oddness, or naughtiness - and all of a sudden there are so many more directions in which to take off.


DB: How do you find a balance between just the amount of cuteness and the right amount of dark humor? Was there a time when you thought it went too far on the dark humor side?

MM: I'm still figuring that out with every strip. Kawaii Not has been a kind of exploration of cute for me, both the love and the hate. I don't think Kawaii Not has ever gone too far to the dark side, but of course that is completely subjective. What I find still adorable might push all the wrong buttons for some one else. That is probably part of the reason "cute" is so hard to define.


DB: Do people tend to come to your comic first for the cute, or for the humor/weirdness of it?

MM: It probably depends on the individual reader. Some people react more to the visual side (which tends to be the "cute" part) while others zero in more on the words/action/situation (the "weird" side of the equation.) But of course, like peanut butter and chocolate I feel one really only gets the full taste if they are devoured together.


DB: "Ironic cute" - or as your comic states, "cute gone bad" - seems to be an increasingly popular subject for artists and illustrators.
MM: Have you noticed any trends?
Oh sure, but it's only a natural reaction to such a strong and persuasive style such as kawaii/cute. Artists are often inspired by a style, but then want to start pushing it in different directions to see where it can take them. And irony is one of those directions.


DB: Many of your illustrations feature inanimate objects with faces. Why do you think such a simple device can instantaneously make anything cute?

MM:It must be how we as humans are hard-wired. We see a face, and tend to immediately empathize with it. Even if that face is on something we know is inanimate. That's some pretty deep biological programming.


DB: What do you think makes something cute?

MM: That is a tough question. I could say a smiley face, big eyes, round features -- but those are just visual elements. It's also part contextual. If you put a simple smiling face on a picture of the sun, then add the caption "I love sunny days!" it'll probably be perceived as cute. Take that same smiling sun and add the caption "I can smell you burning" -- cute might not be the first word that come to mind.

Trading Stocks with Subversive Cute

Above is a commercial from the popular E-Trade "talking babies" advertising campaign. Each commercial centers around an infant, sometimes joined by other babies, talking about how easy the E-Trade web site is to use to trade stock. The overall message of the campaign is that "it's so easy even a baby can do it" (to partially paraphrase another famous ad campaign).

But what caught my attention most about the campaign was its use of cuteness for a usually cute-free industry: stock trading. The "talking babies" advertising campaign, however, still falls into the conventional "ironic cute" style that I have discussed before on this blog. Though the baby is cute, his dubbed voice is that of a man in his thirties or forties. This gives the character an air of authority (important when talking about a subject like stocks), and the contrast between the infant and the mature voice provides humor.

There are numerous examples of juxtaposing infantile characters with seemingly adult items or situations: Happy Bunny, Smorkin' Labbits, and Gloomy Bear, to name a few. It's interesting that this device would be used for a traditionally conservative institution like stock trading.

Cuteness in Vancouver

With the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver coming up, let's take a look at the mascots for this year's games.



Based on mythological creature, Miga (a sea bear), Quatchi (a sasquatch), and Sumi (a Thunderbird). A fourth mascot, a marmot named Mukmuk, will only appear on the mascots' official web site. The characters were designed by the Vancouver- and Los Angeles-based design team Meomi.



So far, the mascots have appeared in a series of flash videos posted to the web, and some of the usual merchandise like plush toys and pins. I will be interested in seeing how they are used throughout the Olympic, and will keep tabs of that here during the games.

The Non-Evolution of Hello Kitty

2009 was a pretty crazy year for me: I held five different jobs, and headed the rebranding of the Anime Boston convention. This resulted in sparse updates. But now that it is 2010 and things have finally settled down a bit, I can resume regular posting about cuteness research. I'm planning on having one or two posts per week, so check back regularly!

So without further ado...



The above video depicts the Japanese cuteness icon Hello Kitty traveling through various scenes while the date progresses from 1974 to 2009. It was created by the character goods company Sanrio to showcase the "evolution" of the design of Hello Kitty since her creation 35 years ago by Yuko Shimizu.



It is common for cartoon characters to go through re-designs in the years after their introductions, as a way to keep people's interest as times and tastes change. Sometimes it works well (Mickey Mouse's design has been changed to make him cuter and more baby-like); other times it inspires ire (Strawberry Shortcake, Dora the Explorer). As the video above shows, Hello Kitty remains unaltered. Outfits and backgrounds are updated to fit fashion trends, but the feline retains the same proportions, small round eyes, red bow and - notably - no mouth. (Hello Kitty was given a mouth in her animated adaptations.)



A possible reason for Hello Kitty's lack of evolution is the place of nostalgia in Japanese culture. In Western culture, as I have written about before, adolescence is typically fodder for nostalgia. But in Japan it is childhood, a time when one is free of obligations and responsibilities. Many people who consumed Hello Kitty products as children and teenagers likely continue to do so into adulthood. Hello Kitty's unaltered design is appealing, bringing people back to their childhood when they used their allowances to purchase stationary and coin purses adorned with the iconic feline.

Hello Kitty's simple, iconic design is also versatile. The character can adorn anything from plush toys to high-fashion make-up. While other cartoon characters are usually re-vamped to appeal to different audiences, Hello Kitty is the same for children, teenagers and adults, from low culture to high culture.