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Frances Richard



I
Draw a circle, and ray out from it the abject, the melancholic, the wicked, the childlike. Now in the zones between add the erotic, the ironic, the narcotic, and the kitsch. Inter-sperse the Romantic/Victorian, the Disney/ consumerist, and the biologically deterministic. At the center of this many-spoked wheel lies a connective empty space. Label it CUTE.

II
What is cute? The technical definition encompasses revealing distinctions that tend to be elided in normal conversation, where cute is cute and everyone knows what this means. Cute by the book derives etymologically from ‘acute,’ and its establishing usage dates to circa 1731. From this root comes cute’s first meaning, as clever or underhandedly shrewd, and its second, as impudent or smart-alecky—“Don’t get cute.” The standard connotation of dainty or delicate prettiness then leads to what might be termed mannerist cute—the cutsey, which (like the folksy) is defined by its excessive or self-conscious appeal to the unembarrassed core quality.

III to XV

thanks to desiring machine

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