귀여움은 왜 이렇게 기분 좋고 중독적일까? 현대사회와 귀여움에 대한 분석

0:00 Hello, if I were to pick a characteristic phenomenon of this era, I would definitely pick the craze for cuteness. These days, people constantly watch cute puppy videos, cute cat videos, and baby videos on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, and it’s been over 10 years since videos of children on TV entertainment programs became very popular. This craze for cuteness among modern people is a global phenomenon, but on the other hand, there seems to be cultural differences. It’s clear that Korea is more crazy about cuteness than other countries. For example, if you go to a stationery store, you go to a fancy store, and there are notebooks and things like clips and pins. If you go to a fancy store in Korea, there are so many cute products. The

0:46 quality is really good and there are so many cute things, but Europe is not like that. If you go to a stationery store in Europe, it’s really plain. It’s just a lot of standard, standard products that adults would use. There’s a bit of a divide there. There’s cute stuff that kids use that doesn’t really care about quality, and neat stuff that adults use. So I think it’s a bit of a divide. On the one hand, I thought that if we exported cute fancy products from Korea to Europe, they would sell well. But anyway, when looking at the whole world, Korea seems to be particularly interested in cute things, and countries like Japan are also somewhat interested in that, and there seems to be a little difference. Of course, there can be a biological explanation for the phenomenon of humans liking cute things. Since the habit of raising children well was bound to develop in the process of evolution, it is

1:37 natural from a biological perspective to feel cute and have a favorable mind when seeing something that resembles a child. However, especially in modern society, the phenomenon of people being crazy about cute things and people from certain cultures being even more crazy about cuteness seems to require a cultural or philosophical explanation that goes beyond biological conditions. So I thought a lot about this, and the most important keyword to explain this phenomenon came to mind as the contrast between the possessive mode and the existential mode. This contrast is a distinction suggested by a philosopher and psychoanalyst named Fromm, who argued that people live in the possessive mode. He means that they always live in a mentality of trying to possess, occupy, and make something their own. On the other hand, the mode of existence is a very rare form of life in modern society,

2:23 so it is very difficult to explain, and even in the case of Ripron, it is impossible to explain this mode linguistically. However, if we were to express it in words, it can be seen as an existence that exists in a state of flow regardless of owning something. We are very accustomed to defining ourselves through the things we own, our jobs, our national identities that we belong to, and existing based on those definitions. However, rather than finding our identity by associating ourselves with a specific object and existing there, we can see the characteristic of the mode of existence as if we are simply flowing in harmony with the whole without any exclusive bonds. I

3:13 thought that the phenomenon of cuteness is not simply a pleasant experience, but an experience that temporarily allows us to repent to the mode of existence. Since Fromm was a psychoanalyst, he basically placed great importance on the process of developing from infancy to adulthood, and thought that human identity is largely formed in that process. And ultimately, the fundamental model of this mode of existence is the state when we are in our mother's womb. Mother When I was in the womb, I had no consciousness of owning something, and there was no such thing as what we would call consciousness now. I just existed in a state of complete unity with my mother. The important characteristic of this state is that there is no distinction between my mother and me. So if we think about why we want to own many things in everyday life, it is

3:58 because we think that the object and I are separate, so we want to own them in some way. If the object and I were not separated from the beginning, there would be no need to have a desire to own them. However, when we see a cute object or interact with it, rather than approaching the object with a clear distance between us and the object, it feels like the barrier between the object and me is broken down. So I feel like I can approach the object, become close to it, and want to hang out with it. I don't think I simply want to own the object and make it mine. So in modern society, the experience of cuteness is a momentary awakening to a sense of what it means to live in a mode of existence that we have almost forgotten in our usual capitalist materialistic society. Is n't it the moment of giving?

4:49 Isn't it the moment that allows us to briefly feel a sense of unity and comfort, just like when we were in our mother's womb? Even if we don't necessarily accept this psychoanalytic scheme of Fromm, I think the difference between wanting to possess the object while being separate from it or wanting to just hang out with it and be together is very important in our understanding of cuteness. If we think about when we are especially separated from objects in our daily lives, fear seems to play a big role. Since we usually feel afraid of the world, we want to protect ourselves from the world by owning some kind of barrier between the world and ourselves. That barrier can sometimes be money, sometimes a job, sometimes status, and various

5:35 possessions. Since we feel that the world threatens us, we want to protect our self by coveting these possessions and possessing as many of them as possible. However, the important characteristic of cute objects is that they are harmless. They do n't seem to have any intention of harming us at all. They do n't seem to have the ability to harm us and they exist in a very innocent state. That's what gives us comfort. In normal times, we are threatened by various threats, and even if someone doesn't threaten us with a knife, surviving in this world is very difficult and we always have to fight against fear. When we find a specific object that doesn't threaten us, I think we feel a great sense of peace of mind. And another important point here is that cute objects do n't evaluate me. I

6:25 think evaluation is a very core element of the fear that modern people experience. We always feel like people are evaluating us wherever we go, and that evaluation is a kind of threat. We can only maintain a stable state if we receive a good evaluation there. However, cute objects do not evaluate me, but rather need my help, or sometimes they exist very indifferently. I think this indifference is one of the interesting points. Cats are particularly indifferent animals, and pandas, which are very popular these days, are indifferent if you look closely. They are only interested in eating themselves, and of course, they crawl on people when people come by, but there are scenes like that. Rather, I think there is a stronger aspect of doing activities that try to exist on their own without thinking about it. When we see that, we get the feeling that we are not being evaluated by that object, and that object does not approach

7:13 us fearfully, and at that moment, we get a glimpse of the possibility that the world is not a space where we have to fight to acquire possessions and survive, but a space where we can simply exist. Among philosophers, John Dewey discussed the pleasure people feel when they see animals. In the case of this person, when we are in a state of disconnection in normal times and feel as if we are separated from the world, observing how animals live can play an important role in reviving the integration of experiences that we have forgotten and lived with. What John Dewey emphasizes here is that we live by dividing time into segments in normal times, dividing the areas of our lives into segments, and giving priority to each area and living in that way. For example, a person with a very brilliant past may be obsessed with that past and

8:00 not be able to see the present, thinking, “Oh, the old days were better,” or a person who is excessively focused on the future may not be able to see the future. Compared to that, the present is treated as inferior, and another state of separation is achieved. In this way, in fact, before human consciousness, nature existed in an integrated state where the past, present, and future were not separated, but humans always try to separate them and think of them separately. And also, we divide each part of life, such as the work area, the rest area, and the family area, and depending on which part we value, we forget about the other parts. Through this process, our lives become numerous and human life is inevitably full of regrets. John Duy thought. However, if you look at animals, the past, present, and future are

8:46 simply integrated. Each area of ​​life is much more integrated than human life. So when you look at them, you can get the feeling that, oh, that’s what nature is like. The things that I usually consciously build walls and divide can actually exist in an integrated state. John Duy thought that even if you don’t necessarily achieve this conscious realization, I personally think that we experience that fleeting moment of overcoming regrets and reaching a state of integration through the pleasant feeling of cuteness. And there’s one more thing I’d like to mention. I think that humans have a deep-rooted desire to support life. However, in normal times, we cover up that desire and live our lives focusing on ourselves as we change our jobs. However, when we see

9:33 each harmless creature or an animated character with their own unique worldview, reacting to various stimuli in their own way and interpreting them, we experience the deep-rooted desire to support life that we usually cover up and forget. And I think that provides a refreshing experience in modern urban life, where we have to live in a narrow space by following various unnatural rules, constantly depleting the natural energy of life. That is why I think we become more obsessed with cuteness in places where urban life is more intense. In a sense, we also

10:18 look for fake cuteness. Rather than the cuteness that we get from interacting with real creatures in this world, we look for an overall cuteness in objects that are similar to them. I think that is a phenomenon that occurs a lot, especially in societies like Korea. I don't think that cuteness isn't cuteness. I think that those objects clearly awaken our spirit to reach a state of cooperation and integration with the object, as if we were flowing in a mode of existence, not greedily occupying the object or possessing it, so I do n't think it's a negative phenomenon. However, one thing that concerns me is that in the case of such general cuteness, it exists on a screen or doesn't interact directly with me, so I

11:05 can just turn it off whenever I need to. I can widen the distance with the object. Therefore, in fact, a state of agreement requires a lot of responsibility. So of course, if you are in a state of complete nullification like a baby in its mother's womb, you don't have to take any responsibility, but I don't think that's a mode of existence that a mature adult can experience. A mature adult should be able to reach a state of unity by helping the objects around them well if they take responsibility. However, I think that it reduces that ability a bit and increases the tendency to be satisfied with only briefly enjoying the pleasure of cuteness when I need it. And I think that it's giving people a temporary experience of unity or I

11:56 have some doubts about whether it is serving as an escape and ethics that allows this mechanical and somewhat inhumane society to continue to function well by planting illusions. So, of course, the cuteness we experience on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts can be good, but I think we should live our lives paying much more attention to the cuteness that we can experience in the real world with some responsibility. I think there are various philosophical thoughts about cuteness that are possible in addition to the points I mentioned today, but I will stop here for today. What do you think about this phenomenon of cuteness? Especially these days, it seems like a real craze. Anyone can see why this craze is blowing. Please leave your opinions on that. I will be back with another fun video next time.

12:42 Thank you.