<story><title>Walking the World: Seoul</title><url>https://walkingtheworld.substack.com/p/walking-the-world-seoul-part-1</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>lawrenceyan</author><text>&amp;gt; The younger generation seems to be dealing with the rampant consumption and materialism, and the emptiness that results, by embracing the cute.&lt;p&gt;This resonates. Didn&amp;#x27;t realize it until now though.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dereg</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s a shallow analysis, and I say this as a fan of Arnade&amp;#x27;s prior work. Cartoons and &amp;quot;cuteness&amp;quot; are symbols expanding one&amp;#x27;s palate of expression.&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;p&gt;From Arnade&amp;#x27;s piece:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;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.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;You could say the same for every culture. If you talk to Koreans, they cannot fathom America&amp;#x27;s addiction to hyperbole, whether it be in everyday conversation or in advertising.&lt;p&gt;Examples:&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;That was an amazing meal.&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;It was to die for.&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;Absolutely.&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;You are the best!&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;What a killer deal!&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Now let&amp;#x27;s transform Arnade&amp;#x27;s original observation:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;If you make anything and everything a hyperbole – &amp;quot;perfect&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;the best&amp;quot; – that dampens the edges. Makes a life of buying and selling stuff a little less dreary. A little less pointless.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;It fits, no? Would I describe American hyperbole as cope? No, it&amp;#x27;s merely how we encode emotions into language. Cartoons are the same for Koreans.&lt;p&gt;Edit: I&amp;#x27;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.</text></comment>
<story><title>Walking the World: Seoul</title><url>https://walkingtheworld.substack.com/p/walking-the-world-seoul-part-1</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>lawrenceyan</author><text>&amp;gt; The younger generation seems to be dealing with the rampant consumption and materialism, and the emptiness that results, by embracing the cute.&lt;p&gt;This resonates. Didn&amp;#x27;t realize it until now though.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>foobarian</author><text>I feel uneasy dismissing this new way of things and harkening back to the more meaningful old days, because the crispy clear meaning back then often stemmed from war.  When you had adversaries threatening to destroy your country of course it felt so much more fulfilling to train to be any number of supporting or active roles.  Without that pressure, things seem to lose that sharp drive but perhaps we are better off.  It is also probably true that we have not evolved to live in a state of peace, and have a long way to go as a race to become accustomed to it.</text></comment>