Cute, Otaku, and Posthuman Aesthetics

Gere, Charlie (2022) Cute, Otaku, and Posthuman Aesthetics. In: Palgrave Handbook of Critical Posthumanism :. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, pp. 1-19. ISBN 9783030426811

Abstract

In this chapter, I suggest that the idea of posthuman art is problematic, given that art (or rather Art-with-a-capital-A) is a product precisely of Western Humanism. To find a posthuman aesthetic, I look instead to Japan and the notion of kawaii or cute and its manifestations in manga and anime and how they are consumed and understood by so-called otaku, obsessive fans of these media.