April 21, 2006
Big eyes are appealing on anything -- babies, puppies, cartoon characters, Jake Gyllenhaal. But our fondness for big eyes is the work of nature, not Disney. Studio 360's Eric Molinsky found out how evolutionary psychology butts into pop culture.
Japan has embraced cuteness with a vengeance, from the ubiquitous Hello Kitty to the successful artist-designer Takashi Murakami, the Andy Warhol of Japan. Sarah Lilley tries to figure out why an ancient culture like Japan's would strive to be super adorable.
Cute is supposed to appeal universally, but some people just don't get it. Tamar Brott has some thoughts to share about being cute-averse in a too-cute world.
Walter Mosley is best known for his Easy Rawlins detective novels, which incorporate an African-American perspective and an historic sense of race relations into the classic hard-boiled genre. Mosley talks with Kurt Andersen about his remarkable career and his new novel Fortunate Son, which follows the fortunes of two boys—one white and the other black—raised as brothers and separated by fate.
Special Guest
Gary Cross is the author of The Cute and the Cool, a study of how and why adults project cuteness onto their children -- and how our children are constantly rebelling against it. His other books include Kids' Stuff: Toys and the Changing World of American Childhood. He is a Distinguished Professor of Modern History at Pennsylvania State University.
Studio 360 is a co-production of
Public
Radio International and
WNYC New York Public Radio, and is funded in part by
Ken and Lucy Lehman, the
National Endowment for the Arts, the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, and
DK Eyewitness Travel. Studio 360's American Icons series is supported in part by the
National Endowment for the Humanities. Our series on creativity and science is supported in part by the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Our series on Underground Heroes is supported in part by the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. 
