Comedy | March 18, 2009 | 6 comments

Comic Theory: The inherent LOLability of cuteness

Image
joshuaheller
Try explaining why you think LOLcats is funny to somebody who doesn't speak your language. Unless you have the pictures in front of you, you'll be at a loss for words.

LOLcats is inexplicably hilarious. Images of cute animals with surreal captions in a fake language, doesn't scream comedy, but some how we laugh.

Mammals are instinctually driven towards cute things. Large eyes and round bellies, make mothers want to care for their young. These urges have been used in marketing to sell products. Evolutionary biologist Stephen J Gould has suggested that over time Mickey Mouse has been drawn with cuter features, to increase his popularity.

I think the success of LOLcats has to do with the cuteness of its subjects. Never before in human history has cuteness been so accessible. This internet meme is successful because it draws from the depths of our primordial genetics.

The captions are strange enough that we can identify them as jokes. This acknowledgment compounded with our primordial relationship to the images makes us laugh out loud.

(Familiar cute stuff + mediocre jokes = inherent LOLability.)

Are LOLCats even funny to you? Are there other things that you find inexplicably hilarious? Respond below!

BIBLIOGRAPHY
More on Cuteness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cute

Cuteness according to Disney
http://geesebot.tumblr.com/post/87464001/cuteness-according-to-disney-via-9gag
  1. groups:
    Comedy,   WTF
  2. tags:
    WTF,  Comedy,  Internet,  LOL,  6 more
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6 comments // Comic Theory: The inherent LOLability of cuteness

  • abbym0308
  • Gargaryun
  • Mmmm
    • 0
      Mmmm  

    • Exhibit A :

      Mmmmmmm.....flufffffyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeee.....

      I iz in ur response box dunkin ur tea kittenz.... think humanz are also deeply language orientated in that charming : ' don't kill me, join my tribe' kind of way they have & on the subject of having too much cuteness....! [impossible!] ..... because there is only so much global FAIL a letter can take in one day.... lifetime.. sentence. you gotta live a little before the big full stop.

    • 3 years ago
  • abbym0308
    • 0
      abbym0308  
    • Image

    • People freaking love cute stuff, and to be honest I don't really know why. I like cute, but not to the point of dedicating a blog or my life to it. Take Cute Overload for example. It just won Best Topical Blog for the 2009 Weblog Awards. Really? Out of all the blogs and all the topics, CUTE wins? Maybe I'm just cynical...

    • 3 years ago
  • quixotic12
    • 0
      quixotic12  
    • abbym0308:

      I dunno, I don't consider myself obsessed with cute stuff...but that picture you posted is adorable, and kinda makes me feel all warm in fuzzy on the inside. When the global recession is getting me down, LOLcats never fail! :P

    • 3 years ago
  • catchiecoo
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