The Difference between cute and cutesy

[themistermanguy]

Lauren Faust, writer for The Powerpuff Girls and Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, the creator of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and currently the executive producer for Disney's Wander Over Yander once said that there is a difference between cute and cutsey. Cute is sometthing that's natural and seemlessly woven in. Cutesy is forced, suggary, and comes off as trying too hard. Lets apply this to video games. Pokemon are cute, their cuteness comes naturally as in they're just drawn cute. If you were to put a bonett on a Pikachu and force it to suck on a pacifier, then that's cutesy. It comes off as fake and makes it seem like your trying to be cute for the sake of trying to be cute.

As much as I love the game, some of the elements in Super Mario Galaxy feel a bit cutesy. The lulaby music in the intro, the chubby Lunas, the Sweet Sweet Galaxy, It sometimes felt the game was being a little.. too cute. So next time you come accross someone saying Nintendo games are cutesy, let them know the difference. Not that Nintendo games are never cutsey (see SMG) but they're more often than not, naturally cute. And cute is not a bad thing, it would take a terrible person to look at a puppy and go "bleh".

 

[tippy2k2]

I always figured the difference between "Cute" and "Cutesy" is Kitsch

Kitsch is something of tawdry design, appearance, or content created to appeal to popular or undiscriminating taste (by dictionary.com's definition) but that seems to hit it nicely. Basically, it's "fake" cute; it's too cute to be real kind of a thing.

It's the difference between a bunch of playful puppies wrestling with each other (awwwwwwww) and a Disney puppy (with the over-sized eyes and "cute by design" look). Cute and Cutesy are not necessarily bad things; they're just different.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Ms. Faust's unique, personal definition of those words are just copied from the dictionary. Cute is "attractive, especially in a dainty way" whereas cutesy means "forcedly and consciously cute". So yes, the difference lies in how intently cute something is. Mario may not be cutesy but Kirby certainly is. Not that I have a problem with that.

 

[Strain42]

While I do agree with these definitions (because they're true...I mean they're actually the dictionary definitions. I'd be an idiot to disagree with them) I think it's important to note that cutesy isn't necessarily bad.

To use an example from something our friend Faust here has worked on, lets look at Bubbles the Powerpuff Girl. In terms of her design, there isn't much that makes her physically cuter than the others (your mileage may vary on that one, some may find the pigtails cute, but that's subjective. The point is she doesn't have like wider eyes or a cat smile or anything. She wasn't physically designed to just be "OMG CUTE!!!")

But her personality is very cutesy from her mannerisms to her speech to Tara Strong's reading of her dialogue. Bubbles as a character is pretty close to the epitome of cutesy. And yet she's still awesome, fun, and a great part of the show.

Yeah there's a difference between naturally cute and forced cute, but cute is still cute, and it can always be enjoyed if it's done right.