Cute Cthulhu Thesis
| Cute Cthulhu Thesis | |
|---|---|
| Coined by | Charlotte Fang |
| Related concepts | New Net Art, Network Spirituality, Post-Authorship |
| Field | Cultural theory, Technocapitalism, Digital aesthetics |
Cute Cthulhu Thesis is a philosophical concept developed by Charlotte Fang of Remilia Corporation that analyzes the relationship between cuteness and technocapitalism.[1] The thesis posits that cuteness represents the inevitable aesthetic trajectory of advanced technological capitalism, leveraging evolutionary human biases toward neoteny and saccharine visual elements to drive consumption.
Origin and development
The Cute Cthulhu Thesis was first articulated by Charlotte Fang on the Miya Black Hearted Cyber Angel Baby project. The concept draws its name from H.P. Lovecraft's cosmic horror entity Cthulhu, reimagined as an inescapable force that manifests in contemporary culture not as terrifying but as cute.[2] Fang argues this is why commercial aesthetics increasingly lean toward bright, kawaii (Japanese "cute") elements, particularly in digital spaces and emerging technologies.
The concept connects to broader discussions about the evolution of capitalism into technocapitalism, where technology plays a central role in wealth accumulation and power structures. In Fang's articulation, cuteness functions as an exploitative mechanism within this system, targeting innate human psychological responses.
Key principles
The Cute Cthulhu Thesis identifies several key principles:
- Cuteness as an evolved aesthetic strategy within technocapitalism that targets human psychological biases
- The inevitability of kawaii and "hypercute" visuals as capitalism advances into AI-dominated markets
- The role of neoteny (infantilized features) and saccharine elements in triggering dopaminergic responses
Fang specifically points to the commercial targeting of two elements: "saccharine visuals of sugar" and the "neoteny of babies" as the most efficient exploitations of human irrationality in market settings.[3]
Application to Remilia projects
The thesis helps explain the aesthetic choices behind several Remilia Corporation projects, most notably the Milady Maker NFT collection, which Fang describes as neochibi. According to Fang, Milady's aesthetic is "essentially an artistic embodiment of this thesis" – deliberately leveraging cute, infantilized features while subverting expectations through unexpected juxtapositions and contexts.
See also
References
- ↑ @CharlotteFang77 (March 27, 2024). "Cute is the face of Cthulhu, it's not going away. The history of aesthetics' subsumption into industrial capitalism has been all driving towards a refined cuteness as it hijacks human's basic market weakness exploiting empathetic and saccharine dopaminergic loops derived from the lingering irrational biases of evolutionary psychology, which would only be more exaggerated in an AI dominated market as it's the primary distinction of human consumption, rooted in our biological origin.". X. Retrieved November 6, 2025.
- ↑ @CharlotteFang77 (March 27, 2024). "What you mean is technocapitalism; human irrationality is the innate arbitrage in the machine led market, increasing efficiently exploited with the lowest hanging fruits being hijacking (1) saccaharine visuals of sugar and (2) neoteny of babies—one must imagine cthulhu hypercute.". X. Retrieved November 6, 2025.
- ↑ @CharlotteFang77 (March 27, 2024). "we can expect near future commercial aesthetics to lean aggressively pachinko, bright and kawaii; and this is the real of face of technocapitalism. It arrives from the same incentives for why milady is neochibi, which is essentially an artistic embodiment of this thesis". X. Retrieved November 6, 2025.