Research On Kawaii Aesthetics And Contemporary Character Design In Argentina

As a result of the power of globalization and its persuasive visual language,during the last 20 years the Japanese “kawaii” aesthetics became a worldwide phenomenon that spread around the world,transgressing cultural barriers and adapting to different social environments.Its presence in the Argentinean contemporary character design is a clear example of this phenomenon.Starting from the history and evolution of the kawaii concept and its visual language,this paper discusses the presence of the kawaii aesthetics in the Argentinean contemporary character design as a result of globalization,culture exchange and media development.It also analyzes its morphological traits from the psychological perspective and its impact as a sociocultural factor in Argentinean culture.The first part introduces the topic.The second part outlines the theories and general features of this cultural trend in Japan and how through the development of the mass media and the manga and anime it managed to get into argentine?s youth culture.The third part focuses on how the kawaii aesthetic was introduced into the contemporary character design as its representative graphic style and how this phenomenon has grown around the world.The last two sections address the impact of kawaii style in argentine contemporary character design and how it has evolved into new medias.It concludes with a general summary of how cute aesthetics is used in contemporary character design and its social implications.