Acclaimed critic Sianne Ngai theorizes the gimmick as an aesthetic category reflecting the fundamental laws of capitalism. Gimmicks make promises of saving labor and increasing value that we distrust but also find attractive. Exploring...

blind spots in contemporary literary and cultural criticism. Her work maps a major intersection of literary studies, media and cultural studies, feminist studies, and aesthetic theory. von Ngai, Sianne

In "Our Aesthetic Categories: Zany, Cute, Interesting" analysiert Sianne Ngai drei spezifische ästhetische Kategorien, die in der zeitgenössischen Kultur von Bedeutung sind: das Verrückte (Zany), das Niedliche (Cute) und das Interessante...

The zany, the cute, and the interesting saturate postmodern culture, dominating the look of its art and commodities as well as our ways of speaking about the ambivalent feelings these objects often inspire. In this study Ngai offers an...