If we acknowledge that kitsch is the “normal” art of our time, we have to recognize that is the obligatory starting point of any aesthetic experience. Consider the paradise of kitsch in which most modern children are immersed. In the Disneyland of childhood, aesthetic sensitivity is almost entirely subsumed under the comprehensive category of the cute. The infantile taste for cute things by itself has nothing to do with kitsch, because the general “law of aesthetic inadequacy” obviously does not apply to it. However, kitsch readily exploits this taste, and not only in children but also in numerous adults whose understanding of art has not gone too far beyond the level of childhood. If kitsch thrives on aesthetic infantilism, it is only fair to say that it also offers pedagogical possibilities, including the important realization that there is a difference between kitscho or pseudoart and art.

Mattei Callinescu, Five Faces of Modernity

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *