I'm Too Cute to Die!

I’m going to bring up a problem that’s been presented to me about anthropomorphic fiction in the past by friends, family, and even teachers. It’s one that caught me by surprise so hard that I’m still recovering from the whiplash and waking up in a cold sweat on warm nights from the trauma.

You may not believe this, and it may shock and disturb you, so I apologize right now for anyone I may upset with this statement.

Are you ready? Here it goes…

Most anthropomorphic characters are too cute for the majority of the population to take seriously.

"Say it ain't so!"

I know, right? Totally blows your mind! Who knew that a genre typically filled with singing and dancing mice and bears with symbols on their tummies would be so hard to take seriously?

In all honesty, it really was an upsetting moment when I was working with my writing professor, crafting a deep world of interesting characters with real problems and dire consequences and danger everywhere they looked, and he sat me down to tell me that he was having trouble taking my work seriously. It was through no fault of my story-telling ability or a weakness of dialogue, but simply because “It’s hard to picture such cute characters in these situations.”

I’ll admit that I don’t know how to absolutely solve this problem, but I do think it’s something that really could use some discussion and thought.

I think the place to start, obviously, is where the problem comes from. Obviously, it’s from social conditioning as well as the type of stories and films that make up the majority of anthropomorphic media. I’ve already pointed out the Care Bears above, who are pretty much the definition of cloying cuteness, and that preconception isn’t going to go away any time soon. Children are often raised on stories of anthropomorphic critters, so the concept itself is inherently associated with childhood. It also doesn’t help that many novels headlining such characters are judged before they start. Let’s have a fun example. Below is the summary of ‘Redwall’, as given on the official website:

“As the inhabitants of Redwall Abbey bask in the glorious Summer of the Late Rose, all is quiet and peaceful. But things are not as they seem. Cluny the Scourge--the evil one-eyed rat warlord, is ell-bent on destroying the tranquility as he prepares to fight a bloody battle for the ownership of Redwall. This dazzling story in the Redwall series is packed with all the wit, wisdom, humor, and blood-curdling adventure of the other books in the collection, but has the added bonus of taking the reader right back to the heart and soul of Redwall Abbey and the characters who live there.

Wowsers! Bloody battle, you say? Destroying tranquility? Wit, wisdom, humor, and blood-curdling adventure? Why, that sounds like something fantastic! Perhaps not as serious as the latest political thriller, but it at least deserves the same level of respect as any good, thick, Tolkien-esque fantasy novel!

But the majority of adult readers, if they’d hypothetically had no other exposure to the series at all would turn up their nose before even reading any of that, and do you know why? Well, let’s look at one of the covers for the book:

To be honest, this cover still makes me feel excited to read it again.

Aww! Isn’t Mathias so adorable? With his little twitchy nose and tiny sandals… Why, of COURSE that’s a fantasy novel for children and children alone! Any coworkers who saw me carrying that around would think I’ve lost my mind …

And there is our key problem. For the majority of books centered on anthropomorphic characters, that first glance is so much more important than it is for most other books. Now, don’t get the wrong idea. Redwall IS a great book for kids to read, but it’s also got plenty for adults to enjoy as well. That’s far more difficult to communicate, it seems. Many of the popular novels these days have fairly non-descript or simplistic covers that are meant to draw the reader closer to learn more of what the story is about, but a typical anthro-focused story is going to want to understandably show off the characters or at least the world. After all, that’s one of the main things we love about such stories here! However, it’s difficult to make a novel about animal characters look ‘grown-up’ without making the characters appear extremely bestial and monstrous or overly sexual so as to narrow the niche of readers even further.

Communicating “I am a novel that is worth your time to read” is so incredibly hard already, but it feels even more that way for anthropomorphic fiction. Clearly there have to be things that can be done to make them more approachable for the readers who aren’t already interested like me and you, but what are they?

Darker Cover Art? NO cover art? Trying to flood the market with anthro novels geared towards adults?

Honestly, I think the answer truly lies in changing public perception, and that takes time. Even with all the great art and other examples in the world, many people will still hear a story about talking mice and think “That’s great for kids, but I’m going to go sit at the grown-ups table right now and read something else.”

What do you think?

In this instance, Rico (character of a dear friend) is demonstrating
how cuteness should be handled with care!

Happy reading, all!

-Chammy

Currently Reading:

The Unlikely Ones by Mary Brown