I blame Zooey Deschanel. The whole crazy of being adorkable started with her. Before, no matter how cute you were, if you were a dork it was a wrap. Now, people love people who are adorkable. It has become part of our culture. More and more characters on shows are poppig up who are positively gorgeous to the point it is hard to believe they ever would have been a dork. I can buy into it for some people, but not all.
What is Adorkable?
As the name suggests, it is a combination of being both adorable and a dork. essential it merges a personality trait with a physical trait. Thus someone adorkable is generally attractive and very cute. In short, they are easy on the eyes. However, then they are dorks. Some form of social outcast. However, they tend to be portrayed moreso as having offbeat quirks, rather than being a true dork with odd obsessions. This is because in the eyes of the public, even if someone is attractive, they can only take but so much quirk.
Why it’s annoying?
I touched on this before. Someone that is being portrayed as being adorkable is often not believable. We already know they are acting, but sometimes it can be extended too far. I can’t begin to fathom Skye from Agents of SHIELD to have cosplayed outside of Stark Tower. I can’t believe when they have stoic actors pretending to love fringe culture. Because I can’t believe it and it is a culture I enjoy it becomes annoying. There are some situations where I can believe an actor however. I do buy Zooey Deschanel as a quirky person. Maybe not as much as Jess from New Girl, but I get a sense she goes off the beaten path again. In those situations, I can generally push it out of my mind. But when later ruminating about being adorkable, I get annoyed at how pretty she is. It is petty, but it happens.
The Trend
With any luck, the adorkable trend will die down soon and we can go back to believe they are just people without playing up how eccentric a character is. But currently there are plenty of shows on air that embrass the trend in some way. Whether it is a main character like Jess or someone who is more of a guest, these characters keep popping up.
Do you enjoy adorkable characters?
I kind of agree, when Skye was revealed to have cosplayed “one time,” I was like… Mm, No, I don’t think you did.
It didn’t really seem to be in her character. But of course, it’s canon now, so I’ve accepted it.
I like adorkable to a certain extent, but you’re right, it will probably die down soon.
Skye is a very interesting character, but a cosplayer she is not.
I hope I didn’t come off as hating the adorable trend, I simply think it is overused and unbelievable with some people.
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