A kidult is an adult whose interests or media consumption is traditionally seen as more suitable for children. It can also mean a parent who acts childish with their children, but does not take on their duties as a disciplinarian.[1]

Similar portmanteau terms for such people are rejuvenile[2] and adultescent.[3] A related concept is that of Peter Pan syndrome, where a person is reluctant to grow emotionally after childhood.[4]

History

The concept of the "Peter Pan syndrome" or "puer aeternus" indeed refers to individuals who resist or avoid the responsibilities and challenges associated with adulthood, choosing to remain in a state of emotional or psychological immaturity. Today, often called Peter Pan syndrome, it means a person remaining emotionally at that of a teenager or even a child. The name is derived from the archetypal literary eternal boy, Peter Pan. In connection to this concept, the idea of departing "Neverland" mirrors the reluctance to embrace the inevitability of growing up.

The term kidult was first used in the 1950s by the television industry to refer to adult viewers who enjoyed television programs targeted at children.[5] Thunderbirds, for example, was designed specifically to capitalize on this "kidult" demographic, and aired in the evening rather than in the afternoon to accomplish this.[6][7]

One of the most well-known and extreme cases of Peter Pan syndrome and the kidult mentality was of Michael Jackson. Jackson had explicitly stated that he did not want to grow up, and owned a large collection of arcade games, toy cars and fantasy and sci-fi memorabilia. Michael also had a fascination with the Peter Pan character, and attempted to create a theme park on his property called Neverland Ranch.[8]

Modern usage

In the early 21st century, there was a sudden increase in reporting that for an adult to have interests traditionally expected only from children is not necessarily an anomaly. This is mostly due to the rise of the entertainment industry.[2] The entertainment industry was quick to recognize the trend, and introduced a special category, "kidult", of things marketable for kids and adults alike.[9][10] Enormous successes of films such as Shrek and Harry Potter,[11] of animated television series such as My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic the target demographic of young girls, of young adult fiction books traditionally targeted for teenagers[12] and the fact that Disneyland is among the world's top adult (without kids) vacation destinations[9] seem to indicate that "kidulthood" is a rather mainstream phenomenon. Kidulthood also appears to exist on the Internet, with grown adults treating each other like children, especially in discussion on Twitter, by calling people "homegirl", "girlie", and "sweetie". And unlike puer aeternus, "rejuveniles" successfully marries adult responsibilities with non-adult interests.[9] When Christopher Noxon appeared on The Colbert Report on June 29, 2006, he remarked that "There's a big difference between childish and childlike".

Karen Brooks has written about what she calls the "commodification of youth": entertainers sell "the teen spirit" to adults who in the past were called "young at heart".[13]

In South Korea, the buzzword kideolteu was used in 2015, highlighting the market trend of increasing toy sales (such as drones and "electric wheels") to adults.[14]

Kidult fashion

Kidults in South Korea and London Cutesters often wore cartoon character shirts like these.

The precursor to kidult fashion (also known as kidcore)[15][16] is Japanese "kawaii" street fashion of the 1970s–1990s.[16] This street fashion was highly influenced by Japanese nostalgia of the era.[16] Due to cultural differences, much of contemporary kidcore fashion looks different than kawaii.[16] However, the core desire to rebel against gender roles and reject social expectations is fundamentally unchanged in contemporary kidcore and its other predecessors.[16]

Mentions of kidult fashion in South Korea exist in the research as far back as 2002[17] though it's unclear how popular it was at the time. One paper from 2016 analyzes the kidult trend in Korean women's fashion in a time frame that spans between 2006 and 2015.[18] Designers studied in this article were primarily based out of New York, France, and Italy, suggesting cultural exchange as an influence on this trend.[18] Mid-2000s and 2010s South Korean kidult fashion focused heavily on famous logos and cartoons, as well as toys.[18][19] By 2016, K-pop celebrities like Exo were wearing cartoon-oriented graphic tees.[19]

Kidult jewelry was often inspired by simplistic costume jewelry worn in childhood, such as this rainbow beaded necklace.

Other mid-2010s adoptees of this trend were the "cutesters" from the nu-rave subculture in London.[20] People involved in this subculture wore slogan tees, cut-off shorts, hair scrunchies,[21] skinny jeans and hoodies.[20] Clothing that contained cartoon characters were common.[20][22] These outfits were typically worn during kidult activities, such as dance parties with floors filled with inflatable toys[20] and breakfast cereal cafés.[23]

In the late 2010s, kidult fashion saw a shift from cartoon tee shirts and casual wear to a more holistic embrace of youthful femininity, particularly based out of candy, feminine toys like Polly Pockets, and 1990s/early 2000s nostalgia.[24][25] Accessories like friendship bracelets, beaded jewelry, hair clips, and childlike purses were part of the trend.[25] Celebrity men like Ryan Reynolds,[26] Harry Styles, Bad Bunny, and Frank Ocean were seen wearing beaded kidult jewelry in the 2020s.[27] E-girls and e-boys were also known to embrace youthful fashions at this time, but their sense of style was more influenced by scene and emo subcultures of the 2000s, 1990s grunge, cosplay, anime, K-pop[28] and Japanese street fashion.[29]

One of the more recent examples of kidult fashion is the Sylvie-Bag by Gucci made out of Lego by the chinese artist Andy Hung.[30]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Kidult", Oxford Dictionaries
  2. 1 2 Christopher Noxon, Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes, and the Reinvention of the American Grown-up, 2006, (online book preview)
  3. ↑ "Adultescent", Oxford Dictionaries
  4. ↑ "About Us". The Kidult Life. 2019-10-30. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
  5. ↑ Morris, William (23 November 1956). "Words, Wits, and Wisdom". Milwaukee Journal. p. 60.
  6. ↑ Anderson, Sylvia (2007). Sylvia Anderson: My Fab Years!. Neshannock, Pennsylvania: Hermes Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-1-932563-91-7. Our market had grown and a 'kidult' show ... was the next step.
  7. ↑ Bentley, Chris (2005) [2000]. The Complete Book of Thunderbirds (2nd ed.). London, UK: Carlton Books. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-84442-454-2.
  8. ↑ "Kidults, the adultescent market", Fameable, February 15, 2016
  9. 1 2 3 "Kidult", Oxford Dictionaries
  10. ↑ "Forty-Year-Old Virgins", by Tony Dokoupil, December 15, 2007
    • Quote: "So what's driving this rejuvenile movement? Marketing, mostly."
  11. ↑ "Are you a Kidult?", The Guardian
  12. ↑ "The grown-up world of kidult books", The Telegraph, 11 January 2003
  13. ↑ Karen Brooks, "Nothing Sells Like Teen Spirit: the Commodification of Youth Culture" in: Youth Cultures: Texts, Images, and Identities, 2003, ISBN 027597409X, pp. 1-16
  14. ↑ be, success (2015-11-30). "연말 유통 트랜드 분석, '드론, 전동휠' 아웃도어 키덜트 제품 인기".
  15. ↑ Yaeger, Lynn (2023-01-22). "Ready for a Cute Overload This Spring? Kidcore is Coming". Town & Country. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 Salamone, Lorenzo (January 26, 2022). "What is kidcore?". nss magazine. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  17. ↑ Lee, Hyo-Jin, and Geun-Young Ryu. "A Study on the Kidult Fashion in Korea". Proceedings of the Korea Society of Costume Conference. The Korean Society of Costume, 2002.
  18. 1 2 3 Zhai Jia; Lee Youn Hee; 이윤미 (2016). "Expression and characteristics of kidult in contemporary women's collection". The Research Journal of the Costume Culture. 24 (5): 670–686. doi:10.29049/rjcc.2016.24.5.670. ISSN 1226-0401.
  19. 1 2 "Kidult fashion catches on". kpopherald.koreaherald.com. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  20. 1 2 3 4 Manning, James (June 6, 2016). "Twelve things that wouldn't exist without nu-rave". Time Out Worldwide. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
  21. ↑ Paisner, Guy Pewsey, Patricia Nicol, Sarah Cohen, Guy (2015-06-26). "Museum sleepovers, spacehopper races and cartoon marathons: kidult". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2023-04-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  22. ↑ Martin, Clive. "Cutesters: the Horrific New Trend That's Consuming London". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  23. ↑ Godwin, Richard (2014-12-16). "The cutester: meet London's latest social stereotype". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  24. ↑ Sidell, Misty White (2019-03-11). "Aging Millennials Soothe Themselves With Childlike Fashions". WWD. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  25. 1 2 Radin, Sara (2019-09-07). "Why Are We All Dressing Like Children?". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  26. ↑ Clark, Murray (2022-08-10). "Ryan Reynolds Is Like a Kid in a Jewellery Store". Esquire. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  27. ↑ Furness, Joseph (2022-08-05). "Harry Styles and Frank Ocean Are Leading the 'Kidult' Jewellery Trend. Here's How to Get in on It". Esquire. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  28. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2023-04-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  29. ↑ "How to dress like an E-girl in 2022: your definitive guide". Heat. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  30. ↑ Collado, Noelia (2018-11-13). "La fantasía de moda de la era 'kidult': un bolso Gucci de Lego | Actualidad, Moda". S Moda EL PAÍS (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-07-25.
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