A cost-saving panda is cute

Chapter 3 examines cuteness as the core attraction of the giant panda and asks how this aesthetic category also reflects the animal’s use as a means of production in the capitalism. As a form of biopower, cuteness is more than just charm; according to the design of the WWF logo of the giant panda, it is a cost-saving strategy. This means that cuteness is linked to human and animal populations that can be mobilized, managed, and regulated for their specific tasks and labor capacity in a capitalist regime, in a proficient and efficient gesture. Meanwhile, this exploitation of both animals and humans can be aestheticized through the image of the cute. In this chapter, I show how cuteness achieves this level of power through its alignment with biopower and its mechanism.