The final theme I was researching was cats, notably the one I was probably most emotional about. I know the topic of this is exceptionally broad, and so I narrowed my field of research down to what people love about cats, hoping that in understanding that it would better inform me as to how to elicit the emotions I feel about cats in other people.
Find the full brainstorm here.
I began by looking at the historical aspect to loving cats, noting how the Egyptians had actually worshipped them and adorned them in jewellery. They have more negative connotations in other cultures, however, appearing as superstitious symbols in medieval England. Whilst this was interesting, it didn't really answer any of my questions about why we love cats so much.
The thing that struck me as most obvious about our love for cats is also something that cropped up in my research on Fables. Anthropomorphising is something we do not just to cats, but to all animals, and we do it so we can better understand and connect with them. Cats and humans don't have an awful lot in common, but assigning them emotions, motivations and characteristics helps us feel like we do. We interpret their upturned mouths as smiles, their desire to drink out of our glass as stubborn persistence. Whilst these things aren't true, it helps us feel connected to them, and like we understand them and they us.
We also find cats very funny, as evidenced by the endless cat content on the internet. From research I did, this stems from a psychological reaction that's the exact opposite to the above research on anthropomorphism. Cats are humorous to us because their behaviour often errs away from human behaviour. Meaning when our cat won't sit anywhere but on a tiny square of paper despite you just having bought them a £30 cat bed, we find it perplexing, which is closely related to humour.
I spent some time collating videos and images of strange things my cats have done that I find funny. See more on my padlet.
Aside from being hilarious, there's a lot of scientific research supporting the claim that cats are stress relieving. A study I read showed that owning cats reduces your risk of cardiovascular diseases. Not only this, but the frequency of a cats purr can stimulate healing.
Cats are obviously beautiful creatures, with their slanted eyes and languid, curved bodies. This and the "cute-factor" are another component to our love for them.
Finding cat-centric artists was a little challenging when only doing surface-level research. A lot of searching uncovered that a lot of classical artists loved cats, but not many of them made their way continually into their artwork.
I discovered Pierre Bonnard, a traditional French artist who's work often features cats.
Laurel Burch is a wonderful artist who uses bold shapes and colours, and usually uses cats as her subject.
And finally, I had to include Lucy Knisley, a cartoonist and author I found via instagram. Her funny, charming depictions of cats capture perfectly everything we love about them.
