Lupi da borsetta: pedigree e selezione estrema nel discorso animale

The contemporary role of the dog has undergone a significant change from its original function as a means of survival to a more domesticated state, even the dog has become like an elective child. This transformation has led to a social perception of dogs as cute, childlike, sweet and harmless beings, as can be seen on social media. Once the lupine origin has disappeared, the dog becomes an accessory: the rhetoric of cuteness also has a dark side, from puppy yoga to genetic selection for mere aesthetic purposes, involving a violation of species rights. This paper proposes a semiotic analysis, conducted on a corpus drawn from social media, of the narrative and enunciative strategies that construct the ‘rhetoric of cuteness in the discourse on animality.