If you know why the ‘Dune’ stars and celebs are posing this way, you’re definitely Gen Z
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They’re pouring their hearts out.
When “Dune: Part Two” Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Austin Butler posed Thursday at the much-anticipated franchise film’s premiere in Seoul, South Korea, the trio didn’t offer up your standard, simmering red-carpet moves.
Instead, the performers each cupped one of their hands to the side of their smiling faces in a half-heart shape as photographers captured the unified gesture.
Some confused baby boomers and Gen Xers were likely left pondering, “What are they doing?”
Other fans also clamored about another gesture in which Chalamet crossed his thumbs and index fingers, with one X user asking in all caps: “WHY IS TIMOTHEE DOING AEGYO????”
It turns out Gen Zers Chalamet, 28, and Zendaya, 27, joined millennial Butler, 32, in embracing forms of the Asian country’s cultural mainstay aegyo (pronounced “ay-gyo”).
The gestures are popular ways of posing — or, in another form, speaking — to convey love or to signify something cute or adorable, reportedly with roots in the Joseon dynasty reaching back to the late 1300s, according to Rolling Stone.
OK, boomer?
The finger heart sign — a mini-gesture of love — was reportedly originated by South Korean actress Kim Hye-soo back in 2010, but the move also took hold at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, when Team USA “threw up the Finger Hearts” when posing for photos.
That same year, cast members of the Marvel movie “Black Panther” — including 40-year-old star Lupita Nyong’o — also embraced the concept at the action film’s Seoul premiere.
The gesture has been more recently popularized by some K-pop girl groups including Blackpink and Luda of WJSN, as well as mega-boy band BTS — perhaps most notably when they met with President Joe Biden at the White House to talk about anti-Asian hate in the summer of 2022.
The single and double cheek hearts — Chalamet also demonstrated the latter while in Seoul — were recently demonstrated with aplomb, among other popular gestures, by Korean influencer Jeff Kimieee.
Many such moves, according to K-pop fan site Kpopmap.com, can be a way for celebrities to offer affection toward their legions of fans.
To that end, South Korean rapper Taecyeon, 35, demonstrated a whopping 10 heart poses for excited onlookers just last year.
Ah, to be young at heart.
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