"Attachment to Inanimate Objects".

I can't really say I often am found bonding with regular inanimate objects. Sure, my art supplies, especially those I put good money into are cherished, become special, but I wouldn't call that a "bond." Bond to me means that there is some sort of symbiotic relation going on, since it can't feel back, I'd feel bad claiming that it shares mutual feelings when I'm speaking for it, thinking for it, and doing everything else for it.

As for the dolls... I guess you could call it bonding, for lack of better words, when you feel like I do with my dolls. They're my little confidants. They make me happy, they're always supporting me just by existing, and they never complain. ^___^; Unless of course I want them to.

I definitely know there's a line drawn between the reality of them being inanimate, and my fantasy world of wanting them to be real. Still doesn’t mean I don't feel guilty when one sleeps in the bed and the other doesn't. Still doesn't mean I don't alternate my affections to make sure they are both "loved." But- to me it's more of a display of affection to the characters I've made, many years ago and how I "love" them, than it is how I "love" a piece of resin.

I hope that makes sense. ^____^;

 

I am very attached to inanimate objects- I'd talk to books, my laptop, even the family car [which scares the hell out of people ><] Likewise, I am also very attached to my characters... So i can understand where one is coming from. I actually "love" these objects, for lack of a better word.

 

As someone who played World of Warcraft for years, I found myself very attached to my virtual characters, although I was fully aware that they are no more than a bunch of data on a server somewhere. Now, will I die if my avatars are erased? No. But I will mourn the investment of time, effort and emotion I've put into hours of gaming, not to mention memories of interactions with other players. While a virtual character can theoretically be restored, those unique moments cannot. I haven't played in a while, but I still experience vivid and strong emotions when I recall the adventures. Realizing their virtual origins does not diminish the real quality of those emotions.

If a doll is a representation of a person's character - be it from his or her writing, or an imaginary alter-ego - then it becomes more than an object, but an avatar, an icon. One doesn't have to subscribe to an animist heathenry to understand that. Consider Orthodox Christianity, where the holy icons of God and the saints are a part of liturgical practice. When the faithful bow and kiss these icons, they express their love and veneration not to the wooden board, no matter how beautifully painted, but the spiritual truth reflected in it.

I do not presume to compare our dolls to religious objects. But I do believe an inanimate object may become more than itself if a human being invests it with a deeper meaning, ALMOST (not really, rather virtually) to the point of becoming animate. The rest depends on your notions of "real" vs "virtual," and that is a separate philosophical debate.

 

wow Katyok, you said that much better than i ever could. i actually had this conversation, almost argument, with my BF the other day and i didn't quite know how to explain the difference between loving a real living thing and loving an object, because there is a difference. i see these dolls the same as i see my RP characters. i love my characters, but they are part of me. when i die, they will also die, and become me again. same with the dolls. the thing in the dolls that we love when we bond is ourselves. that is why we can sell the dolls and have them be completely different personalities to the new owner. it is possible to love ourselves, and thus it is possible to love our dolls. but can we ever truely "bond with them, since it's really only one person, and to bond there must be two? if i had to choose between a doll and a real life person (not including serial killers, rapists, creppy people, and others that would be potentially dangerous) and a doll, i would most deffinately choose the person, because you can love a doll, but a doll can never, ever love you back. if they hug you it's because you posed them to. if you cry, they cannot dry your tears unless you move thier cold hands to do do, thus essentially drying your own tears. sometimes dolls can make you feel less lonely, but sometimes they can make it incredibly worse. but i don't think i could NOT put a personality into a doll, it's just something i do naturally. hm... i've written alot. i suppose i will stop here.

 

Personally, I think half the fun of owning a BJD is being attached to the doll, and personifying it in any way you please. Owning something as artistic and beautiful as a BJD and treating it as just another object to collect dust on a shelf is somewhat disappointing to me. Besides, objects such as toys and dolls are meant to be cared for and loved. Even if doing so is deemed childlike, this doesn't mean it's wrong. It's just another silly stereotype. So point blank, I think it's perfectly normal (not to mention fun and creative) to make characters/personalities for your dolls if it makes you appreciate them more, and you enjoy doing it.

 

Oooh! This is a good topic! All the responses are really interesting. I don't think there's anything wrong with having an emotional attachment to inanimate objects, unless it causes problems in one's life. For example: your doll is damaged and you are so upset you skip work/school to mourn the loss. At that point, your attachment to an inanimate object is interfering with other aspects of your life.

Bonds with anything have always fascinated me. I have a lot of trouble bonding with people and usually prefer inanimate objects. I have a lot of trouble identifying emotions in both myself and the people around me, which makes interaction very stressful. With my dolls I don't have to worry about that. I always know how they're reacting and feeling because I'm the one making it up. They also won't judge me for not having the appropriate emotional response to an event.

 

I totally agree with Katyok (about the on line characters and about dolls ).

It is really easy for me to bond with inanimate objects (since childhood). I don't really remember how it started, probably when I was a little baby, cause me and my twin sister was used to give names to everything and handle our toys and things in general as they were alive.

When I started to collect dolls, to give name to them was a natural thing to do, as to create a story and a character for each of them.
I discover DoA only few months later and I was very happy to see that there are many other collectors with the same idea about dolls and characters.

I am not totally attached to the dolls as resin pieces, cause when I decide that a character need a new shell, I simply change it (selling the old one and buying a new one) but I am attached to the characters and, basically, I feel every item that is mine as unique and precious.
Probably I still am a person who gives names to inanimate things, as I did in my childhood

 

I have always loved stuffed animls and dolls...but i have never really given them a personality.

I have definitely tried to give my Alice a personality and tried to imagine what she would say while i make her outfits, or make up a story of her life before she came to me a year ago. But it just..never comes to me.

I am however extremely attached to her. she goes to her bed at night when i do, and when i get home from work she sits next to my computer with me or downstairs to work on her.

I am actually very envious of people who can give their dolls such great personalities and back stories. Who knows, maybe when my new dolls get here i will have better luck :]

 

I get attached to many things like dolls and the model vehicles that I collect amongst other things but I have always hated waste and not being able to throw anything out makes me a terrible hoarder and then I complain I have no space.
It doesn't run in my family though, my sister is terribly disposable and loses, breaks or throws anyway virtually anything.
I'm expecting my first BJD and feel like I'm in love with him already but whether or not I will really bond with him when we meet (I do hope so) well time will tell.....

 

I've never really attached or bonded to any inanimate objects until I got into BJDs. I mean sure, I would yell at a TV or computer if it doesn't work right or get severely stressed out if my character in a video game is about to die (ok, if video games count: I've become very bonded to Link from LoZ xD), but when I used to play with barbies I never gave them much thought. I would create scenarios but each barbie had a different personality every time. With my girls though, I feel like they're actually extensions of me in little dollie forms. I bonded with Alana the moment I took her our of the box, she's my little girl and I love her. Even when I don't have time to do anything with her for a little while, when I take her back off of the shelf I remember how much I care. Mariane is a little harder to bond with because she wasn't my doll to start with and I never planned on getting a doll like her. I actually have no clue about her story so far or how she fits into Alana's I feel like I can tell if she's happy or sad depending on what's going on around her but I think it's because she has such a strong personality in my head. I find nothing wrong with bonding with inanimate objects because they can be as real as you want them to be in your head, as long as you know that in real life they're just really expensive hunks of human-shaped resin

 

same here
and as for bonding with the doll it was pretty easy because i bonded with my character that i created first and to actually see my own creations in well 3d for me is the best flippin thing in the world, and speaking of that i think if i could give my character a personality i can certainly do the same for his 3d counterpartanyway getting to the other point i'm an amatur artist and my doll's character is the main character from my graphic novel that i have been and still am currently working on for the last 3 years.

 

I do collect items like lion plushies, fairy figurines and the like but unless they have a sentimental value I am not overly attached. Example I have a lot of very nice pretty lion plushies but if there was a fire in my house i would save the turtle plushie I have had since birth.

As for the doll I am getting I dont plan on talking to it yes it will have a name for it is a way to memoralize a character who was a way to memorialize some one who was close to me I know I will be attached to it for the person it represents. Material things are transient... no matter your wealth you cant take them with you when you are gone

 

When I get my doll, I know I will be deeply attached, I already am, and I haven't even met him yet, he could be totally different that what I think he is like, but I think that I will love him no matter what!

I will probably talk to him, I talk to my pets, I talk to my other dolls, so it'll be no different with a BJD

 

As a child, I literally named (and attributed personalities to) almost every single appliance in the house--including vaccuum cleaners, ovens, TVs, bread machines, etc. (The funny thing is that I remember most of these names.) I feel like I've "bonded" with... well, quite a lot of inanimate objects. When my computer is slow, sometimes I pat it and tell it it's a "good girl" because... well, if I was feeling sluggish, I'd want to be told I was a good girl too xD

I know that sounds absolutely, totally insane, but... that's just how I roll. xD I know that petting my computer will ~not~ make it run faster. My computer is not conscious/sentient, it does not have a "soul" (not that I believe in souls), so the attention I give it is more for me than for it. Does that make sense?

And the weird thing is that it takes a while to develop these attachments. I'm slowly becoming more and more bonded with Milo.... moreso every day. *shrug* As his personality develops, my attachment to him will do the same.

 

@Tardis

I know exactly what that is like, I always used to name cars when I was little, the family van was always Steve, but then he died. I remember I cried like a baby when Steve died.

 

I never liked throwing my things away but i neverr "Bonded" with or gave anything a fixed character until I got Tala my CP EL. now every time something pops up where I think my mum will make me sell him or I personally would have to, I want to cry because I just couldn't do it, simply because he immediatly became the representation of a character I created a long time ago and recently fell in love with writing as. I'd just cry for days if I had to give him up now.

 

My dolls have like characters attached to them and stuff but uh I don't like "bond" with them or treat them any different than say my computer... :c I give a lot of inanimate objects that I like names. My computer and tablet both go by names. I don't really bond with my tablet and take it out to the lake to watch the sunset with it and such.

 

Lol @ Kilty, Understandable.

Even as adults, bonding to inanimate objects is inevitable, we are taught too as children. With dolls, with blankets, with all sorts of things. Ever doll, every toy, every thing, has it's own soul, and we get attached to those souls, even if we may not always hear the souls.

 

i came here with nothing and i will leave with nothing.
to be attached to something is to have regret.

 

personally i get really attached to inanimate objects. like my gazillion stuffed animals...
everything i owned had a name, personality, etc.
even now, most of my stuff has a distinct personality and i just flat out love them.
so if something bad happened and i had to get it replaced i would be heartbroken
i try not to get too attached but i just care about everything too much >.>