Do you agree with Gentaro Araki?

I just hope I didn't seem rude. ((not that it's ever stopped be before... -ahem-))

But seriously. Lonely people can have dolls, sure, but people don't have dolls because they're lonely per say.

 

Heh, since Gentaro Araki makes dolls, I'm pretty sure he understands the dolls pretty well.

In my opinion, the man is a very lonely guy and a lot of what he says is projection of his own feelings of why he likes dolls.

 

Hmm, I can't say that totally agree with his statements. But I don't totally disagree with some of them either.

I have dolls because I think they are fun. I love to dress them, make up stories about them, etc. I admit, sometimes I do talk to them, although most of the time I talk for them. But it's not because I really think they are real, I know they aren't. To me, dolls are fun, they are a work of art, and they are a work of art that is always in progress, because there is always something you can do to change your dolls, whether it's their clothing, wig, makeup or whatever. So it's a good creative hobby.

As for the lonliness factor, while I am sometimes lonely, that is not the reason that I want dolls. If I'm lonely, I'll try to find a human or an animal to keep me company - something living, with a soul. I just love dolls because... well, I just always have! But it has nothing to do with being lonely. Even when I don't feel lonely, I still love my dolls.

I agree though, perhaps because he makes dolls he is projecting his own feelings on these statements. And I can say that, as an artist, sometimes my work makes me feel less lonely. When you create a work of art, you put a part of yourself into it, so it can have that effect. If that is what he means, then it makes sense to me in a way.

 

Seems to me that it's hard to stereotype the reasons that people do what they do, whether you're talking collecting dolls or collecting stamps or playing baseball. Each person is who he is, each person has his own reason to do what he does. But hearing others express their opinions can give us sometimes insight into aspects of ourselves we may not have realized.

 

Visual kei isnt necessarily masking your self from society.. I feel it's most used to be rather shocking, outlandish another way of making what you have to say more solid.

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On the account of araki, I can see how Dolls are an extension of yourself.

Though in all honesty I would rather cuddle up to someone at night instead of my dolls, but I do find a strange comfort when they are around they sit with me at my computer and I have less of a sense of "lonliness" when they are there.

I dont necessarily talk to them outloud, I would just feel silly o.0
Though I DO create dialogue in my head while taking a photoshoot or just in my head in general.

As a child I was a huge fan of stuffed animals, they kept me company when no one else would, and they always came to my tea-parties, I feel dolls are an extension of that.

Because as much as you always need people, people will leave you. Dolls never will never leave you

hope I don't sound to crazy O-0

 

Does anyone have a new link for the interview? The link in the first post leads to a page that says the video has been pulled.

 

I think it's interesting how people maintain a separation between dolls and human relationships. The fact is, we're all here, developing and maintaining social relationships on this forum, because of our dolls. Why bother engaging in this thread about dolls if you (a) don't care about dolls and don't place some kind of importance in them and (b) don't want to interact with other people?

I do agree with his statement that dolls recreate the owners existence. This may be because due to the strange mix in my cultural background, I believe that we fashion our existence from the people, places, and objects that are around us. I don't exist independently, but in relation to everything that is around me. Dolls can serve as a mirror, a medium to express a sense of aesthetics, another self, or maybe even just an emotion that I'm feeling at a particular time.

I do agree with the person who said that dolls can't stand in for human relationships. But I think the reverse applies as well. A human shouldn't stand in for a doll. Dolls offer alternate possibilities. They can assuage some aspects of my loneliness in ways that humans can't just as people make me feel less lonely in other ways. These aren't necessarily mutually exclusive categories.

Loneliness is something that I've always taken to be part of the human condition. I honestly don't think that any number of dolls is going to make me feel less lonely. On the other hand, I don't think that having more friends is going to make me feel less lonely either. I dislike shallow friendships and really don't have time for them, so pretty much all of my friendships are very close. I am also close to my family, both nuclear and extended. But as long as there is hatred and people who refuse to look on me or others with understanding in the world, then some part of me is going to be perpetually stuck in a state of loneliness, confusion and fear. I don't like it. I'll do what I can to change it. At the same time, I recognize that I can't change the entire world. Still, I'd rather keep my heart and get hurt than the alternative.

Also, as a sidenote, while I know that in a lot of non-Japanese cultures, we feel no responsibility to our dolls, this isn't necessarily true in Japan. There are a lot of practices surrounding dolls that require that you take care of them or else bad stuff might start happening to you. I'm not sure how far this extends to ball jointed dolls, but from experiences I've had, I know that it's not just reserved for dolls that have a particular religious or spiritual function. Many people treat my animal backpack as if it is a real person and I have been repeatedly told that since I've owned it for over three years, it must be alive. Sometimes people treat the backpack with more care and respect than me! (Not sure how I feel about *that.*) There is a practice, still common, where you have to send your dolls to a Buddhist temple to be properly memorialized once you no longer have a use for them. People will do this for dolls, stuffed animals, and even action figures. The criteria seems to be, from what I've heard, anything that has a face. I'm not saying this is true of every Japanese person, but it's definitely much more prevalent than in, let's say, America.