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Dolls Portraying a Message

Feb 22, 2010

    1. I've considered it but it's not Nuri's thing...She raises awareness by simply being herself! (btw she's also Jewish)
       
    2. Very interesting thread. I myself find it strange that a couple of my dolls represent lifestyles that I don't condone at all, stoned, wasted junkies with no ambition except to be young and pretty.
      I think it's so cool what your doll represents ReineDeLaSeine.
       
    3. Maybe if it where a part of there character, and something most certainly not politics, about the president, economy, ect. ect. because as said before it just gets people mad and upset.but if its for a wonderful origination like twloha (yeah im a supporter:aheartbea ), thats not something controversial as long as your not spamming pics here there and everywere. Not saying its not fine to have pics up on something like an on topic thread, or a tattoo thread, i see nothing wrong with it and if you do get i would love to see :)
       
    4. For me, I live and breathe my politics. It's not about preaching or whatever, it's who I am. But my characters and dolls are different from me. I gotta say I would have problems creating a character who was extremely opposed to me and my beliefs. I couldn't maintain it, I don't think.

      When I tell a story, the politics that my characters have are a part of that, unseperatable from the rest of those characters. And none of my causes i would demean by shoehorning into my character's storyline, since its fantasy, and mentioning real life charities would seem ridiculous!

      That's not a criticism on those who do involve their dolls with their personal activism because if it works for you, it's awesome.
       
    5. I think my dolls sort of portray a message. Perhaps that's why they barely get any replies in the photostory section! Christian stories just aren't that popular...especially when a newly ascended angel is trying to abstain from sex with his boyfriend because he's trying to be good for his creator.

      I think there's messages in my dolls for certain, because they're based on my books, and though the photostories are sort of a tangent from the book, a what-if\AU from them, the same basic messages are there. And it's religious.

      I don't force anything. I lay it out there in a hilarious, warm, sometimes confusing way for people to catch and digest as they wish. Because that's what true Christianity should be. Not an in your face, down your throat religion, but a loving, guiding, I'm here when you're ready sort of religion.
       
    6. No, I don't use my dolls for my politics. For one thing, they're all boys, so they wouldn't be terribly effectual crusaders for women's issues. :lol: But I do that kind of thing during businesstime, not during playtime. I prefer to keep the fantasy-world fantasy, whether or not it's realistically based. The characters have all got their own issues to worry about-- they don't need mine.

      Now, as to whether or not a viewer SEES anything political/messagelike in any of my dolls: That would be almost a whole different discussion, because people WILL see whatever they're looking for. People hear only what they're tuned to hear. For example, if they think I am lobbying for Big Tobacco merely because I have characters who smoke, or if they assume I'm a gay male because I have so many boy-doll couples, or if they extrapolate that I'm a speed-freak because I have characters who like drugs-- then that's what they're going to think, regardless of what my photostory actually says.

      And I have no trouble creating characters who are nothing like me, & who don't believe what I believe. That's why we HAVE characters, so you can try on somebody else's mind for a change. Some of my characters are, in fact, real jerks about women.... whether this handicap was a product of their upbringing, or whether they're just plain jerks, they're not guys I'd hang out with if they were real. Nobody is all-good or all-bad-- so these guys also have positive traits that I love in people. Likewise, they've all got some traits that come from me, and they've all got traits that are totally NOT me.

      So you apply layers of the good and the jerky, you apply more layers of "Me Traits" and "Not-Me Traits", and eventually they come out being much more satisfyingly rounded characters. I love my flawed characters the way I love my flawed human friends, lovers & family.
       
    7. Whether we intend it or not, our dolls reflect our thoughts, personality, likes, dislikes, and even the social happenings going on around us. All art does this, which is why studying paintings and literature from history is a viable subject in colleges, schools, and even museums. Even if we were to have a doll that is the total opposite of what we believe or like, we'd still be putting ourselves into the doll by doing just that.

      Still, I doubt most of us do this intentionally. I know I don't... O.o
       
    8. I think dolls can be used intentionally in that way, as art in general can. However, it's also good to remember that sometimes people's doll characters are quite different from themselves -- that's the beauty of fiction.

      Political issues do show up with some of my dolls, but it's not really with the intention to sway anybody one way or another -- it's just the way their characters are due to some personal interests of my own mixed with a liking for morally ambiguous characters. How much a character is or is not like me entirely depends. Often the ways in which we are most alike wouldn't be immediately noticed unless someone really knew me and really knew my characters well. They reflect me in various ways, but it's not always a direct correlation, and the intention is neither to sway or preach.
       
    9. My dolls definitely reflect parts of me, but I don't create them that way to send a message to anyone else. They're simply for my own enjoyment.
       
    10. I figure if you have expensive dolls, it'd be good to try to get a message across with them.

      Adult Content ahead:

      I'm a rather pro-sex individual (I intend on getting my doctorate in Human Sexuality a while after I get my management degree and start up my actual money-making businesses, rather than going directly into becoming a poor researcher)
      Because of this, I plan on using my dollfamily upon its completion as something of an educator about the normalcy of deviations from social norms, especially in a sexual context. The 4 main dolls I plan on having (of which I currently own one and am buying another; the tiny isn't in it, don't worry!) are going to represent a poly quad, as well as explore many other alternative lifestyle choices, showing them in a fair and equal light to more traditional concepts.
       
    11. My blog was asking people who follow me to have their dolls go wigless for Breast Cancer Awareness for a day or so. (I no longer have this blog)

      Not raising money or anything; just acknowledging the people who have suffered, or are suffering from breast cancer. It's nothing special, really.
       
    12. I use my dolls to relay a message, it gets attention, makes people smile and the kids love the dolls!
      I do this because this is who I am, I don't preach to anyone!

      [​IMG]WIPE OUT CANCER POSTER by PRGerry, on Flickr

      Just a very soft reminder.... This is October, Breast Awarness.......GET YOUR BOOBIES CHECKED!
       
    13. Love that poster!
       
    14. My dolls are mostly based on characters I've created, and while my goal with them isn't to portray a specific message, they kind of end up doing so in a roundabout way.

      My most recent doll, Mel, is a former soldier. He suffers from PTSD and is badly scarred, and has a lot of obnoxious physical quirks that came with his injuries (he can always tell when the weather's about to change, though!). I suppose in that sense his character suggests that overcoming emotional trauma takes just as much strength as overcoming the physical. He's also something of a response to a few stereotypes about homosexuality; he can be quite terse, is incredibly strong and very much a guy's guy, not to mention a deeply devoted spouse. He's been known to respond to homophobia with violence when provoked. :sweat
       
    15. Hmm, I would think the clothes I wear on my doll is actually what I would wanna wear in real life, but can't because there are no occasions to wear it or will cost too much to be made in human size xD So for me, my dolls kinda portray who I am. I go for girlish looks instead of the womanly mature look :3 But yea, that's cos I dress my doll according to what I want and not according to her character. I think there are lots of hobbyists out there who create characters for variety, even if the doll has piercings, doesn't mean the owners actually are into piercings in real life. Sometimes it just reflects what you wanna do, but can't do in real life maybe~
       
    16. My boy represents the fact that every saint has a past; every sinner has a future.
      and the fact that every abused and broken being deserves to be repaired.
      It's the way I think. If i see fit that he wears may it be a TWLOHA, McCruelty, or Homosexual pride shirt...I'm not going to shove that in anyone's face. Believe what you wish, my opinions don't have to be yours (:
       
    17. This is an interesting concept that I haven't thought of much before. Zettai_Yoru, I think that's actually really subtle and nice. I don't really know that I planned to be this open about my life on DoA, but this thread has inspired me, so what the heck...I deal with self-harm and depression myself, and I have thought about having a doll to represent that. My idea was that anytime I wanted to cut, I could paint a cut on a doll instead, but the idea seemed like it might be offensive to a lot of people, or at least controversial. Plus, I am too lazy to start trying to paint/customize myself. I would like my dolls to portray different messages in the future, and I see nothing wrong with it. This hobby is all about self-expression and that is what I would be doing.

      I feel like having dolls that have problems similar to my own would allow me to kind of distance myself from my problems and see them in a new light. These dolls give me something to focus on when I am not doing so well. Usually when I'm feeling depressed, nothing can cheer me up, but I'm finding since I got into this hobby that just focusing on my dolls can put me in a much better mood. And that to me is quite incredible, really. I am also a lesbian, and while I am not super-open about it (purely because it honestly isn't that important to me) I would really like to have gay dolls in the future. Unfortunately, I am not getting any vibes from the dolls I have...yet. And I want to thank you, Dollcumentary! I had never heard of anyone sacrificing marriage before to support the GBLT community. I would love to have gay dolls but so far, I just haven't been going in that direction.

      As for actually preaching the message, I think that I would. I wouldn't say it over and over again, but I may one day want to do a gallery post focusing on my views. Like I said, this hobby is about self-expression, and although not everyone would appreciate it, I am willing to risk that because self-expression is very important to me.
       
    18. No, I would never use my dolls to send out a political message or preach anything at all. It doesn't seem to fit with their function for me, which is something like a muse-they inspire me and I use them as a way to..form ideas or execute ideas. Ideas or concepts that are not uniformly 'good' or 'bad', they just are. If I wanted or had to convey a message with them, that would really limit my options and my ways of using them, because messages are usually considered 'good' things, such as, don't do drugs or fighting cancer and I like exploring also the less shiny parts of a character, and that wouldn't fit together. To convey such a message, the character would have to be almost uniformly 'good', otherwise the message would not be strong enough or the character would not be believable-like how we seem dissappointed when real life spokespeople for things we believe in turn out to have a muddy past or bad traits. It's human, but we don't want to know it-they represent the message, therefor they must be perfect in order for us to fully believe it. To me, dolls or characters that are perfect are not interesting, so I couldn't convey a message like that through my dolls, nor do I feel any need to.
       
    19. I remembered when I did my major graduated project, I was coming down to a depression period in my life. At that time, I was madly in love with 1/6 scale doll momoko. I did my major project surrounding on this doll. Now looking back, my major project is a success but it's very dark. Even my supervisor said it's kind of remind him of Silent of the Lambs movie.
      I represent my depression visually through the dolls. I didn't know that I have bipolar disorder back then. Later on, when I found out about my sickness, I kind of understand why I expressed my feeling toward the doll that way.
      You can see in the photos here a bit of my major project: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-is-me/sets/72157622912319988/

      It is a bit spooky that before I reach my first eposide of bipolar disorder, I post this photo on flickr which the theme Sheep Love. A cat in a skin of a sheep.
      [​IMG]
      This photo represent me when I can't sleep at night and keep listening to all the noise around me.

      And also this message when I'm in medication and getting better with my sickness. My message: The medicine of the heart. Now I'm much better and without medication and getting back to loving doll ^^
      [​IMG]
      A great thread. Thank you Zettai_Yoru.
       
    20. I also think our dolls reflect a little bit of who we are. My two main girls are lesbians, and I am a gay rights advocate. They can be a lot more free than we can sometimes.