Just an object?

My dolls are part decoration (they have a lovely shelf in my bookcase)
My muses! (I love writing about them, RolePlay or just thinking of background info and photograph them)
My fitting mannequins (I love sewing for them)

But... also my emotional outlet. They are the personification of my taste and different elements of myself.
Therefore if I'm sad, angry or just not feeling well, I like to cuddle them or relax by cleaning them, redressing them or shoot pictures of them.

AlsoI like just staring at them. Just admiring their beauty.

 

Well, to me, my dolls are just objects.
They're objects I am emotionally attached to and treat with loving care, but at the same time what I'm really attached to with them is the character of mine they represent. The character that in pretty much all cases existed before the doll.
If the dolls were to be lost/destroyed, I'd be a little sad, but I know I'd get over it (Even though some are irreplaceable). The characters wouldn't be lost, and that's the important thing. Hence, they are just objects. =)

 

I'd never scratch or boil her or anything that may destroy it simply because it's too expensive ... I ordered 2 .. I might get some more if they proved quality dolls for the money I paid ... one of the 2 is more unique so gets a decor-credid ... so I'll prefer this style next I believe ... if something happened to them I might ordered them again- if I had the money ... but I don't have the money , so I have to be careful ... nothing emotional just I'll treat them like my stereo ... carefully

 

I'm both emotionally attached and detached from my dolls. I love them to death and have hugely elaborate backstories for them all, but similarly I am aware they're just hunks of resin and expensive toys. I know plenty of people who own dolls but who would rather go hungry than sell one for food - I would sell mine in a heartbeat because although I do have an attachment to them, my survival instinct is stronger than that attachment.

As for "she has feelings!!!" I consider that more an attachment of the character, rather than the shell. I may sometimes refer to my dolls in such a manner, but usually in a joky way Particularly when it refers to someone making a rude/tactless comment I feel it's more an objection of the owner's offense than the doll's, I know I would hold my doll to me and say "awww don't be mean!" and cover his/her ears if people were being rude, but it would be that or slap them for being insensitive jerks To me, for my choices, not to the doll.

 

As some have said before me, my attachment is really to the character that the doll embodies. I do, however, also find a sense of companionship when my boy is near me though. I don't tend to get lonely so much I don't think (and when you're bipolar that's quite a comfort I suppose). I realise he is just a doll, but it gives me a creative outlet (photography, stories, etc) as well as a comfort that he's always there. So basically I play with him a lot and he comes places. He's not a shelf doll at all, but I am careful that he doesn't get 'injured' I suppose (and when I say that I mean like dragging his face along the ground or letting people rip him to pieces and all that kind of junk).

 

My dolls are bodies for characters, and if something happened to the doll technically the character would still be around. However, the longer I have the doll the more the character and the doll become entwined together and when I talk about my dolls I mean the whole shebang--doll body + character. In my eyes they are one uh, being in a sense though if disaster struck they could be separated. I admittedly do see mine as more than just pretty objects owing in large part to the amount of my own energy that has gone into them. It's transformed them from just a pretty doll into something more, if that makes any sense. They do act as creative inspiration for me and do also lend a sense of companionship.

 

None of my dolls are one-offs, but even so, if something happened to any one of them, I don't feel like I'd be able to replace them with the same mold. They wouldn't "be" the same doll to me... so, I guess I'm rather attached to them!

I find it very hard to NOT treat them in a human-like manner... though they're really tiny, they have such realism... I don't -- or rather, feel like I can't -- leave them face-down in a corner, or swing them round by their heads or whatever. I do not believe they are really alive, and I do not believe they really have feelings... but I still want to treat them with respect. Because they're so lovely ^_^

EDIT: Haha, Asatee, I just saw the photo you linked in your first post! I carry my dolls like that ^^

 

They're toys. Big, fancy, pretty toys. I treat them with care and I'm fond of the characters I gave them but I'm not above lugging them around by just the neck. While it's important with any expensive luxury item to keep it in good condition and to appreciate it, I don't feel like I have to worry about how cold their feet are (my dolls almost never wear shoes) or hold their hand to feel like they're of value. So mine are, essentially, expensive ornaments to pretty up my living space, though I've given them names and backstories.

ETA: I seem to be projected on the wrong side. I'm on the fence with this situation. Dolls are toys, and I don't care that deeply in the end about them or the hobby, but I do happen to roleplay with their characters and I am emotionally attached to these luxury items.

 

To be honest with you, I'm more connected to my teddies than my dolls, and certainly wouldn't manhandle or leave them laying about unless it was in a joky way.

 

To me, they are objects, but not just any objects. They have characters and are special to me - I'd have a much harder time replacing one of them, even with the same mold, than I would have say, upgrading my ipod or something. I think part of it is how human they look. I don't like to move them in ways that would hurt a human, or leave them lying around looking "broken" or in an "unnatural" way, I prefer to have them sitting somewhere posed. I don't get creeped out by my dolls, but if their arms or feet are in a painful-looking position I have to fix it, it makes me cringe!

I know that they are just objects and don't have feelings, but they DO seem to have/develop personalities. They're expressive in a way most other dolls and toys just aren't capable of being, and their human-like appearance inspires empathy in me. If you swing a Barbie around by her leg and sit her with her head twisted backward, she'll still have that same smile on her face. My boys appear to GLARE if you leave them in an odd position. Crow even looks alarmed sometimes.

 

wow Asatee you opened a well-aimed theme!!

Yes they get hysteric... & most dolls are not even art but come "blank-or in a mass way repainted" molded pieces which can be produced the same again & again,..they are for sure beautiful craftsmanship but not even a unique or ooak artists doll or a painting ... & of course it has no feelings ,...it just have value & it's much pricey
I usually don't bother with hysteria of this kind just let it pass away ...

I totaly agree with Asatee & with nanlady they are either decoration or fancy luxury toys & I can't understand emotional attachment , the fact is I'll never do, I'm too practical & realistic for this ... but I realize where it comes from... the difference doesn't come from owning a doll or not
& it's not this attachment connected with changing them clothes/wigs/eyes to have different decorations like a decor-doll , neither with playing/remember childhood & have it like a precious toy , posing/ playing etc- that's cute & lovely when it's clear that it's an expensive toy /(or with other toys you owned from childhood-or remind childhood it's memories from your life)- ... those are all innocent fun & amusement ...
...BUT when "role-playing games" involves with anything we can see results like this "feelings/characters" stuff described, & here this stuff "it has feelings/character" smells to me role-playing games ...that's where this attachment comes from ... I don't think this is related with the object they use each time... the need for attachment with something fantastical or with something voiceless (can't say no to anything) uses the doll to be expressed ... I'm not bothering with that stuff at all ... & get myself far away from anyone rpg addicted ... just to save hours of precious time lol...

 

Well, I've only had my doll for almost 4 months now. I've read about people who seem to have a really strong, personal, connection with their doll. I have yet to feel that yet. But I am very careful with my doll.. Minus the first time she fell face first on the pavement. D8;;
But that aside! I try to be very careful with her. I'm still afraid to try and take her apart. Lol. But she isn't much decoration.. Around the house. As my mom doesn't like her. But when I get her back from my friend (who wouldn't let anything happen to her), I'll be leaving her roaming around my new room! So that way she wont be staying in her box most the time like she used to. I don't trust her sitting around while my mom is around.. But yeah!
But she is much more then a "toy" I would leave lying around the floor. She can be very inspirational.. I'm becoming very interested in photography because of her. And sewing.. But I've been to lazy to try and figure that out. I'm been quite disappointed in the past. Lol. But I know eventually I'll get really interested in that. So, she isn't only a doll.. She's a opening for many new interest. :'D

 

To me, this is rather offensive. I'm practical and realistic, but I enjoy having fun. My dolls have characters and personalities but I understand that they aren't going to get up and walk across my floor to tell me something.

Somehow, I also don't get how you're comparing giving a doll feelings or character to a RPG. It honestly doesn't make much sense at all. And if you don't like RPG or people that are RPG addicted that's fine. Just please know what you're talking about before you compare them to artistic doll people.

Do you also hate novelists? Authors? They give characters to inanimate objects all the time. Are THEY rpg addicted? Do you not READ so you can save yourself valuable time?

 

I've been waiting for a thread like this

I only have one boy so far (working on getting his gf at the moment XD) I've always had a sentimental connection with alot of my things, such as certain stuffed animals i've had since i can remember, or things that special people have gave me, ect. But I dont have many things that i have a emotional attatchment to.. My boy is one of them, due to the fact that his character is one that my sister made and i love him to death x3

I see him as a doll, yes, i know hes not really a living thing. But i see him as sort of a companion to me since i dont have any friends where i live (all of them are online ^^; ) I always try to leave him somewhere safe when i put him down, sometimes i even leave him a book to read thinking he might get bored

Lately though I've been sick and destracted and haven't played with him alot, and I feel guilty XD; He's been laying in my bed for about a week now poor thing. But in any case, he's now one of my best friends who i try to take everywhere no matter who thinks im a freak

 

No object is 'just' an object; when we observe and think of it, our perceptions invest it with any number of additional attributes: that's how we order and make sense of the world. And I dunno, I'd like to believe there are values more worthy than just how much money things cost - is this foolish or naïve?

Is the Mona Lisa 'just an object'? The Star of India? A copy of the Gutenberg Bible? In one sense, yes - but I think most people would agree, for all intents and purposes, most absolutely not. Sure, our dolls are not literally priceless treasures or antiquities, but I am betting for most of us, they have a similar rare and glamourous appeal.

Sometimes it's easier, in a way, to show compassion for an inanimate object than a person or other living thing; objects never (::reconsiders certain evil vacuum cleaners she has encountered:: well, rarely ) lash out at or reject us (you can tell none of my dolls tend to be 'kicky', huh?). Investing emotions and feelings into a beloved object is really looking at ourselves, pleasantly reflected in a vessel external to our existence.

...it's gonna be one of those mornings, isn't it? I'd better get some more coffee

In my own little corner of the world, I do give my dolls blankets or sweaters when I feel chilly...you know how -as you get older- you start to turn into your mom?