Pediophobia

Someone just brought up the point about big eyes scaring some people. I agree.

I saw on the Discovery channel a program about human reactions. I can't vouch for this, but I'll repeat what they said. Babies have big corneas? (colored part of they eye) in relation to the size of their eyes. In other words there's more colored area than white. Supposedly this is attractive to people, which helps a mother bond with her baby, although why I don't know. Maybe a sense of helplessness? As we get older more white shows until they look 'normal.'

When I first saw BJD's I noticed immediately that their eyes are the same way. Since I'd seen the program I thought they must do it on purpose to give they dolls a more child like appearance and make them more appealling. But I can also see where a person might find this distrubing. Big eyes might be suitable for baby dolls but for some people not child dolls. They might think it looks too odd. For my opinion I think it's cute. I think if you put different eyes with a smaller colored part the doll would look older.

Anyway maybe that's part of it.

 

*raises hand*

Defying the theory about overcompensating for lack of children here, since I have one (who just turned thirteen today, yippeee!!), so that's definitely not the reason behind *my* desire to collect dolls.

There's a fascinating dark-fantasy book by Lynn Flewellyn called "The Bone Doll's Twin," which concerns magic, soul-binding, dolls, ghosts, gender identity, and more . . . it's a fabulous book, and I highly recommend it (and its sequel, "Hidden Warrior"), although I will warn that it's not the most *happy* book!!

I will say that I've always been enthralled by *realistic adult dolls* . . . I've always loved art dolls and expensive, elaborately costumed mature dolls . . . whereas baby dolls and dolls with very childlike features (and ESPECIALLY the "Reborn"-style baby dolls) tend to creep me out/repel me. I can aesthetically appreciate them, but I don't really want them near me.

I've never been afraid of death or the preserved dead (I'm very into Egyptian mythology and mummies don't frighten me at all), although I *am* afraid of zombies (for me, it's the *inexorability factor* and the *contagion* aspect that get to me). Catacombs and skeletons and "clean, dry" dead don't bother me, but I'm disturbed by decomposition and rot and the associated "filth/contagion" issues (and I have a longstanding fear of maggots/grubs dating back to my viewing of "The Wrath of Khan" at an early and impressionable age!!)

To me, my dolls don't seem at all "dead', though -- I like that they have sparkly eyes and painted faces and beautifully detailed hands and feet . . . whereas there's something about the "flat" eyes on mannequins or certain antique dolls that does give me the shivers.

Really fascinating thread, thanks to all of you for your contributions!!

-- Andi

 

We have similar views about baby dolls & dead people, Ashbet. My hatred of zombies & the squishy dead all stems from something that happened to me as a small child, & dream I had afterwards.

I was in the school gym, beside the big crash-mat, & sat on the floor with my hands behind me to prop me up. I put one hand right into a horrible rotten squishy sandwich (white bread & tomato) which had been stuffed behind the mat & fallen down.

YUCK!

I subsequently had a dream. I was in a red-curtained room. All the adults were going out to look for a missing child. It was night-time, & they all spoke in hushed voices & thought I couldn't hear, as the brought back the coffin, & laid it on the table. But I hid, & when they were gone, I went over to look. I was too small to see into the coffin, but I reached up, & put my hand over the edge... & into the squishiness of something rotten!

It still turns my stomach even now, & I can't have been more than seven when I had the dream!

Ah, the human psyche!

Lucy (sorry for the OT-ness, very excited about new Lishe body, on hold for me, & new job!)

 

This has been such a fascinating read, I'm really quite glad this thread was started!

Personally, for a while when I was younger, I actually had a fear of record players (odd, I know!) It was because of a dream I had where I had a record player and it wouldn't turn off. No matter what we did, even unplugging it, the player wouldn't stop. It creeped me out and I was afraid for a while after that.

As far a dolls/toys go, I've never been afraid of them and have always been surrounded by them. I had a few Barbie type dolls, but I never really played with them. For me, it was my stuffed animals. I named them all, gave them all personalities and loved each one (still do too!)

As an adult, I still love my toys and regard them the same way as I did as a child. I have my few 1/6 dolls and will finally be able to purchase my first ABJD.

Because of this, I'm regarded as a sort of 'black sheep' by my family. Funnily enough, my mom actually had a bet with my dad as to what one of my first big purchases would be with my wonderful new job. My dad said 'car' while my mom said 'doll' - guess who was right? My mom! *laughs*

My 3 year old neice loves to play with my small dolls as well. She knows to handle them carefully and gently, and she shows them as much love as I do. I am curious to see how she will react when I get one of the larger BJDs.

 

thanks for the suggestion :3 i love a good book!

And yes i agree with you about mummies, preserved dead and bones being okay, but something about ANIMATED dead zombies that gets to me! (perhaps ive been playing too much Resident Evil?)

ive always disliked baby dolls too. however, the other day i went into a generic doll shoppe and ran into some baby dolls, more like ones to set on your shelf and admire. and one was making the most disgruntled face with his eyes looking peeved and his lower lip sticking out, i never had an urge to take one home but he looked so unhappy i was tempted to!

It makes me wonder then, reflecting on Hollywood and other such movies: i wonder how many directors are aware of the 'uncanny valley' theory? the more i thought about it, the movie AI really does seem to scratch upon that concept, doesnt it?

 

Reading this thread is probably the worst thing I could do, not because it's creepy, but because I've just got an idea for a doll. xD;

I'd like one that sort of captures what I found so creepy about them when I first stumbled across them. Cold, pale, empty, scary stare -- dead! How interesting it would be to make a dead doll, one that doesn't have a personality, who I'd photograph not ever moving because, well, she's supposed to be dead. I think I'm going to try that someday... hopefully she won't terrify me so much that I won't want her anymore! xD

To get on topic, though... those antique porcelain dolls have always scared me. Particularly the ones that, when you laid them down, their eyes closed -- I HATED those! So creepy. I mean, at least BJDs tend to have some kind of expression on their face; then you've got those awful, childish, blank stares. Just think of movies like Children of the Corn, Ringu -- killer children are ALWAYS creepy. I think it's that you expect children to be innocent (my opinions on children aside for this xD), so when you come across one that's inherently evil, or suggests anything besides innocence, like the blank stares of porcelain dolls, it's a little terrifying.

 

She'd have to live in a glass-topped coffin full of lillies... or maybe a glass one, like Sleeping Beauty, if you wanted the possibility of a happy ending...

Lucy

 

Happy ending? Certainly not. Things lose their possibility for happy endings once they start to decompose. xD; No, I think I'd be perfectly content to put her in gothloli dresses and pose her slumped over. xD

 

I used to be (and still am) afraid of baby-like dolls, although not to the point of a phobia. I don't really like babies or children much either, but that might be because I've got five younger siblings, which is more than enaugh babies for one lifetime.. ~_~;; I preferred My Little ponies and LEGOs. XD

My friend's mom collects antique dolls, and i remember at one time, when we were staying overnight at her place, and we just couldn't get any peace from a doll that was sitting on a shelf facing the place where we were to sleep.. it was an old, yellowed, naked baby doll, with a toothy grin and a cracked head, and it's eyes were discoulored, making them neony-yellow and mismatched. Guh, just thinking about that doll still gives me the creeps.. +_+

When I first encountered ABJDs my fear subsided for awe. I was just so enchanted by their artistic value and extremely well sculpted features that I couldn't really be at peace before I had one of my own.. ;3

 

I'm not afraid of baby dolls, but they've never appealed much to me (probably due to the fact my maternal instincts are nonexistant)--except for my Mom's Tiny Tears doll. It's really precious and she loved it when she was a child. But then again, there's something really special about old toys that have been loved. Unfortunately, the vinyl on one of the arms isn't in very good shape. She took her to a doll hospital (this was awhile back), but they said they wouldn't be able to match it : (

 

I think I'm one of the few on this board who loves children and can't wait to have some of her own.. xD;;

But about dolls... When I was little, the 'baby' dolls creeped me out more than anything... They.....flopped- in a weird sense. As in, like American girls moderately held their poses, and Barbies would stay till you moved them. But when you picked up most baby dolls, they drooped. Like they were dead.. O_o; Now, Raggedy Anne and other plush dolls flop- but baby dolls are made to look real... and that gave me shivers.

I think one of the reasons BJD don't scare me, is they're generally content. Even if they're upset and angsting in photostories, I know behind the camera is a loving owner who will scoop them up afterwards and settle with them. So many baby dolls have sad fates- discarded in Good Wills across the nation(Yes, Toy Story 2 has convinced me to never sell toys ever xD), where as BJD are never destroyed... just reincarnated into new forms.

And on the 'dead' issue... Sleeping Beauty is one of my favorite stories... and I would love to have a sleeping doll done up in the 'hopeful funeral' like pose, all reposed on pillows with flowers and whatnot. x_X; But then again.... I have a really strange habit of going through 19th century Death Photograpy... I find the compositions fascinating xD; *is weird?*

 

me afraid of baby dolls alot >.<.............when me was like 7 yrs old me got for christmas a baby doll............that thing cried by itself if u dont touch it or chake it >.<........me didn't knew where was the "OFF" buttom and me was really really scared ;_;....that thing started to cried when me was sleeping and me cried alot and started to hit my parents's door and telling them to throw the doll to the trash and when they throw it away me went to sleep......but with them o.o..........and me even locked the door so that no one come inside o.o.....kowaaiiii ;_;.........the other doll that scared me alot was this big doll that was bigger than me or we had the same high @[email protected] doll had a crazy smiley face thing X_X....*shivers*.....that one we give it to someone else......me used to like porcelans dolls when me was like 13 or something like that and every year me always got a porcelan doll as a present (b-day,christmas,...etc) but for having too much porcelan dolls (like almost 20 inside my bedroom ;;;....dont remember) me started to get too scared of them >.<......their eyes surrounded me all over my bedroom.....me was trapped! :cry:
me now have these kinda like life-like japanese and chinese girls but and me not scared of them @[email protected] because they dont look like children = s......well as long as their eyes r not looking at me when me sleeping then me oki XD

BJD dont scare me at all O.O........me thought that me was gonna be scared when me was gonna look at them for the first time.......me dont have one yet but when me started to look at them for the first time on the websites the first thing that came out of my mind was......kaaawaaaaaaaaaiiiiii!
me fell in love!!! XD.....beautiful face-up, cool,hot and cute clothes and shoes, crazy wigs, lots of accesories for them to have, beautiful different colors of eyes.......................speechless
somes looks adult-like and somes looks child-like...........but.........they r just too *amn cute........at least the bjd kids ones r not as big as the porcelans ones ^_^;;; ....................... sorry me wrote a long reply @[email protected]... ops:

 

Hehe, I'm in the camp with you -- I love kids, I have one of my own (who just turned 13, omg), I used to work at a day-care center, my first 'job' was babysitting . . . now, SOME kids are little monsters, but a lot of them are very cool little people-in-training

Strangely, though, I'm really not interested in childlike dolls -- all of mine are grown-ups or at least older teenagers (my DOD pair) -- even Jinx, my Elfdoll Min Del Re garden-imp, has a mature figure and I consider her to be an adult little creature with a childlike personality.

I love seeing *other* people's child-dolls -- I'm especially fond of Jolarocknrolla's Cutie Delf Mary, Lillia -- but I'm really only wanting adult dolls for myself.

Although SecretDoll Yomo is so damn cute that I may someday cave in and buy her

-- Andi

 

The shortest at 6'5", holy sh... ! but I'll take elves over pentiums and such! My ex is a computer engineer OI!

Back OT: I don't like baby dolls either but I love Yomo, she reminds me of my kid, she pouts in the same way! I'll own a Yomo one day... I must... *grabby hands claw at air*...

 

I think actually going and doing a mock-up for that doll idea I had in mind pretty much wiped me clean of the idea. xD; She was MUCH less creepy in my head. x3;

If anybody's interested, here's the mockup I did. Cookies to whomever can name what book that little snippet of poetry shows up in! x3;

 

I like megu's because they always remind me of those really creepy japanese dolls.. and I want one so bad XD I wish they made a mini that looked like her

 

Hehehe!

OK, then, slumped dramatically on a fainting couch, like Chatterton, with a poison-bottle just fallen from her pale, outstretched fingers, & a love-letter clutched to her heart.

Lucy (OK, you have now upset my husband, the big ol' goth, who says he is now 'desperately distraught' & we are all 'horrid girls' for wanting to do something like that)

 

Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, Mr Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

OK, now I see your doll in CSI, with Gil leaning over her looking concerned.

Lucy

 

Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, Mr Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

OK, now I see your doll in CSI, with Gil leaning over her looking concerned.

Lucy[/quote]

Hehe, well, that too, I'm sure, but it does show up in a part of Interview with the Vampire. ^^;

CSI? Hmm, maybe. I thought that the autopsy scar might really drive the nail in on the idea that she's dead -- my original image was just one of a spooky sort of coldness, but I got carried away by the death theme here. I think most of the reason why I'm put off by the idea is because in recoloring the image, I'd accidentally put the recolor of her eyes on the same layer as her lips, so when I was going through blending modes I found one that made her lips and cheek turn green and dark gray, making it look rotted. Really freaked me out! No thank you. x3;

 

Dammit, Lucy, you have the advantage over me with the time-difference, grrrr!!

Strangely enough, that's one of Kira's favorite poems . . . we ARE a morbid bunch ;D

-- Andi