It's intriguing how we humans react to facsimiles. I suppose on some level, it's rather like a dog reacting to a stuffed dog animal. Let's examine dolls to such a level that even the most phobic might be over their creepy crawlies -
This is when a robot or doll looks so realistically human that it unsettles us.
This is becoming more and more a problem with CGI and AI. Today, a person can take their picture and put it into AI and get an uncanny valley version of self.
This all reminds me of wax figures. If you go to a wax museum and get all excited to pose with your favorite celebrities and then find out that something is just slightly off on the width of the eyes or the expression, and suddenly Elizabeth Taylor is a stranger.
??? who ???
I was watching science videos on YouTube when I realized that the very real appearing male narrating who seemed real, but something was just off - was an AI creation. The first giveaway was that he never moved around, "um'd" or "uh'd" and his shirt was always the same with the same creases. (Deep Space News)
Ultimately, it feels like indoctrination into assimilation. Some puppetmaster sends flawless, life-like, personable creations to influence us like celebrities do.
There is a double standard at play. When working hard to get advertising on my blog, I was told that I must use a real photo and not a cartoon or people won't connect with me. I had to be real. Most of us on Facebook get friend requests from people with no photo or a cartoon or a dog photo and we dismiss them.
I see a major depression coming on for humans, as we do not look like our AI pictures and meeting folks in real life with pores, wrinkles, puffy eyes, makes socializing in person less appealing.
mannequins
me and "Gypsy" mannequin
The lucky thing about mannequins is we have been inundated with them in our retail experiences. We pass by them usually without a glance.
You probably don't want to be alone in the storeroom with dozens of them, but in general we avoid eye contact and we get used to just torsos wearing a shirt.
That's not to say they don't make freaky ones (above).
Horror movies about mannequins: "Tourist Trap," "Pin," "The Fear"
ventriloquist dolls
I won't say I was traumatized by ventriloquist dolls, but.... When I was in fourth grade, a school friend asked me for a sleepover. I arrived with my sleeping bag and as the night wore in, we decided to finally stop watching movies and go to her room and sleep. She had a twin bed she slept on and set me up on the floor with my sleeping bag. Beside me was a closet. It had slatted shutter doors and a light was on inside it. She got up out of bed and said, "oh, I forgot the light" and opened the closet doors all the way to pull on the light's chain and I saw rafters of ventriloquist dolls of all kinds lined up. Then, she went back to bed. The light coming in from the streetlight outside lit up the silent audience only a foot away from me. I did not sleep.
As an adult with this unexplained and horror blog, I decided to get a ventriloquist doll.
I hoped to get past my unease around them, but it was really difficult when I sat it up one night and took a photo and then during the night heard it tap the wall with its heavy porcelain hand. The heavy hard hand had to lift up over its stuffed legs to hit the wall.
nighttime
morning
Once I shared this with readers, the reaction was intense. I realized, perhaps this doll I came to name "Dale the Doll" was an interesting sidekick. For a decade plus Dale was on the blog and YouTube videos. Eventually, I decided to move him on to a friend in Florida's. He now has his own Dale T. Doll online presence in association with Gnostalgia blog.
Ventriloquist dolls are disturbing as they come to life and have a voice with that jointed mouth and an operator's hand making it move its head back and forth. It's funny when it comes to comedians like Jeff Dunham -
But, the alter ego quality of these dummies can make chilling horror film subjects -
Horror movies about ventriloquist dolls - "Magic," "Dead Silence," "Devil Doll."
As we get closer to Halloween, here's some other ideas for what to do with doll heads -
marionettes
I have to admit, of all the dolls, this one creeps me out the most! The joints, the floppy body, the giddy, drunken hops and rolls... Then, you have someone manning the puppet and they can make it respond and turn and look at you.
As frightened as they make me, I do admit on my bucket list, I'd love to go see in person the French art team Royal de Luxe that makes gigantic marionettes for parading down city streets.
baby dolls
As a kid, my parents didn't buy toys. They gave us two homes with endless nature to explore in forests and bay, but upon occasion a relative would give me a baby doll. I found them so offensive, I would bury them in our pet cemetery.
Babies seem innocent enough, but when you make life-sized forms of them, add some blushing cheeks, delicate dresses, and smirky smiles, and they suddenly seem like they are mocking you. On their shelf across the room they seem to stare at you.
In fact, for Halloweens, I began collecting and aging doll heads. If you leave them out in the sun they can crack and age, and their eyes usually become cataract-like.
Horror doll movies - "Devil Doll," "Child's Play," "Dead of Night," "Curse of the Doll People."
In the 90s, I counseled people with anxiety disorders and phobias were huge on the list. Immersion therapy is helpful, but you do not throw someone into a sea of dolls if they fear them. You might start by talking about dolls. Then, you may go to a store and walk down a doll aisle. You might safely watch children's videos with doll characters (just not the old tv show "Thunderbirds" that is totally creepy). Eventually, someone lets you see a doll and decide if you want to touch it or even hold it. Ultimately, being alone in a room with dolls is the graduation.
Give one of the suggested movies a try - I find for ventriloquist doll phobes, "Dead Silence" works. For mannequin phobes, "Tourist Trap" did the job. And, for baby doll phobes, "Child's Play" might hit the spot!
