We ALL collect to survive
When she said surely that we had creepy, perhaps even unhealthy obsession with dolls, I thought, isn't the sentence supposed to end with a blank, not "dolls"?
I woke up to a post by a fellow Instagram user who happened to be annoyed by a recent post from NYT concerning doll or miniature lovers. I didn't feel as annoyed, though but the idea made me spend my early morning coffee thinking how that article came to be.
I will start and base my opinion entirely on my own doll collecting experience, because I don't know how it's like for others. But I'm sure there is some overlapping happening here and there.
I grew up in a fair-ish world. I had my taste of toys, caring parents and relatives. I'd say I lived a good childhood. But, what got me started with collecting dolls and miniatures since childhood, I can't exactly point out. I just liked to look at and be amazed by how things which were originally human-sized, became small. It's probably for my own peace of mind.
Fast forward to now, at 38, I still own dolls and miniatures. It's not too obsessive, I guess since I've seen quantities and commercial values of collections more than 100 times my own. But I guess the idea of keeping them is the obsessive part.
We all try to keep things. We all try to capture, and hold for as long as we can, some things that make us feel good. When we experience a great feeling or connection, we save it in the folders of our brains as "Great feeling". And as we go on with our lives, we are eventually presented with new things that remind us of that great feeling. Then we try to capture that thing. We buy it, keep it, and thinking, "Yussss! I'll have this great feeling forever!" Feel, capture/collect, repeat.
So let's have a game. Try to think of as much words you can put instead of "dolls", in the blank below:
"Surely some people have creepy, perhaps even unhealthy obsession with _______________."
Books. Clothes. Bags. Perfumes. Money. Houses. Cars. Pets. Canned goods. Hobby tools. Shoes.
Sorry, I know I sound lazy with that super short list but my world is too limited. But my point is, anybody has an obsession with trying to capture an experience in a thing. And I guess, that is pretty much simply because it's a human thing. We live to survive. And for as long as humans existed, we devised survival tactics according to how our worlds operate at the time. Survival started with just water, shelter and food. Okay, air of course. And of course to defecate. It was such a simple cycle. Then our egos told us we need clothes because the weather can sometimes make us sick if we roam around naked all the time. And then tools to protect us from other organisms that threaten our existence. And.. okay, you get the point, right? Fast forward to the 21st century, our survival tactics have developed into complicated layers that are aptly on track with the current world.
But basically, we enjoyed survival too much that we do anything to continue surviving. We collect ways to survive. We collect to survive. We also let out things to survive. It's the process. It's the cycle.
So, I understand if people don't see it in my perspective, why I collect dolls and miniatures, and why I let out/defecate/detoxify through creating, by crafting. Those people had their own perspective of surviving. Their collections might just be creepier than mine! Even the minimalists have collections! They collect an image of themselves as minimalists. They collect ideas of what being a minimalist should be. Everyone is a collector. It's a way of surviving.
So, shall we continue with our game, then?
xoxo,
shasha
I woke up to a post by a fellow Instagram user who happened to be annoyed by a recent post from NYT concerning doll or miniature lovers. I didn't feel as annoyed, though but the idea made me spend my early morning coffee thinking how that article came to be.
I will start and base my opinion entirely on my own doll collecting experience, because I don't know how it's like for others. But I'm sure there is some overlapping happening here and there.
I grew up in a fair-ish world. I had my taste of toys, caring parents and relatives. I'd say I lived a good childhood. But, what got me started with collecting dolls and miniatures since childhood, I can't exactly point out. I just liked to look at and be amazed by how things which were originally human-sized, became small. It's probably for my own peace of mind.
Fast forward to now, at 38, I still own dolls and miniatures. It's not too obsessive, I guess since I've seen quantities and commercial values of collections more than 100 times my own. But I guess the idea of keeping them is the obsessive part.
We all try to keep things. We all try to capture, and hold for as long as we can, some things that make us feel good. When we experience a great feeling or connection, we save it in the folders of our brains as "Great feeling". And as we go on with our lives, we are eventually presented with new things that remind us of that great feeling. Then we try to capture that thing. We buy it, keep it, and thinking, "Yussss! I'll have this great feeling forever!" Feel, capture/collect, repeat.
So let's have a game. Try to think of as much words you can put instead of "dolls", in the blank below:
"Surely some people have creepy, perhaps even unhealthy obsession with _______________."
Books. Clothes. Bags. Perfumes. Money. Houses. Cars. Pets. Canned goods. Hobby tools. Shoes.
Sorry, I know I sound lazy with that super short list but my world is too limited. But my point is, anybody has an obsession with trying to capture an experience in a thing. And I guess, that is pretty much simply because it's a human thing. We live to survive. And for as long as humans existed, we devised survival tactics according to how our worlds operate at the time. Survival started with just water, shelter and food. Okay, air of course. And of course to defecate. It was such a simple cycle. Then our egos told us we need clothes because the weather can sometimes make us sick if we roam around naked all the time. And then tools to protect us from other organisms that threaten our existence. And.. okay, you get the point, right? Fast forward to the 21st century, our survival tactics have developed into complicated layers that are aptly on track with the current world.
But basically, we enjoyed survival too much that we do anything to continue surviving. We collect ways to survive. We collect to survive. We also let out things to survive. It's the process. It's the cycle.
So, I understand if people don't see it in my perspective, why I collect dolls and miniatures, and why I let out/defecate/detoxify through creating, by crafting. Those people had their own perspective of surviving. Their collections might just be creepier than mine! Even the minimalists have collections! They collect an image of themselves as minimalists. They collect ideas of what being a minimalist should be. Everyone is a collector. It's a way of surviving.
So, shall we continue with our game, then?
xoxo,
shasha
I completely agree with your analysis of collecting and how it's a natural human need. Dolls have always been a huge part of my life, and my main source of entertainment when I was a kid. I too had a pretty basic childhood, so for me, my dolls were a way to act out what was in my imagination. As an adult, though, my dolls have become an escape from my anxieties of life and a therapeutic way to reconstruct the world in the way I wish it was and to be able to live the life I wish I could live. I'm sure a lot of people would think that I was crazy and need to see I therapist, but that's what collecting has become for me. Of course there are people who collect all sorts of things and have all sorts of hobbies, but I think doll collectors get the most heat for being "creepy" and "weird", more so than other collectors. I think this has more to do with the stigma of dolls as "creepy" in horror movies and popular culture.
ReplyDeleteTotally... Most, of not, all popular media portray dolls as not normal when in fact, doll had always been with humans, even for as long as dogs have been domesticated to become our best friends. I once chanced upon a documentary of a doll, made of wood, which the historians were able to carbon-date and found to be ancient. But yes, all this stigma is just because of how dolls were given the bag rep all these years.
DeleteI love your framing of minimalists as collecting the image of themselves as minimalists. That's such an interesting way of thinking about that! :)
ReplyDeleteI've been away from the collecting communities for a while, so I'm still shifting my thoughts about collecting in general. But with that said I would take issue with the idea of doll collecting being in any way different from any other collection of non-essential items.
jSarie!!! Welcome back! Actually, I hadn't been around the blogsphere lately as well..Had been trying to do a lot of business-related stuff with my shop. About time, I guess..
DeleteAnyhooo.. yeah, thanks for your dropping by. I guess, us doll collectors have always been branded as weirdos, which to be honest I don't mind at all. Each one is weird, though not everyone agrees with me.
I hope everything is going great over there at your side of the world <3