On dolls and skintones
Aug. 23rd, 2009 01:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmymoonSo there was a big event over in loli valentines with a million billion secrets, yay! See, subculture can be nice and welcoming if it tries...
La la, sort of tangentially, this valentine made me happy, for one, seeing a non-youth rocking of my styles, but also... because she has a darkskinned "mini me" BJD.
Okay, so, I don't know about anyone else, but I always had issues with Blonde Barbie when I was a little kid. I wasn't particularly fond of dolls as a child, being an action-figure-loving sort who would rather make whatever toy go on adventures than brush its stupid hair. But I was so tickled when someone gave me Hawaiian Barbie (Meko? Meeko? Miko?) and she had a deep olive tan, and black hair, and a chubby-cheeked face. I identified with her figure to an extent that I could never project onto the doe-eyed blondes my sister had.
People can be affectedly PC with kids and toys, but this was something that honestly bothered me when I was a child. I was obviously not "the fairest," and really couldn't project myself into white, blonde dolls. I know I'm not the only one who felt that way as a child, either. (Which is why I think various shades and lifestyles of toys AND CARTOONS really are important. It doesn't have to be dead-on, but kids can be grateful just to have a toy that in some way resembles their life whatsoever. People come in different colors, lifestyles, dis/abilities, and so do children.) Similarly, I've always been slightly unsettled when people do art of me that makes me super-pale, because that's so... not... me. It'd be like drawing me flatchested, or with straight hair.
So yeah. A while ago, I was looking at someone's "mini me" (self-portrait doll) that was some standard super-pale ball joint doll (when the person was fairly dark skinned) and just... thought that was kind of weird and sad. I know, from a technical standpoint, that darker resins are more difficult/expensive to cast. But I'm just really sort of happy that there are finally more colors of resin other than "SNOW" and "flesh."
... Jenny and Licca sure aren't Asian-featured dolls. What do all the poor kids in Japan do? Are there other, more realistic dolls that real children actually play with, or is it just an accepted suspension of disbelief, kind of like how baby dolls look nothing like actual babies?
And uh, before you ask: YES, the only baby dolls I ever had were anatomically correct. In various skintones. Yeeeeep. Non-realistic baby dolls disturbed me: it either had to be bizarrely stylized or fairly realistic. I was like that, even as a child.
La la, sort of tangentially, this valentine made me happy, for one, seeing a non-youth rocking of my styles, but also... because she has a darkskinned "mini me" BJD.
Okay, so, I don't know about anyone else, but I always had issues with Blonde Barbie when I was a little kid. I wasn't particularly fond of dolls as a child, being an action-figure-loving sort who would rather make whatever toy go on adventures than brush its stupid hair. But I was so tickled when someone gave me Hawaiian Barbie (Meko? Meeko? Miko?) and she had a deep olive tan, and black hair, and a chubby-cheeked face. I identified with her figure to an extent that I could never project onto the doe-eyed blondes my sister had.
People can be affectedly PC with kids and toys, but this was something that honestly bothered me when I was a child. I was obviously not "the fairest," and really couldn't project myself into white, blonde dolls. I know I'm not the only one who felt that way as a child, either. (Which is why I think various shades and lifestyles of toys AND CARTOONS really are important. It doesn't have to be dead-on, but kids can be grateful just to have a toy that in some way resembles their life whatsoever. People come in different colors, lifestyles, dis/abilities, and so do children.) Similarly, I've always been slightly unsettled when people do art of me that makes me super-pale, because that's so... not... me. It'd be like drawing me flatchested, or with straight hair.
So yeah. A while ago, I was looking at someone's "mini me" (self-portrait doll) that was some standard super-pale ball joint doll (when the person was fairly dark skinned) and just... thought that was kind of weird and sad. I know, from a technical standpoint, that darker resins are more difficult/expensive to cast. But I'm just really sort of happy that there are finally more colors of resin other than "SNOW" and "flesh."
... Jenny and Licca sure aren't Asian-featured dolls. What do all the poor kids in Japan do? Are there other, more realistic dolls that real children actually play with, or is it just an accepted suspension of disbelief, kind of like how baby dolls look nothing like actual babies?
And uh, before you ask: YES, the only baby dolls I ever had were anatomically correct. In various skintones. Yeeeeep. Non-realistic baby dolls disturbed me: it either had to be bizarrely stylized or fairly realistic. I was like that, even as a child.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-23 09:32 pm (UTC)Licca is half-Japanese half-French, but honestly her Japanese relatives don't especially look more Asian than her French relatives. Part of the problem (?) may be that Japanese people don't think of themselves as having colored skintones, except for when they're being down on themselves. And they don't really think of themselves as having small eyes or especially chubby faces (although I have seen some Japanese people, possibly including my relatives, say that they prefer Jenny to Barbie because she has more rounded-features and a more modest bust).
no subject
Date: 2009-08-24 02:16 am (UTC)Funny about Jenny's "modest bust" now that Japan *also* has those hobby dolls with boobies bigger than their heads.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-24 02:57 am (UTC)*I am aware that many female doll fans and doll-customizers enjoy the large variety of dolly bust-sizes available in Japan. I am also fairly certain that the greater portion of custom-made giant-boobed dolls were originally created for for male fans with very specific fetishes. Ditto the "pregnant pre-teen with giant boobs" custom dolls.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-24 03:03 am (UTC)And of course, people *still* aren't cool with Barbie's figure. Though I think the sleaze factor of the Bratz helped take a bit of the heat off in recent years.