why do blythe dolls creep me out?

September 29, 2005 7:19 PM

Why do blythe dolls creep me out?
posted by netsirk to Grab Bag (22 answers total)

because they remind you of chucky!
posted by flyby22 at 7:20 PM on September 29, 2005

Because they look like aliens. And make Barbie look proportionate.
posted by apple scruff at 7:21 PM on September 29, 2005

It's the uncanny valley.
posted by rafter at 7:23 PM on September 29, 2005

In summary: People react positively to things the more lifelike they become. Start with a ball — neutral reaction. Then add eyes, a smile, et cetera, and people will have warmer and warmer feelings towards it. But as you keep making the ball more human-like, it suddenly reaches a point where instead of noticing our similarities (saying, "Hey, it's got eyes like me!") you start to notice the differences ("Holy crap, its hideously misproportioned!").
posted by rafter at 7:27 PM on September 29, 2005

They're playing with pedophilia, I say. Like those Steve Madden ads and bigheaded anime characters.

What has a big head and big eyes proportionally to the body? A baby.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 7:28 PM on September 29, 2005

Hey man, they creep me out, too. Look at those pseudohuman proportions. This is the uncanny valley working backwards from the other side of the fence.
posted by zek at 7:30 PM on September 29, 2005

Perhaps Christina Ricci beat you up as a child?
posted by true at 7:50 PM on September 29, 2005

I think it's because the eyes are hollowed inwards (recessed) on a lot of the dolls, giving them a skull-like look. But that's probably just me.
posted by NucleophilicAttack at 8:00 PM on September 29, 2005

Yes, true...an uncanny resemblence.
posted by airgirl at 8:29 PM on September 29, 2005

uncanny valley theory sounds spot on!

i wonder if this is why christina ricci and the olsen twins give me the heebie jeebies too?
posted by netsirk at 8:41 PM on September 29, 2005

Holy crap, those are scary!
Aaaugh!!!
Aaaauggghghgh!!!!!
posted by horsewithnoname at 8:44 PM on September 29, 2005

horsewithnoname: i shouldn't have looked at those links...never gonna get to sleep tonight now. *shivers*
posted by netsirk at 8:48 PM on September 29, 2005

Just imagine them scurrying around on your floor, under your bed, and then crawling upside down on your ceiling.

Sleep tight! :)
posted by Atreides at 8:57 PM on September 29, 2005

I really dont think this case imparticular has anything to do with the "uncanny valley" The dolls are far from realistic and they are not trying to be.
I agree that they look like skulls, depending on the lighting some of the eyes look so dark, they do look hollow.
posted by phyle at 9:29 PM on September 29, 2005

This one is stabbing another in the head. That could be construed as a little creepy.
posted by wsg at 9:42 PM on September 29, 2005

You might enjoy looking at Judith Schaechter's stained glass. She uses that old, gothic medium to portray very modern, creepy scenes. This one of the little girl looking up seems to remind me of the same aesthetic. Her work is totally incredible in person; a real luminescence that is hard to discern in print or pixels.
posted by fionab at 10:32 PM on September 29, 2005

I think it's the lack of eyebrows myself, and the very round eyes. That's probably why Blythe's creep me out, but not Pullips
posted by kosher_jenny at 10:46 PM on September 29, 2005

Those scare me too....
I would never give these things out to kids...
Above has some good answers... but ... here is my thought.

Look at their expressions... Very stoic... it is the lips.
No smile, No laugh, No cute expressions normally found in most other dolls.

I'll say these dolls have almost Psychatic expressions...
Their lip expressions say... disappointed, angry, etc..etc...

The proportional answer is valid but I think it is the lip expressions that creeps people out...

Child can look extreamly scary when they are un-naturally expressed... Some example movies like those kids from the cornfield... kids from those Stephen King movies... shows this..
posted by curiousleo at 11:14 PM on September 29, 2005

Judith Schaechter's work is amazing. Thanks for that link. And no thanks for the terrifying Blythe Doll link.
posted by horsewithnoname at 7:11 AM on September 30, 2005

They kind of look like aliens.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 9:02 AM on September 30, 2005

Because they look like Jonbenet Ramsey?
posted by OmieWise at 11:56 AM on September 30, 2005

I hated the eye-color-change string my Blythe doll had coming out of the back of her head -- it got in the way when I combed her hair. So my brother figured out that I could cut off the string and then change the eye colors by jamming my thumbs into the eye sockets and rolling the eyeballs around to the next color. This did not seem creepy or gross at the time, but it sure does now.
posted by JanetLand at 1:12 PM on October 3, 2005