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Dolls in Pop Culture

Every now and then you'll see a reference to dolls in popular culture. As a special treat to all visitors, Kim's House of Dolls presents a list of television shows, books, and movies that mentions dolls. This is not meant to be a canonical list of every single doll reference that has ever existed. This page just highlights the best pop culture reference to dolls.

For simplicity's sake, this site has omitted all book/CD/direct-to-video tie-ins with commercial doll products (such as the ones featuring Barbie and Bratz dolls) because they are little more than glorified commercials and none of them are particularily memorable. This site has also omitted all movies and television shows that later led to the creation of doll spin-offs (such as The Little Mermaid, which led to the creation of an Ariel doll) because the dolls were created to capitalize on a movie's/television show's popularity and dolls either didn't make an appearance at all or they could be briefly seen as part of the background.

The list below features a doll (or dolls) as the prominent theme. Have fun with this one!

Myths and Folk Tales

Erlik: I found this Finnish myth from a post on the Den of Angels forum. Basically this tale explains that humans were originally clay dolls who were created by the sky god Ulgan after he created another god, Erlik. One day, in a fit of pique, Erlik spat on Ulgan's clay dolls when he wasn't permitted to play with them. Ulgan responded by turning the clay dolls inside out, which explains why people have dry skins on the outside yet slimy guts on the inside. Ulgan also punished by Erlik by plunging him into the Underworld but Erlik managed to steal a few of the spat upon clay dolls with him when he was banished. This explains why dead people tend to have slimy skins on the outside yet dry bones on the inside.

Vasilisa the Beautiful: I found this link from a post on the Den of Angels forum. It's a charming Russian folk tale that's similar to Cinderella (a young pretty girl has to do all of the housework while dealing with abuse from her step-mother and step-sisters) except the heroine, Vasilisa, is comforted by magic performed by a magical doll instead of a fairy godmother.

Music

Barbie Girl by Aqua: This cute novelty song is supposed to be a celebration of Barbie but it's full of double entendres, such as "You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere. Imagination, that is your creation." I think Mattel once tried to stop this song from being released but the company didn't go anywhere with its legal action.

Doll Parts by Hole: Long before Courtney Love's personal and professional life went on a total downward spiral, she made some pretty decent music with her band Hole. The song Doll Parts is a prime example of Courtney Love at her best as she compares herself to a doll and sings the unforgettable lyric "And someday, you will ache like I ache."

Paper Doll by Kittie: Like Doll Parts, this one is also a rock song about a less-than-happy woman who's compared to a doll (in this case, a paper doll).

Rag Doll by Aerosmith: The woman in this song is called a rag doll due to her sexy looks and the whole song is about how much the singer would love to play with this woman like a rag doll.

Rag Doll by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons: Despite sharing the same title as the Aerosmith song, this one is far different in lyrics and style. The girl in this song is teased by her classmates for wearing her hand-me-down clothes to school and is called "rag doll." The song makes rag doll metaphors and includes the chorus "Rag doll, I love you just the way you are."

Rumble Doll by Patti Scialfa: Patti Scialfa reaches out to an unnamed lover in this song using doll and toy references as a metaphor for describing herself and her current emotions.

Television

Episode 20 of Love Hina (also known as "A Sepia-colored Promise with a Sleeping Girl: A Trick?"): Love Hina is an anime series that was originally created for Japanese television, which is why I'm including it in this section. In this episode, Keitaro and his friends go exploring around the Hinata Apartments when they come across an old French animatronic doll named Moé that has been sitting alone in an empty room. When Keitaro removes the cloth that had been covering her body for a number of years, the doll suddenly springs to life as she begins to move her arms and head but not her legs because they are broken. After some research, the gang discovers that Moé was purchased by Keitaro's great-grandfather during World War II with the intention of fixing her broken legs, which he never got around to. The rest of the residents of Hinata Apartments become suspicious of Moé when they find Keitaro talking to the doll as if she is a person. Moé is initially capable of talking only to Keitaro and Keitaro is the only one who could hear her speak so the other residents are spooked when they think Keitaro is having a one-sided conversation with a doll. (Eventually Moé would be able to speak to Mutsumi and Naru as well.) The residents also begin to speculate if Moé is really a monster hidden in a doll's body. Moé reaches out to Keitaro because Keitaro bears a strong resemblance to his great-grandfather, who originally promised Moé that he would fix her broken legs but never got around to fulfilling that promise. Keitaro convinces Kaolla Su to use her genius technological skills to repair Moé's legs even though she and the rest of the residents are leery of the doll. Once Moé's legs are repaired, the doll begins to walk around and she started to show happiness. She eventually proves to the other residents that she's a harmless doll and they begin to warm up to her. With Keitaro's great-grandfather's original promise fulfilled and with Moé winning over the affection of the other residents, Moé feels that her life is complete so her soul leaves her doll body, which causes the doll's body to collaspe. Keitaro places the doll back into the same storage area where she was orginally discovered. Moé's spirit would make a brief cameo appearance in the three-episode Love Hina Again series (whose storyline takes place after the first Love Hina series and the three Love Hina movies) but episode 20 of the original Love Hina series is the one that prominently features her.

"Living Doll" Episode of The Twilight Zone: When I was seven years old, I can remember my parents watching a rerun of this episode on television and it totally frightened me so much that I stopped playing with my dolls for a day or so after watching it. Of all The Twilight Zone episodes I've ever saw, that "Living Doll" episode is among the few episodes that I can still recall. Basically a man greets his wife and step-daughter as they arrive home from a shopping trip where the mother bought her daughter a new Talky Tina doll. When the step-daughter holds the doll and pulls the string, the doll says, "My name is Talky Tina and I love you very much." But when the step-father grabs the doll and pulls her string, the doll says, "My name is Talky Tina and I hate you very much." As the episode progresses, the step-father gets so freaked by Talky Tina's expressions of hate that he attempts to get rid of the doll many times (such as wrapping her in cloth and dumping her in a trashcan) only to see the doll back at home totally unscathed. Finally, Talky Tina threatens to kill the step-father and she manages to succeed in the end by placing herself strategically on a stairstep so the step-father could trip, fall, and break his neck. The scene is especially chilling at the very end when the mother picks up the doll after the step-father's fatal fall and the doll says "My name is Talky Tina. Will you be nice to me?" In some ways, Talky Tina could be seen as a forerunner of Chucky the killer doll from the Child's Play movies.

Books

Chobits by Clamp: Some doll purists would probably question the inclusion of this multi-volume manga on this list because the "Persocoms" portrayed in this series are really high-tech robots that are capable of walking, talking, moving on their own, surfing the Internet, obey their owners' commands, and even serve as cell phones for their owners to communicate with someone else. Yet the Persocoms do resemble dolls and many Asian doll fans have come to love this series. Volks has even made a limited edition Chi Super Dollfie that is very difficult to find. The story takes place in the future where a financially struggling student named Hideki dreams of owning a Persocom even though he can't afford one. His seems to hit it big when he finds a discarded Persocom in a pile of trash and he takes it home to his apartment. Hideki gets more than he bargains for when the Persocom—soon dubbed "Chi"—has a lot of hidden surprises, including evidence that she may be one of a fabled line of Persocoms that have a higher than usual level of artificial intelligence known as Chobits. In turn, this leads to Hideki and Chi getting some unwanted attention from some shady people and special government-programmed Persocoms whose mission is to deactivate any Chobits they encounter. The book explores the ethical and moral issues surrounding a relationship of a Persocom and its owner (such as one sub-plot where Hideki's former boss talks about the time that he became so emotionally attached to his Persocom that he actually married her, an act that caused media attention and controversy that's quite similar to the current controversial issue of gay marriage in the U.S.).

Doll by Mitsukazu Mihara: Like Chobits, some doll purists would probably question the inclusion of this multi-volume manga on this list because the life-sized dolls portrayed in the series have robotic integrated circuits and chips that make them capable of walking, talking, and even showing emotion on their own. But these android creatures are called "dolls" because they have doll-like looks. The manga is an anthology of short stories about different dolls and their owners that explores the issue of what really makes one "human". The one common thread among the stories is that the dolls are all made by the SG Corporation, a company that, like many real-life large corporations, comes out with innovative products yet has a dark, ruthless, and sinister side to it. The stories are off-beat at times and they are reminiscent of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. Like most short story anthologies, some stories in Doll are more memorable than others but even the relatively mediocre ones are salvaged by some incredible artwork that graces the entire manga series.

Dolls by Yumiko Kawahara: Even though this manga series has a similar title and similar concept (an anthology of short stories that explore the various relationships between dolls and their human owners) to Mitsukazu Mihara's Doll, Dolls (with a plural "s") was published by a different company and it has a slightly different common thread. All the dolls in this series are plant dolls, a very expensive line of dolls that are created from plant-based materials whose owners are required to give them special plant doll milk three times a day and a vitamin-enriched sugar cookie once a week. If the dolls are given anything other than milk and sugar cookies, they run the risk of transforming from child-like creatures into adults with sometimes disasterous results. Some dolls can talk and, depending on the particular doll model, can even sing. They can move on their own and can even exhibit some free will. An upset doll will cry jewels that are prized by gem collectors as "Tears of Heaven." A plant doll will wilt either through neglect or if the plant doll's original owner dies and the doll becomes too emotionally distraught to form an attachment to anyone else. Generally the dolls will chose their new owners by winking at potential customers or even physically reaching out to that person. The dolls have an emotional effect on their owners to the point where a doll's smile will make the owner totally happy and at peace with himself or herself. The plant dolls are sold at the same store that's run by a salesman who is very friendly and charming but has all the morals, ethics, honor, and integrity of a used car salesman. The stories are quirky and reminiscent of some of the more off-beat episodes of The Twilight Zone. The books include some incredible artwork that give the dolls a very delicate look.

The Lonely Doll by Dare Wright: This book was the first in a series of children's books featuring the adventures of a doll and her two teddy bear companions. What sets this book apart from other children's books is that, instead of using illustrations (such as drawing, ink, watercolors, etc.), Dare Wright chose to use black and white photographs to illustrate her books. The doll used in The Lonely Doll series was a felt Lenci doll that Wright's mother purchased for her as a child while the larger bear was a Steiff and the smaller bear was a Schuco that Wright acquired as an adult. The black and white photos in the books are very striking and they seem to convey a sense that the doll and her two bear companions are actually alive. The books were a huge success when they were first published then they fell out of print. Recently some of the books are starting to be re-released to a new generation of readers.

Raggedy Ann Stories and Raggedy Andy Stories by Johnny Gruelle: Raggedy Ann originally started as a rag doll that belonged to Johnny Gruelle's mother when she was a child and was passed down to Johnny Gruelle's daughter, Marcella. When Marcella Gruelle became severely ill, her father began to tell stories about Raggedy Ann to keep her spirits up. After Marcella died, Johnny Gruelle wrote Raggedy Ann Stories in her memory. The book was such a success that it led to Raggedy Andy Stories and other successful sequels. Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy were released as mass market dolls and today their popularity is far greater than the books that originally spawned them.

Movies

Barbie's Audition: This short, which is a parody of the infamous Hollywood casting couch, features a Barbie doll as the victim of sexual harrassment and exploitation. It was initially selected to appear at the Sundance Film Festival but was vetoed by the festival's lawyers because they were concerned about the doll's role in the film. This short can be viewed online for free at www.illegal-art.org.

Child's Play: The plot of this horror movie may sound stupid but the movie is actually well-done and quite inventive. A young boy's biggest wish is to get a Good Guy doll for his upcoming birthday. The big problem is that his struggling single mother has had a hard time affording it so when she learns that a street peddler is selling a Good Guy doll for a cheap price, she leaps at the chance. The only problem is that this particular Good Guy doll houses the soul of a psychotic serial killer with a fascination for black magic named Charles Lee "Chucky" Ray, who was fatally shot by police in a toy factory (where he had been hiding out). As Ray was dying, he used vodoo to temporarily transfer his soul to a Good Guy doll until he can find a better body. As strange things happened after the boy got his doll (such as the sudden death of the boy's babysitter), he kept on telling his mother that he has a feeling that Chucky is behind all of them. Naturally, the mother thought the boy was just imagining things and she was skeptical about what her son was saying. When Chucky finally reveals himself to other people besides the boy, all hell really breaks loose. Then things really heat up as Chucky attempts to transfer his soul from his doll body to the boy he first revealed himself to while the adults try to stop him. The effects are excellent and the filmmakers did an excellent job with keeping the suspense up throughout the entire movie without resorting to excess gore. Child's Play is one of the better horror movies made in recent years.

Bride of Chucky: Child's Play generated a few sequels. I saw the first sequel—Child's Play 2—and it was so mediocre compared to the first Child's Play movie (it's a typical Hollywood sequel to a hit movie where the original plot is simply regurgitated in a dull way) that I didn't bother with the other sequels until Bride of Chucky was released. The filmmakers decided to make this film totally campy and, as a result, I enjoyed it. The movie begins when Chucky's old girlfriend Tiffany steals the dismembered doll from the police evidence lab and takes him to her home, where she puts him back together in the hopes that he can be revived. Not only does Chucky comes back to life, but the couple soon have a domestic quarrel and Chucky kills her. However, during the killing, Chucky uses his vodoo magic to transfer Tiffany's soul to the body of a bridal doll that she owns. Tiffany now has to cope with being in a doll's body and having to reconcile with the boyfriend who put her in this predicament. The film is full of funny one-liners as the couple constantly bicker with each other while they try to find a way to become human again. The film gets really campy when the two dolls have sex during one of the most hilarious sex scenes I've ever seen in a major Hollywood production. Apparently the doll body that Tiffany's soul inhabits has a functioning uterus and ovaries because she becomes pregnant from this unusual sexual encounter. The film ends abruptly with Tiffany giving birth to a baby, thus paving the way for another sequel.

Seed of Chucky: This film picks up where Bride of Chucky leaves off. We meet the couple's child, a doll who looks like a bizarre cross between David Bowie during his glam-rock days and a heroin addict. He managed to wind up in England, where he is forced to perform as a dummy named "Shithead" for a very nasty ventriloquist who threatens the doll with being hacked into bits with an ax. (Which is very reminiscent of that scene in Pinocchio when the puppet becomes a prisoner of the nasty Stromboli.) The child doll manages to escape to America, where he brings his parents back to life. From that point on, the film becomes a totally twisted dark tale about a dysfunctional doll family that includes a debate between Chucky and Tiffany over whether their genderless child is a boy name Glen or a girl named Glenda (which echoes a 1950's film called Glen or Glenda) and a wicked parody of 12-step programs as their child (who, unlike Chucky, is a very gentle soul) convinces Tiffany to stop killing for fun by using the 12-step method (which doesn't last long). The movie also includes John Waters as a paparazzi and a wicked scene where Chucky bumps off an obnoxious woman who looks like Britney Spears. Chucky dies in the end of this film, which doesn't mean anything since Chucky died at the end of all of his previous movies yet somehow managed to come back to life in the next sequel. If the filmmakers decide to make another sequel in the Child's Play series, Chucky will somehow come back to life.

Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story: I remember hearing about this movie years ago when it was briefly released to art houses but it was quickly withdrawn from circulation due to an injunction filed by Richard Carpenter. It's a biographical profile of the late pop star Karen Carpenter and her struggle with anorexia (which ultimately claimed her life) with a unique twist—instead of hiring actors to play the roles of Karen Carpenter, her brother Richard, and other people in their lives, director Todd Haynes used Barbie and Ken dolls for the onscreen roles while various actors provided off-screen voices. After being out of circulation for many years, this movie can now be viewed online for free at www.illegal-art.org.

Toy Story: The first 3-D animated film that Pixar made for Disney is a delightful mix of fantasy and, for older viewers, a trip down memory lane as various toys—from Mr. Potato Head to the plastic monkeys from the game A Barrelful of Monkeys—make their onscreen appearance. This movie includes lots of dolls from the porcelain Little Bo Peep to Woody the cowboy talking doll to the scary-looking but harmless mutant dolls who were created by Sid the demented mad scientist wanna-be who lives next door. This movie became an instant classic when it was first released and, to this day, one can still see tie-ins with this movie.

Toy Story 2: Most Hollywood sequels tend to suck big time. Toy Story 2 is a rare exeception to that tradition. Wisely the filmmakers decided against regurgitating the plot of the first movie (which most sequels tend to do) and went off in a new direction as the film parodies toy collectors who sell vintage toys for outrageous sums or keep the toys boxed up in a fancy glass case. The film also features a brief appearnce by Barbie herself. This film is just as good as the first one.

This page last updated June 16, 2005.