Understanding the Doll Culture
by One of the most characteristic examples of girls’ material culture, the idea of the doll as a small representation of a human and as a popular toy, unravels under closer scrutiny. Some doll-like figures have a functional existence that extends beyond play, such as the artist’s lay figure or the small mannequins sold along with miniature cutout patterns to teach girls the basic skills of home dressmaking in the 1930s and 1940s.
In the latter context one may include the small figures on beaded chains and tassels popular for decorating mobile phones and also pens and pencils, South American worry dolls, and certain Mattel Liddle Kiddles of the 1960s, which could be worn as necklaces. There are eras when the preferred representational aspect of doll formats is decidedly naturalistic and other times, as in the 1960s and the present, when abstract and distorted doll formats appeal to buyers. A human identity for a doll is not necessarily a given. Since the early 1900s soft animal toys and teddy bears have shared many of the play and comfort functions of dolls. Hello Kitty, internationally famous, has a feline head but an essentially human body form and wears many different clothes and takes on a variety of looks. Similar cat and dog dolls were produced throughout the twentieth century, starting with porcelain versions, including those by Heubach.
The Five-in-One doll (1912) was dressed as a middle-class girl, with a girl’s body and a set of interchangeable heads, including a molded celluloid cat head with glass eyes, made in Germany. Trolls and German Mecki Hedgehog dolls are other anthropomorphic dolls that have enjoyed great popularity in the last half-century. In recent years many toy horses, cats, and dogs marketed explicitly at girls have featured long nylon hair that allows for Barbie-style “hair play.” These animals are supplied with many accessories, including garments and hair ornaments, by their manufacturers, following the Mattel pattern of aggressively marketing a wide range of desirable add-ons without which the doll or doll play would not be complete. My Little Pony is a perennial example of this genre. These animal toys are closely related to modern dolls and doll products.
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