Why is the doll sad?
First, you should decide on the term, what is a strange or scary doll.
Among puppeteers all over the world, the theme of an unusual or scary doll is very common, perhaps because it is through such themes that the author can help himself through his personal tragedy or experience or tell a fictional story, to better convey his idea, to broadcast his understanding of the world to the audience, and when the doll from all sides is positive, it often happens that its story ends there. What is the finale of fairy tales "and they lived happily ever after" (obviously, it's not even interesting to tell the rest), but the tales themselves contain detailed and colorful descriptions of the adventures, misadventures and ordeals of the heroes, and is it only in fairy tales? How many literary works are devoted to a quiet description of a peaceful everyday life without accidents?
This world without incident, calm and measured, the majority wants in reality, but the book is not opened for this, they also go to the theater for another.
From my own experience, I can say that some viewers can call any non-smiling doll strange, or even scary, or when there is an idea in the doll, the doll encourages the viewer to think, then many are indignant (of course! The doll teaches me life!), And not it follows, because now an artistic author's doll can rightfully be ranked as a new type of art along with painting, sculpture or theater, because a doll combines various types of art, and sometimes brings something more, therefore it is very cool when a thought is embedded in a doll , the idea when the doll speaks to the viewer, sometimes longing or reflecting, sometimes with challenge or irony.
Now we will not talk about broken porcelain dolls with torn off limbs or empty eye sockets and cracks on the face, we will talk about dolls that do not meet certain standard parameters of doll beauty.
The world of puppetry art is beautiful in its diversity, and there are many real works of art in it, which are filled with an atmosphere of peace, tranquility, graceful, possess beauty raised to the absolute, as, for example, in the works of Alexandra Kukinova, Alexandra Khudyakova, or dolls are determined by a special aesthetics and humor, inherent in the works of the duet AnyaManya or Olga Yegupets, but in the world of doll art there is a huge variety of moods, characters, completely different directions and styles coexist in it, so we will be tolerant and give a chance to all directions to be loved, find their fans and develop.
Fear is the original feeling inherent in man and its function is protection, if a person were not endowed with the ability to be frightened, humanity would have died out, because no one would be afraid of either fire, or heights, or wild animals, or poisonous snakes.
In addition, a kind of romanticization of tragic events flourished in world art (this is especially characteristic of the art of the 19th century) to help people cope with tragedies at such a turning point, when the prayer, available to everyone earlier, ceased to be a panacea, when scientific discoveries shook the pillars, many centuries erected by the church and boundless faith, people began to change, learn more, general enlightenment and gave a turn to this new trend in the art of romanticizing tragedies, look at the paintings of Vrubel, Munch, Klimt, the Gothic novel that flourished during this period.
Therefore, the terrible is present in art and literature, in cinema and sculpture as an integral part of human nature.
As for pensive or sad dolls. How often do their authors hear: "Why is the doll sad?" "Why isn't it smiling?" "I wouldn't put one at home." I always answer a question with a question:
"Why are so many of Vrubel's or Repin's characters so sad and suffering? Why so much horror in the works of Edgar Allan Poe? And so much tragedy and sorrow in the novels of Dostoevsky? Why, in most operas, do characters die or suffer throughout the action?" And now I list the canonical recognised figures of art that are included in the school curriculum for literature, music and art. What, then, is the purpose of so much sadness from childhood? In order to foster in a child the ability to empathise, to sympathise with the hero, to love him, this unknown person who has found his paper flesh only on the pages of the book, to instil the concept of good and evil, to treat the young immature soul, to set the right vector.
This is also the purpose of many "unfunny" or strange puppets: to allow the viewer to love the big-headed, toothy Nutcracker, to want, like Marie, to rush to his aid in the thick of the battle, to see the inner beauty of the Beast hidden behind the outer ugliness, and sometimes to understand that the terrible vampire is actually cursing his fate and wants to find peace.
Among puppeteers, many top-level masters now and then turn to strange or scary dolls, or even constantly work in this genre.
Here are just a few examples:
Gulya Alekseeva with her puppet actors (her dolls can hardly be called otherwise) and not all of them are kind and disinterested, among them, along with the angels and saints, you can also find mythical demi-people, and sometimes very down-to-earth people: rogues, cunning and even charming swindlers and each of them is a work of art (not only puppet art)
Tina Vassa is a true artist, which is reflected in every pigment spot or hair of her characters, a little sad, but each more human than some people.
Olga Eremyanova is constantly working in the direction of a frightening doll, but how much charm is in her stunningly realistic monsters playing people.
Forest Rogers
It seems that he takes pictures of his fantasies, they are so realistic and as if frozen in motion, taken by surprise by the keen eye and sensitive hands of the author
Virginie Ropars (c) (Virginie Ropars)
A stunningly beautiful dark world filled with either animated insects or insect people, although there are sea and forest inhabitants, they are all incredibly verified aesthetically, harmony is elevated to a perfect level.
Anna Abigail Brahms
It seems that she was just lucky to discover the magical world of little fairies that she photographs, sometimes her characters are frightening and malicious, sometimes adorable and beautiful, but they all hide some kind of secret from us curious people.
Dusty Poche creates full-blooded and full of charm monsters, witches and other evil spirits who devour you with their huge eyes .... and you love it, you cannot help but succumb to the charm.
At first glance, Zoya Misko is an ordinary person, but in fact, she is a sorceress who creates her own homely and cozy, quite a few frightening creatures with an explosive character easily and masterly, and the variety of her imagination is amazing.
Irina Linkova (Goryunova) has created a universe of her own in which each story or tale is shown through the lens of the author's completely unique vision, mysterious and charming; her characters are not frightening, but they are definitely 'miraculous'.
I really want the viewer to expand his horizons, allow the author's art doll to be a translator of the author's idea, an object of art, which, in addition to the aesthetic, also has an educational function, did not turn away when he saw something unusual for himself, but thought, analyzed, was open and wanted understand the author, after all, as the character of one wonderful Soviet film said:
"happiness is being understood"
Your weirdo lover
Margarita Dadykina
@margarita_dadykina_artdolls
Українська
I too have had to answer a similar question. More than once. I've also been asked, "Why don't your dolls have Freudian faces?" I don't know what to say! Dolls contain all the emotions a person has. Well, that's my opinion. Thanks for bringing it up.
Thank you very much, Lena, yes, you, of course, have a better question about Freud, but this one was so frequent in different wording that I decided to answer