There’s One Born Every Minute, They Say
There is a trend which began in the UK and is spreading fast here in America for a collectible doll known as a “reborn.” They look like infants, and are extremely lifelike. Some of them actually mimic breathing and movement during sleep. There are women who craft these dolls and sell them from “nurseries” where prospective “moms” can survey their choices and pick one that suits their taste. When they find the doll they wish to take home, they have to pay what is termed an adoption fee, which normally runs into the hundreds of dollars.
And it seems that some women cannot get enough of them.
I went on Ebay, the to-the-minute barometer of popular items, and when I typed in “Re-born doll” the search returned things like baby clothes and pacifiers. But, as soon as I changed it to “Re-born baby,” I hit the jackpot. No less than 642 items, many of them actual dolls, or uh, babies, as everyone in the industry seems determined to label them.
I examined the listing of one particular doll, a preemie named Michael. While I admire the artistry that goes into the making of one of these dolls (I am just as determined, I have decided, to label them dolls) I can’t help but be a bit apprehensive about their popularity. What exactly are the people who buy these dolls looking for? Something they can pretend is real but without any of the actual pesky “growing up” thing that babies tend to do?
Doll aficionados have been around forever, and I know that certain types of dolls go in and out of fashion, as with any other collectible. But the way they are framing the creation and purchase of the reborns so similarly to actual babies gives me pause.
I am also refraining from any “Chuckie” references, because we are all about the high class here at Teeny Manolo. But dang, it’s tempting.
Below you will find a fairly creepy video about the creation of reborn dolls. The quality isn’t great, but hey, it’s YouTube.
This kind of reminds me of that movie “AI, Artificial Intelligence”, with Haley Joel Osment as the lifelike robot boy. It was creepy, but also quite poignant. He is purchased to replace the child that a young couple lost & then deserted when they had another human child of their own. A morality tale about technology & humanity and the increasingly blurry line between the 2.
Yes, I have been keeping an eye on these. Cats are so over! Creeeeeeeeeepy, very creeeeeeeepy. And these dolls are depriving a generation of children of their whacky aunts, a time-honoured and valuable societal role.
Remember Cabbage Patch Mania? or am I showing my age?
I was in a store a few weeks ago that had the “real breathing, sleeping pets” made out of old fur coats. These things were soft, had sweet faces, and yes, they inhaled and exhaled. And they gave me goose bumps and not in a good way. I love the sweet smell of baby, the loving purr of cat, the complete trust of a puppy. How can plastic compete with real innocence, warmth, and natural beauty of living, loving babies???
There is SO much creepy child-replacement in our culture….
This reminds me of a candy that is made to replicate a newborn baby. The artistry is absolutely amazing, but the concept is very disturbing. There is something so wrong about these things in my opinion.