DIY doppelgangers
Make your own doppelganger: that's the premise of MyTwinn. This business will hand-craft a doll double for you, at a reasonable price. Their website is very cheery, promising years of fun for childrenn, but even the least Gothically inclined viewer must feel a twinge of fear and recognition at images like this:
What captions come to mind? I want to voice the doll, not the girl. "Soon, soon, she will be mine." "Each night I grow, while she dwindles." And yet, at the same time, the doll's expression looks so sad - anticipating a future abandonment, perhaps.
What happens with age? What sadness as the doll preserves childhood, while the child becomes a tweener, then teen, like some Dorian Gray crossed with My Pretty Pony. Or, like the recent and horrific Flat Daddy item, what happens after death, when this denizen of the uncanny valley is all that remains of the beloved original? How terrifying, how sad its persistence.
The doll-minded may refer to our January post on Elmo, Kleist, etc. Or this most recent doppelganger story.
This post sends me into spasms of horrified giggles, as I sit in limbo in the Seattle airport -- hoping against all odds that they will let me onto a flight booked months ago. So rest assured Dr. Alexander, you do indeed pass joy and dread to the people who need it most even when they are least resilient.
Posted by: blamb | September 26, 2006 at 18:15
That's positively eerie. They look like they're straight out of some bizarro combination of _Barbarella_ and _The Stepford Wives_...
Posted by: KF | September 26, 2006 at 23:42
I presented to a group, recently, and showed this page. One attendee admitted that one of their children had had one of these - until the poor child defaced the thing.
Posted by: Ceredwyn Alexander | October 03, 2006 at 15:10
(Sorry - that was me. One of the many dangers of using my wife's mind, er, computer!)
Posted by: Bryan Alexander | October 03, 2006 at 15:12