Fake Relationships
My Fake Baby: Video one - Video two - Video three - Video four - Video five
As I watched these videos in somewhat disturbed fascination, I kept wondering how I could put something about it here on the blog. I wondered how I could make this documentary fit here.
Basically, what it all came down to for me is that you can’t fake relationships.
While I don’t begrudge the doll collector what would be a very awesome customized addition to their collection, this documentary isn’t about the doll collectors. This is about real women who take fake babies – some insisting that they be called ‘babies’ and not ‘dolls’ – out into the public and treat them like they’re real children.
Pram and all.
Towards the end, a woman asks, “Men collect toy planes, toy trains. What’s the difference?”
The difference is that men aren’t taking their toys out in public and pretending they are real to get attention and/or cope with a loss.
At first I felt a lot of sympathy for the woman who said the quote above, thinking she was mourning the loss of her grandson because he had died. Lo and behold, he’s alive and well and they have conversations over webcam.
I hate to be so picky about this because I feel genuinely sorry for these women, but I can’t help it. More than one woman on these videos has talked about the attention a woman gets when she has a newborn.
This isn’t so much about maternal instincts as it is the want/need for that attention you get as a mother.
Admittedly, I don’t have children so I don’t yet know what kind of attention you get when you’re carrying around a newborn, but still. You simply cannot fake relationships.
Or, if you’re like the woman seeking a perfect baby, then you will miss out on all the wonderful things that come from having an imperfect child. If you’re willing to give that up in pursuit of perfection, then more power to you I guess.
Bottom line: You can’t fake relationships. You can’t cope with loss by means of replacement.
Neither works.
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