The Popularity of Cotton Dolls: The Desire to Return to Childhood

A cotton doll, as the name suggests, is a toy made of cotton and about 10-20 cm in size. The main body design originated in South Korea in 2017, mimicking K-pop idols, and became a hot commodity. In 2018, cotton dolls entered the Chinese market, and some cotton dolls gradually separated from the meaning of K-pop idols and became ordinary goods for the public rather than K-pop fans. People who love cotton dolls have formed "doll groups" on the Internet. According to the "2021 Cotton Doll Player Insight Report," 43% of the cotton doll's fans are born after 2000, with 8.73 cotton dolls per capita.

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The popularity of cotton dolls has made "cuty" popular in China. They have also become a favorite image of high school girls and young office ladies, a totem of "Peter Pan syndrome.” Guard this lovely, fragile, romantic image, as if you can keep the innocent feelings of your heart in the process.

The popularity of cotton dolls shows that the entertainment industry is not just a huge, glossy market for images and symbols, it also provides a critical material carrier for fans’ emotions. The intimate feelings of the fans are concentrated in the tangible object of the cotton doll. The relationship with the beloved idol can be experienced in concrete material, not just viewed in symbolic images. Fans use transparent bags to take the doll shopping, take photos, punch the card, highlighting the doll's display value but also announcing their fan identity to others. Fans are not content to stay in the visual field; they also want to touch with their hands to feel the intimacy. Baudrillard called non-functional goods "gadgets," meaning that they were divorced from practical value and had only symbolic meaning. The practical value of the cotton doll lies precisely in the implementation of the symbolic meaning on the concrete and perceptible material, which happens to form an interesting contrast with Baudrillard's "gadget."

In fact, buying a cotton doll is only the first step. "Dress up" is the key practice. The young people who buy the dolls call it "raising a doll." "Raising" is a special verb in the Chinese context, which means caring and supporting the family, from the material to the spiritual level. The basic tasks of "raising a doll" include making up the doll, changing the hair, buying clothes, and so on. In such a very special "raising" demand market, many new jobs were born: doll restorer, fashion designer, barber and other professions have begun to appear. Under the influence of consumer culture, fans have completed the shaping of personal aesthetics, styles, and values on various cotton dolls. From this perspective, the cotton doll is a representative of McRobie's "consumer girl culture."

Shrink the idol into a mini cotton doll, dress him up, buy clothes, take him to travel with friends, take photos with him; the process is similar to the experience of girls with Barbie dolls. The events that fans experience with the dolls construct one intimate narrative after another as time passes. Immersed in the world of the cotton doll, with the cotton doll as a bridge, addicted to the experience of intimate emotions, you can escape from the real world and enter a world of only private relations and intimate imagination. The cotton doll evokes the fond memories of the fans’ childhood, and the combination of this nostalgic tenderness and the love of the idol gives the fans an unparalleled pleasure experience. That doesn't mean fans can't distinguish between the real world and the imagined world. To quote Baudrillard's wonderful analysis of Santa Claus, after a little knowledge, children no longer believe in Santa Claus. Even so, they still look forward to their Christmas presents. Fans fully understand that the cotton doll in their arms has little to do with the idol, but the intimate companionship established with the cotton doll evokes rosy childhood memories, which are still precious and worth looking forward to. This fits in with the worldwide trend of "Peter Pan syndrome," which challenges the values of the adult world, does not define one's preferences by worldly standards of success, and encourages you to live forever on that beautiful island.

During the COVID-19 lockdown period when gatherings could not be held, the companionship of cotton dolls comforted many people. The touch of a soft fabric, changing clothes for a lovely figure, and even talking to him or her are all great ways to banish loneliness. The main force of consumers buying cotton dolls is school girls and young professional women. For young girls who go to school, the cotton doll is "another self.” School rules restrict how they dress themselves, but they can achieve their desired style on the cotton doll. For young office workers, the decompression and social attributes of cotton dolls have become the primary uses. Many young office workers bring cotton dolls to work and attend weekend "doll parties." By "raising dolls," young people from rural areas who come to work in big cities have greatly expanded their social circle and relieved the pressure brought by a week's work.

The popularity of cotton dolls has been accompanied by China's declining fertility rate for several years. Cotton doll fans call these toys "pups," a term of endearment that shows parental compassion for their children. Although some of the fans are underage teenagers themselves, they have enjoyed playing the role of mothers in the process of "raising a doll."

One of my teachers told me how she was shocked by the cotton doll culture. One of her teenage relatives was a cotton doll fan, and the girl carried the doll around and talked to her. My teacher could not understand this phenomenon at all. This lack of understanding was displayed in a more dramatic way on the Chinese Internet in October this year. Some fans took the dolls into a chain of hot pot restaurants, which are known for their considerate and warm service, and asked the staff to celebrate their dolls' birthdays. But the request was refused by the waiter, who thought it was weird to celebrate the doll's birthday and that it was just a toy. It was the same "culture shock" my teacher had. It is difficult for them to understand the emotion and communication that exists around the "non-person," to really treat an object like a human being - to talk to him, to celebrate his birthday. This story was big news on the Chinese Internet in October

Having a cotton doll fulfills the irreplaceable role of symbols - confirming intimacy. Token of love often come out of the entertainment industry’s large-scale standardized production of items, such as albums, posters, etc. It is precisely because the image data of the idol can be easily obtained that the limited release of the cotton doll is trying to jump out of the world of commodities and can obtain unique meaning through "dress up" and "accompany" in the hands of fans. The intimate feeling brought by the cotton doll is not only in the state of mind. The tactile feeling is like a deep hug, and the soft touch of the fabric can evoke a happy and comfortable feeling. Attached to things and carried with them, the cotton doll becomes an excellent carrier for experiencing intimacy. 

Under the popularity of cotton dolls, a new "feeling structure" seems to have emerged, which is different from the traditional understanding of emotion. It is a very strong "attachment" that accumulates between people and things. This attachment can express both a sense of intimacy and fellowship, as well as practical touch, care, and engagement, and it becomes an important social substitute during periods of great containment when parties cease. In addition, the doll is like a young person's own doppelganger, and the characteristics that they can't really practice in daily life can be realized in the doll. Finally, the cotton doll takes us back to the safe space of childhood, surrounded by soft fabrics as when we were fully loved and cared for by our mother. Cotton dolls reproduce the characteristics of fabric in texture and shape and let us experience the role of child and mother through role-play at the same time. No wonder cotton dolls are so popular in today's age.

Biography

Xiaoxi Zhou earned her PhD in communication at Fudan University. Her research interests include fan studies, celebrity culture, and Asian popular culture. She is deeply attracted by the emotional characteristics of fan culture.Her dissertation, Structures of Feeling of Chinese Idol Fans: A New Emotional Intimacy in the Making, shows a new type of intimacy among Chinese fandom