On this last official day of summer, we come bearing a special issue that was months in the making and – we hope you’ll agree – worth the wait. With truly stunning and thought-provoking cover art by Andrew Foley, Dolls and Their Houses features seventeen original essays exploring the varied ways dollhouses and miniatures pervade […]
Jeff Ambrose A 2023 Pew Research Center survey of nearly 6,000 American workers found that only “half of U.S. workers say they are extremely or very satisfied with their job overall” (Horowitz and Parker). Often, people turn to forms of entertainment to find stress relief and escape the boredom, stress, or frustration of their occupation. […]
Catherine Pugh In the television series Dollhouse (2009–10), young people known as ‘Actives’ or ‘Dolls’ are subjected to mind-altering technology, wiping away their original identities to be replaced with new ‘imprints’ and hired by wealthy clients. Amoral programmer, Topher Brink (Fran Kranz), is able to create any imprint desired, from mother to lover, thief to […]
Emily Naser-Hall We exist encased in screens within screens, at least in the twisted mind of Osgood Perkins. The 2024 film Longlegs opens with a red block embedded within a black screen, the red configured to fit the now outdated 4:3 aspect ratio that more appropriately befit the 8mm camera and which renders the lines […]
Alice Sage It is an anxious, sometimes a dangerous thing to be a doll. Dolls cannot choose; they can only be chosen. They cannot ‘do’; they can only have things done to them. Tottie: The Story of a Dolls’ House (dir. Oliver Postgate) The 1984 children’s television series Tottie is infamous among British nostalgists for […]