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commonly held sensibility not only amongst doll lovers in Japan but also for
followers of the Japanese movement.
This notion that dolls may possess souls is a major point of discussion
in this chapter. It is an extra layer which emphasises that there is more
psychologically to one’s motivation towards dolls, including the doll-like
Lolita identity and, for the Gothloli particularly, behind the obsession with
playing with dolls or playing at dress-ups, than sheer interest. These
activities should not be interpreted as just everyday hobbies, or even the
attraction to them as simply a reflection of taste and desire.
Symbolically, in choosing this inanimate identity, there also seems for
me to be a general sense of loss and mourning. For Gothic Lolita there is a
literal relationship to bereavement in the wearing of black and mourning
dress but there is also an overall pervasion and or projection of a feeling of
loss which, in consideration of the Gothloli’s doll-like appearance and
childish habits, I read as a mourning for the loss of childhood or connected
with childhood memories and or the loss of, or desire to retain, childhood
sensibilities.
The animation or reanimation of this inanimate identity I relate and
extend to the memory of the childhood doll itself and a wish to replace the
doll (often a lost possession) or a desire to hang on to it. I go even further to
suggest that this represents an overall sense of being lost.
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