The Lolita Complex: - Scholarly Commons Home

established trajectories, and rewriting the teleology to include Japan’s
position. This first chapter sets up a foundation for approaching Chapters
Two and Three, the crux of the thesis, which investigate ideologies
pertaining to the Japanese Lolita subculture.
Chapter Two looks at the phenomenon’s connections to and
relationships with the Doll. It examines the history and meaning of doll
culture in Japan, including Japanese superstitions about dolls, the
psychology behind an attachment to dolls, and motivations for collecting
dolls, while analysing the doll-like image of the Lolita and what dressing as a
doll in Japan implies.
Chapter Three takes these perceptions about the Lolita doll-like image
further by critiquing the position of the Gothloli as a sexualised identity.
This section unpacks the sexual connotations of Lolita, its connections and
non-connections with Nabokovian terminology and associations with the
syndrome known as the “Lolita Complex”, exploring how the subculture, in
fact, paradoxically deflects this sexualised position and, as such, can be
observed as a new feminist movement.
The concluding chapter, “The Death of a Subculture?” raises questions
about Lolita’s current position and the possible future for this phenomenon.
Page | 26