Charles Dickens is so well known for “A Christmas Carol,” that some of his other Christmas Tales are too sadly overlooked. In my favorite, the unassumingly-titled “A Christmas Tree,” the narrator muses over a tabletop Christmas Tree toy, and descends into haunted recollections about his own childhood toys and seasonal experiences in a manner that… Continue reading The Uncanny Mask in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Tree”
Tag: dolls
When Hot Dogs Attack
You may have seen this hilariously strange new ad for Tums Smoothies during the political convention season (2016) on TV. If so, you’ve “Felt the (Heart)Bern” in a way that probably made you do a double-take the first time you saw it: A pack of naked hot dog people, attacking a lone male camper in… Continue reading When Hot Dogs Attack
The #Whoppersign, the King and the Uncanny
Kudos to the fast food chain Burger King (and their marketing team, led by VP Fer Merchado), for making a bold step in addressing the special needs of people with hearing disabilities. To celebrate the most recent American Sign Language Day (on April 15th, 2016), they ran an advertising campaign that directly targeted the deaf,… Continue reading The #Whoppersign, the King and the Uncanny
Design for Creeping Baby Doll Automaton, 1871
Happy holidays from The Popular Uncanny.
The Vampire Reborn
Boing Boing recently posted a great link to another vampire oddity that not only appropriates the popular uncanny icon of the vampire, but also that subgenre of “dolls” that for some are beautiful little darlings and for others are just too disturbingly close to real living babies — those uncanny valley dolls known as ‘reborns’.… Continue reading The Vampire Reborn
Toys of Terror
I have a short story in the new issue of Diabolique magazine and was excited to see that it also includes a good feature story by Brandon Kosters called “Toys of Terror” — a good overview of the appearance of “scary dolls” as baddies in horror film (from Chucky in Child’s Play to Corky in… Continue reading Toys of Terror