About and Dolls in Media

See below, from DvP at about; what has Dr. E been saying!

Dolls, Collecting, and the Media
How Pawn Stars, My Crazy Obsession, and Storage Wars Shape Views on Collecting
By Denise Van Patten, About.com Guide
.See More About:doll collectingpawn starsstorage warsmy crazy obsession
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Dolls don't find their way into general media coverage very often. In over 20 years watching the coverage of dolls in the media, only a few patterns of coverage emerge. Barbie gets media coverage for being a pop icon, but other than milestone anniversaries, coverage of Barbie often revolves around some sort of controversy (often involving her exaggerated body dimensions). Hard-to-find and popular dolls (think Cabbage Patch dolls) get some media coverage around Christmas time. As for older dolls, occassionally a world-record price at auction for an antique doll will raise a few media eyebrows (but not many...you might see that reported online, but you'll rarely see that reported at CNN, the New York Times, or Fox News, for instance).

Doll Collectors In The Media


Doll collectors fare even worse in media coverage than dolls do. Generally speaking, doll collectors will pop up in the news of the weird or unusual; for instance, the reclusive Hugette Clark and her spending on dolls. Or reborn-baby doll artists and the hyper-realistic baby dolls that they create (usually with a psychological examination of the whys and reasons they are drawn to these dolls). But hey, its the media, they have lots of competition for the eyes of the general public, and they really dont' have the time to delve in depth into things they really don't understand. To them, doll collectors are offbeat and non-mainstream--I can't tell you how many times I've been interviewed by reporters and treated like the "crazy doll lady."


Collecting On Basic Cable Television


Lately, there has been an interesting phenomenon on basic cable television, where collecting in general has received all sorts of attention in shows like "My Crazy Obsession" on The Learning Channel, "Pawn Stars" on the History Channel, and "Storage Wars" (and "Storage Wars Texas") on the A & E channel. This attention has been mixed--to my mind, the attention collecting has received on "My Crazy Obsession" is generally negative, but the attention received on "Pawn Stars" and "Storage Wars" has been generally positive. Let me explain why.


My Crazy Obsession


"My Crazy Obession" is a show which (according to their website) "pulls back the curtains to reveal some of the nation's most extreme and unique obsessions. The series takes viewers behind-the-scenes of homes that are dedicated entirely to the owners' infatuation with various objects, people, or lifestyles." Dolls have been portrayed several times on this show. Of course, given the title and the show's mission to show "extreme" and "crazy" obsessions, the doll collectors and collections who have been shown on the show are portrayed in a particular, and somewhat unflattering, light. One of the collections featured a huge Cabbage Patch Doll collection that filled up an entire building. That, in and of itself, wasn't so bad. What went to the "extreme" part of the portrayal was that the collectors set up play dates with other collectos where the dolls "played" together. Harmless fun, but not helpful for the portrayal of dolls and doll collectors in the media.


Another collector that was portrayed collected and created...of course...reborn baby dolls. The focus was on how realistic the dolls were, with spit bubbles and birth marks on the heads ,and how the collector had made over 1,800 of these. The piece wasn't as bad as the Cabbage Patch piece was, but it definitely did nothing positive for the image of most mainstream doll collectors.


Pawn Stars


"Pawn Stars" follows "...the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop on the outskirts of Las Vegas, [where] three generations of the Harrison family...jointly run the family business...The three men use their sharp eyes and skills to assess the value of items from the commonplace to the truly historic, including a 16th-century samurai sword, a Super Bowl ring, a Picasso painting and a 17th-century stay of execution. It's up to them to determine what's real and what's fake, as they reveal the often surprising answer to the questions on everyone's mind, "What's the story behind it"? and "What's it worth?" For those that have not seen the show, most items that are considered are being sold, not pawned.


On "Pawn Stars" the portyrayal of collectors and collecting is much more positive than on My Crazy Obsession. Although dolls are only rarely featured, antiques and collectibles are treated as fascinating objects, with histories and stories worth exploring. Also, viewers get to see a realsitic negotiation for the purchase of the items, and this helps educate collectors and the general public that their item might have a $2,000 "book" value, yet when being sold may only generate $1,000 due to the store owner's costs of business. My only complaint with the show? It is a very guy-oriented show, so you are much more likely to see antique guns, vehicles, and star wars memorabilia than you are likely to see dolls on the show. Nevertheless, this show definitely contributes to a positive view of collectors--Rick Harrision himself is an avid collector.


Storage Wars


Then there is "Storage Wars." "Storage Wars." Storage Wars "follows four professional buyers and their teams as they scour repossessed storage units in search of hidden treasure. Part gamblers, part detectives, these seasoned veterans have found everything from coffins to the world's most valuable comic book collection, paying as little as ten dollars for items valued in the millions." Although Storage Wars has some extremely, colorful and unique characters on the show who may or may not be great poster children for collectors in general (there is some very heated bidding rivalries on the show, and untrampled greed everywhere), when something antique or unusual is found, the item is brought to a proper expert, and just as on Pawn Stars, the history of the item plus a value is given. Also, you can see that collector Barry Weiss (one of the buyers) truly has respect and love for the objects he collects, just as Rick Harrison does. Again, dolls particularly don't come up on this show that much, but they have come up a few times, as have toys and related items.


Oh, and collectors, one lesson you shoud learn from Storage Wars is always, always, pay your storage bill!


Overall, Thanks Are Due to Basic Cable For Its Coverage Of Collecting


There are other shows that contrimbute ond the negative side ("Hoarders") and the postivie side ("American Pickers"). Overall, however, I think that the portrayal of collecting and collectors, at least on basic cable television, has become much more positive and mainstream thanks to TV shows like "Pawn Stars" and "Storage Wars." Now, if only we could have a bit more of that directed directly at dolls and doll collectors to compensate for our appearances on "My Crazy Obsession!"

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