Shiny Happy People….

Hi… and welcome to another play by the “Humble Little Doll Theater”.

This time, it´s not a funny one….Sorry!

Shiny 1

 

Dolls have always showed the changes of times and society by alter their fashions, hairdoes, make up or their body shapes. One doll in particular also showed the changes for women, having more rights, the progress in taking on professions and having new carreer possibilities.

But what, if we add on another dimension? If we not only let dolls react on changes in  fashions and culture, but let them respond to some different things, going on right now?

Can fashion dolls go serious?

I think, they can.

So I tried to do it with a song.

Shiny 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Shiny Happy People” by REM has always been one of my favorites.

It has a strong hippie-vibe, even if the times of flower power were long gone, when the song was released in 1991.

The “fall of the wall” was just 2 years ago and the cold war had finally ended. Many things changed in a peaceful way and we all hoped and believed, that the world would finally become a better place.

But it never turned out to be like this. And now, we´re facing some of the biggest crises in the last decades.

COVID with many thousands of victims, protests , vandalism  , political problems, lockdowns around the world, economy breakdowns, thousands of people losing their jobs and homes, police brutality at one place, but police fighting against crowds of COVID deniers and illegal COVID-parties in other places …

All that turns  the hopes and messages of love, this beautiful song holds, into  some kind of bitter real-live satire.

But really everything? Isn´t there something good left in the end? Decide for yourself…

Curtains up!

SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE (REM, 1991)

Shiny happy people laughing

Shiny 3

Meet me in the crowd, people, people

Shiny 6

Throw your love around, love me, love me

Shiny 5

Take it into town, happy, happy

Shiny 35

Put it in the ground, where the flowers grow

Shiny 14

Gold and silver shine

Shiny 7

Shiny happy people holding hands

Shiny 9

Shiny happy people holding hands

Shiny 13

Shiny happy people laughing

Shiny 10

Everyone around, love them, love them

Shiny 30

Put it in your hands, take it, take it

Shiny 36

There´s no time to cry, happy, happy

Shiny 4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Put it in your heart, where tomorrow shines

Shiny 15

Gold and silver shine

Shiny 23

Shiny happy people holding hands

Shiny 11

Shiny happy people holding hands..Shiny happy people laughing

Shiny 8

Woa,here we go!

Shiny 12

Shiny happy people holding hands…Shiny happy people holding hands…

Shiny 25

Shiny happy people laughing

Shiny 35

Shiny happy people holding hands

Shiny happy….

COVID is bigger than we are. You simply can´t dicuss with a virus. So we need to wait, until that danger is gone, no matter how long it takes.

But we have the power to protect ourselves and the people around us, as good as possible. And we can decide, how we react on the ongoing political and cultural changes.

Will we respond radical, irresponsible and egostic or reasonable, compassioned and patient?

That depends on everyone of us. We have the choice. And all those choises will finally make the world of tomorrow.
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It took almost 3 weeks, to finish this play. I was often interupted and sometimes, a lack of good daylight or missing props held me up.

Am I really satisfied with it?

I don´t think so…It´s still humble and full of mistakes. But that´s the best I can do at the moment.

There was some trouble with backdrops:

  1. Impossible, to iron those, that came folded enough, to make the folds really disappear…So you will see some fold- wrinkles in some of the pictures.
  2. No matter, how many backdrops I buy, it´s never enough or the right one for a special scene. I realls need more city sights!
  3. Most of my backdrops are simply to narrow, to use more than 5 or 6 dolls. It got a bit better, when I started to work more with 12″ instead of 16″, but still mass scenes are a problem. I used 40 dolls in total for one of the protesters scenes, but ou can only see around 17 or so, because I had to cut ut a lot, to make the crowd fit into the backdrop. But anyway….the vibe of a large crowd of people is still given.
  4.  The narrow backdrops caused another problem: I couldn´t make my dolls have the right amount of social distancing. They had to stand a good deal closer, than I actually intended. And in some scenes, they hold hands or hug,  where they simply shouldn´t…But I wanted to show the importance of social contacts (personally or via mail/phone/zoom…doesn´t matter how!). And remember: The dolls life in the same household!

And its a premire too! First cooperation between my beloved 16″ dolls and my precious 12″s! (They insisted on working together!)

The 12″ had to do most of the more intricate jobs, because they´re more easy to handle, don´t need that much space and I have much more props for them.

I think, this kind of “cooperation” will go on in the future…We´ll see!

 

EVERYTHING´S PINK!!!!

That play is inpired by “Morgens Pauken” (“Cram in the morning”), a song by the famous German rock band “Die Ärzte” (“The Doctors”).
The original refrain is “Alles ist Punk” (“Everything´s punk”).

Curtains up!

This one, dear Barbie, is for you….But I don´t think, you´ll like it!

You´re living in a pink chalet,
while other dollies lives are grey!

Pink 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything´s PINK! Really everything´s PINK!

Your home is just a crazy dream, something the world has never seen!

Pink 2

´Cause everything´s PINK, almost everything´s PINK !

You are… you are… you are… you are… PINK!

Music is PINK! (Really?)

Pink 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rockstars are PINK! ( What else!)

Pink 4

And cooking is PINK! (Of course….)

Everything´s… everything´s… everything´s…. everything´s… PINK!

Pink 5

Everything´s PINK, simply everything´s pink!

You´re shopping in a pink boutique….Some people think, that you´re a freak!

Because everything´s PINK! Always everything´s PINK!

Pink 6

And you are…you are….you are….you are…PINK!

Pink 14

Stores are PINK! (Well…almost!)

Pink 7

Hair dressing is PINK! (Latest thing!)

Pink 8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even SCIENCE is PINK! (Are you kidding!)

Pink 9

Everything´s…Everything´s…Everythings´s…Everything´s… PINK!

If Santa trims your Christmas tree,

it must be PINK, as we can see!

Pink 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your doggie goes the pink-vet way

(Tries suicide the other day….)

Pink 11

Because everything´s….everything´s….everything´s …. almost EVERYTHING´S PINK!!!!!

You are….you are….you are….you are…PINK!!!!

Hospitals are PINK! (Get well soon!)

Pink 12

And laundry is pink! (So what!)

Pink 13

You are…you are…you are…. you are…PINK!!!!

Pink 19

Everything´s PINK! Simply Everything´s Pink!

Pool-live´s still PINK (Even the water?)

Pink 15

And wellness is PINK! (Can you believe that!)

All is…all is…all is…all is… PINK!!!

Pink 16

Your chandeliers are always PINK!  (Do you really want to know, what I think?)

Pink 17

In your world even BBQ´s are PINK!

Pink 18

Because you are….you are…you are…you are…..PINK!

Everything´s PINK! Almost everything´s PINK! Everything´s……..Everything´s….

PINK…..PINK….PIIIIIINNNNNNKKKKKK…..PIIIII…..NNNNN….KKKKK…..

Pink 20

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Barbie was young, the fashions and props were high-class and looked almost realistic, with a wide range of colors.

But with the late 60´s, many things changed. Now the clothing became more and more cheaply and pink danced into the spotlight. The other colors might have been fighting, but in the 70s, the war was already lost.  Pink was the sun, surrounded by small planets in different colors. And even if some things have changed in the last years, it´s still Barbie´s most significant color.

When you think of shocking PINK today, your first thought is not “Oh, Schiaparelli!”, but “Ugh! Barbie!”

Honestly Mattel….There MIGHT have been a time, when little girls (and their moms) demanded nothing but PINK (I doubt it!), but those times are over.

Today´s children want the props and fashions back, that represent the real world.

Girls are no princesses. They want to be scientists, nurses, teachers, pilots, managers and discover their talents, as you finally realized. But there are still too many mermaids and pink castles in the air. Just let pink be a color like all the others.

Parents and adult collectors will be thankful.

I confess, I don´t like pink that much and never did. And whenever I buy Barbie stuff, I try to avoid that color. But that´s still a hard thing to do.

Every prop or doll I bought, no matter if new or second-hand, brought in more or less unwanted pink items.

Sometimes, I accepted parts of the props to be pink…In other cases, I just had no  joice, because there was nothing other to get but pink…

When I finally finished the shooting for this play, I was almost mad.

I don´t think, I can see PINK anymore for a long, long while!