Episode 118. Friends till the End. Child’s Play (1988)

Faculty of Horror

In this episode we look at the origins of the original “Good Guy.” From his place in the history of toys to his ties to masculinity to the anxiety around 1980s family structures, we go deep with Chucky to find out what makes him kill.

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REQUIRED READING

Child’s Play. Dir. Tom Holland, 1988.

EXTRA CREDIT

The History of Creepy Dolls. An examination of how dolls became part of our nightmares.

Technology’s Covert Socialization of Children: High-Tech Toys. How “high-tech” toys create a false sense of safety.

Hasbro’s My Buddy Doll. A history of the doll that inspired Chucky.

“Midnight Scenes and Orgies”: Public Narratives of Voodoo in New Orleans and Nineteenth-Century Discourses of White Supremacy.

The Child and Adult Trauma in American Horror of the 1980s. Freud’s uncanny child in the era of consumerism.

The Place of Play: Toys and Digital Cultures. A look at toys as “generation-shapers.”

Hasbro Brazil’s ad for Baby Alive, encouraging parents to examine their gender biases.

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