Too Cute to Spook

Halloween is almost here and I could not resist making this limited edition of SO SOPHIE art dolls, the Too Cute to Spook gang. Clio and Payo, Boo-U, Lil’Kin, Miss Winifred and Batty are in the “haunted” house!

You know, I sometimes wonder why Halloween is so popular and why I am so drawn to this holiday in a creative way?

Halloween celebrations nowadays are centered around having fun. A holiday for all ages, there’s a sense of enjoyment and excitement! Dressing up as something scary can be quite exciting and there’s also an element of magic and mystery. And I guess we all have a dark side…

This is Lil’Kin.

So many people actually enjoy the rush of being scared, knowing that they are one hundred per cent safe. We love the unexpected, to jump and scream in fright. It can be so much fun! Very bizarre, actually, or is it? In her TedEd lesson, Why do we like to scare ourselves?, Margee Kerr, a sociologist who studies fear, tries to explain exactly that.

 

This is Miss Winifred

”

Double double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble.

– William Shakespeare, Macbeth

“When we’re in a safe place, we can interpret that threat response as we do any high arousal response like joy or happiness,” says Margee. “The response is triggered by anything unpredictable or startling. But when we’re in a safe place and we know it, it takes less than a second for us to remember we’re not actually in danger. Then we switch over to enjoying it. It’s a kind of euphoria. That’s why you see people go right from screaming to laughing.” Hmmm, interesting.