Cleo

It is common throughout all different cultures and places around the world, and all ages, for people to maintain ownership over items that they believe hold sentimental value for themselves. Whether it is an old family photo with your grandfather who has passed many years ago or it is the collar tag from your first dog, we hold on to these things because they remind us of places, people, and things of our past, giving tangibility to the things we have lost in attempts to keep them close to us. This is a practice that for many begins at a young age. Old soccer trophies collect dust on shelves until we can’t remember the last time that we touched a ball. Since the late 19th century, with the rise of “teddy bears”, children have been given stuffed animals at an extremely young age, sometimes even around birth. For many children stuffed animals play an important part of their childhood, providing them comfort and security and teaching them a lot about love and compassion. For some children, there can be one or two stuffed animals that become particularly special to the child, making them a central part of that person’s childhood as they are present for almost everything, whether that is sleeping, meals, and even leaving the house. It is not uncommon for people to keep their stuffed animals for much of their life, sometimes into their adulthood even passing them down to their own children. In this documentary Sally Vaughan explores why we keep our stuffed animals for so long, and at times feel as though we cannot get rid of them. How do we cope with the loss of our childhood and what are the ways we attempt to reconnect with the childlike aspects still inside of all of us?