Predatory Consumerism in ‘Child’s Play’
In the ’70s, there had been Leatherface and Michael Myers, neither of whom would return in a sequel until the next decade. The ’80s had truly been the birth of the modern franchise horror icon. Jason had given way to Freddy, who had given way to Hellraiser’s Pinhead. And then, in 1988, one more ’80s horror icon burst on the scene before the final curtain call. That was Chucky, diminutive star of the film, Child’s Play. The movie’s writer, Don Mancini, who has since become the shepherd for the entire franchise, was the son of an advertising executive. The 1980s saw an absolutely colossal toy boom, from Transformers and G.I. Joe to Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And, above all, there was the Cabbage Patch Kids craze. People went nuts for these uncanny valley baby dolls. That, combined with the rise to prominence of talking toys like Teddy Ruxpin and My Buddy, formed the genesis of Child’s Play.
The film wasn’t called that, at first. Mancini’s original script was titled Blood Buddy, and was a more overt corporate toy company satire. In that version, the doll’s unique feature was that it could bleed in the same way other dolls pee, and that you would need to buy toy bandages from the same company to patch it up. Young protagonist Andy makes a blood pact with the doll that brings it to life, but the doll is not alive in the traditional sense, it is an extension of Andy’s rage, attacking all of the adults and authority figures that a bottled-up kid cannot stand up to on his own. Once Tom Holland came onboard to direct, he reimagined the story to center on a doll brought to life through Voodoo, operating independently of Andy, and thus Chucky as we know him was born.
That toy craze satire is still vital to the finished film, though, and in many ways forms its backbone. The movie cannot be separated from the era in which it was released, and that’s a good thing. It’s not just about the overwhelming toy culture, but the way all of that is marketed to children, or, as the Play Pals CEO would refer to them in Child’s Play 3 (and something Mancini genuinely overheard once) “consumer trainees.” The very first scene takes place in a toy store, as serial killer Charles Lee Ray tries to avoid being caught by Detective Norris and, as he’s dying, transfers his soul into the body of a Good Guy doll out of sheer desperation.
In the very next scene, we’re introduced to our young hero, Andy Barclay. Andy is introduced in Good Guy pajamas, watching the Good Guy cartoon on TV, pouring a bowl of the Good Guy breakfast cereal. There’s not a single line of dialogue to draw attention to it, because there wouldn’t be, but visually it tells us everything we need to know. This is the story of a boy and his product. The thing a kids loves that, to keep them loving it, is everywhere. It is everything. It is literally being shoved down his throat, in the form of a breakfast cereal.
Even though it wasn’t Mancini’s original intention, the possession angle that forms the momentum of the plot, as Chucky needs to transfer his soul into Andy’s body before he gets trapped inside the doll forever, simply works. It perfectly services the metaphor. Now, we have the story of a kid in an age where toys are designed to completely take over a child’s life, with a toy that is literally trying to take over his life. It’s obvious from the first moment we see Andy in his pajamas that the Good Guy brand already has his body. Chucky wants the one thing from Andy that a toy company can’t sell a product to obtain: his soul.
Nearly forty years later, Child’s Play is perhaps most known for its revolutionary special effects. The combination of puppetry, suit acting, and animatronic work to bring this doll to life is absolutely exceptional. It’s breathtaking stuff, but the best thing about it is we don’t even see any of that until halfway through the movie. For the first half, we only see little glimpses. Chucky’s POV, Chucky’s hand, or a shot of his eyes shifting to the side. That’s it. It all comes to a head in one of the most tense sequences of any horror film of the 1980s, when Karen walks back into her apartment after hearing the news that Andy is going to be hospitalized, and starts taking it out on the doll.
She, just like her son, demands that Chucky confess, that he reveal himself to her, that he prove that he’s alive. Whereas Andy was dead serious about it, she’s not, not at first. But if this doll did come to life, it would mean her son is both not mentally ill and not a potential murderer. She’s berating the doll out of desperation, then she hears what she sounds like, and backs off. And that’s when she goes back to the box, yet to be thrown away, and learns that the doll has been talking this whole time without any batteries.
It gets so tense from there, as she slowly walks back over to the doll, knowing that what she’s thinking cannot possibly be real, but that she’s thinking it nonetheless. Even then, knowing the truth, the scene doesn’t leap ahead to a fully animated Chucky, instead, we’re treated to one of the best jump scares of the ’80s, as Chucky’s head whips around, eyes narrow, and simply says the phrase he’s been saying the whole movie, “Hi, I’m Chucky, wanna play?” But now it’s a pure shock, a menacing jolt knowing full well that the jig is up, carrying with it that undertone of “You know, and I know that you know.” Then, after that, we finally get the full reveal of pure, Brad Dourif voiced, foul-mouthed Chucky that we’ve come to know and love. But the suspense that plays out just before that happens is second to none.
Child’s Play is also very much about how the adult world is designed not to believe children. This is played to the exaggerated extreme, given the fact that Andy’s story is obviously far-fetched. But his story is completely unwavering. And when nobody believes him, there is nobody to whom he can turn, and like it or not, he learns that he cannot put his trust in adults, that they might not have his best interest at heart, and that at all of six years old he must learn to fend for himself.
This plays into the predatory nature of Chucky, who manipulates Andy every step of the way through the first half of the movie, even going so far as to tell the boy that he was sent down from Heaven by his dead father to be his best friend, which is one of the most screwed up things Chucky has ever done. There’s something genuinely unsettling about the fact that there is a grown man inside of this doll, using this boy for his own purposes, even if it’s mostly just as an accomplice to murder. It’s a fantastical scenario that nonetheless lines up fairly well to the real-world parallel of child predators operating close to the family, inside the home, with the parents often none the wiser.
Child’s Play is known for being one of the most consistent franchises in horror history, largely because the characters and situations develop organically. Mancini never repeats himself. It’s a series that’s allowed to expand and grow, and has done that wonderfully. But it’s worth going back and studying the series’ beginnings, because we don’t get to that point, and we don’t ever get that franchise in general, without this original film being as good as it is.
