I know this has probably already been talked about on here before, and i think I did actually find a page about this topic somewhere on here.
But in case it hasn't been done before (and I cant actually remember where that original page was, assuming it does exist) I thought start a new topic that covers perhaps the most fundelmental question there is on this particular fetish:
Why this concept? What does this mean to you PERSONALLY?
I dont really know anything about psychology or psychotherapy etc, but I try and put some logic has to why some people (myself included) find the concept of a person/character being physically inflated by some means (either intentionally or by accident) brings forth such strong sexual stimulation in many of us.
I've thought about it long and hard, and I think that it could POSSIBLY be done to three main factors.
The first one is all about one single idea-CHANGE. If you were to do a deep analysis of what this is all about, I think the two words that could best describe it would be CHANGE and TRANSFORMATION.
I think that, from a psychological view, when you look at a inflation sequance in a cartoon or a comic, the character in question is going through a PHYSICAL CHANGE of somekind. That their PHYSICAL bodies are being TRANSFORMED by a process (mostly air or water through their mouths, etc) so that their bodies become something else, and take on a new shape and structure differant to what they really are (in essence their biological bodies take on the quality of a balloon, has well as the same propeities).
I think that the concept of becoming something differant to what you really are (in this case being turned into a balloon), and then adding the sexual stimulation to the process, is what I think could be the core of all this-we watch it and try to imagine the SENSATION and the FEELING of going through the same change and transformation ourselves (even if the character and the scenario itself is make-believe).
The second factor is the fact that, has we all know, it's all FICTIOUS! The very nature of this phenomion is by nature unrealistic here in the real world.
There have been a couple of incidents were this sort of thing almost happened (that Engish shopkeeper who fell on a air cylinder foe example, and that New Zealand Truck driver being just a HANDFUL of examples of it actually happening).
But even then,thanks to the Laws of Physics here in the Real World (which cartoons tend rather ignore in favour of slapstick humour) the ACTUAL results of those accidents are actually unlike what you would see in a cartoon-the complexity of human physiology is a vast contrast to what you see in physics-breaking SIMPLICITY of a child's cartoon.
And that for me is one of the key elements of this phenomion-that when we see a character being inflated in a cartoon (or a comedy film using special effects) our minds tell us that what we are seeing would NEVER OCCUR in the Real World, and that it's all MAKE BELIEVE.
BUT, when our minds accept that what we are seeing is NOT real, our minds have nothing to compare the experiance we are seeing on TV because that sort of thing just doesn't happen to us, does it? Physics wont allow it.
Once our minds accept that, it then does the next best thing-we IMAGINE it instead. Has we watch the inflation sequance on screen our IMAGINATIONS allow us to try and visualise what the character we are seeing is EXPERIANCING. We imagine the physical SENSATION they are feeling at what is happening to them, which in turn allows us to create make-believe fantasies based on what we are SEEING at the time, and that in turn allows our sexuality to encroach upon this fantasy because of it being so STIMULATING. (Which brings us back to what I said about the FIRST factor).
There is one final third factor that I think might also be key to all of this, which I'm not sure if anyone has really thought about it before-SUBMISSION.
There are many sexual fetishes and turn ons in our complex society, and one of them is SUBMISSION (or being SUBMISSIVE). For some peple, this invoves being subjected to OPPRESIVE, DOMINEERING and even DEGRADING behaviour (both physically and/or mentally) by someone else.
There are many forms of this-some people like being tied up, being forced to wear hand chuffs & restraints, being stripped naked and do humiliating acts and the commandof someone else, forcing them to commit these acts of almost servitude at their will/command.
And, if truth be told, deep at the core of this fetish, I think that that kind of thing applies here too (but on a much more subtle level).
When you look closely at the HUNDREDS of inflation sequances from a multitude of films, cartoons, comics, etc over the decades nearly all of them have one thing in common-in most cases the 'victim' has NO CONTROL over what's happening to them. In most cases they have got themselves into a situation where they are being inflated (either by accident or by another character, on purpose or not) and they have no choice but to allow it to happening to them.
This is where I think this whole submissive concept might come into it-the character is allowing his/her own body to be inflated (with air, water, etc) by something (or someone) else, in which case it's the other character who CONTROLS both the nature and the duration of the inflation against their victim, regardless of their motives.
And if it's an object, the victim falls prey to it and allows themselves to be controlled by it in a fashion.
One example that comes to mind is Roger Rabbit and that Vacumn cleaner-when you look at it, it's just an inaminate machine, not concious or self aware, but Roger accidently allows himself to be inflated by it.
The Vacumn itself isn't doing it with malice or anything, it's just functioning normally, whilst Roger-quickly aware of the sitution he is in-can do practically NOTHING to stop himself being blown up.
It's like he doesn't really try to break free-to me it's like he just 'lets go' and allows himself to be inflated to such a big size, whilst that whimpering of his gives us a sense that he is just POWERLESS to do anything but lye there and 'accept' it's happening to him.(and has someone else pointed out, "he blows up to an enormas size, UNTIL HE CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE" :-) ).
And that, for me, is one of the things it's mostly about-someone (or something) having POWER and CONTROL over someone elses body, mostly against their will (muchlike the whole submissive/domineering fetish in itself).
I would like to know if anyone has any personal opinions about what I've said, and whether they agree or not. If anyone wishes to add their own opinion on this matter then feel free to comment, and would like any feedback on this subject. :-)
For me, it's not fictitious and it's very important that it's not, and it applies to my own body. However, there is an issue of body dysmorphia in there in that i honestly can't tell how big i get when i inflate. I recognise there's a big difference between real possibilities and fantasies.
I would agree with your analysis of the situation and to me it's a form of BDSM. My motivations are roughly that when i was young, i was very anxious that my fetish would rule out a sexual relationship, which turned out not to be so, then later it became a positive way of escaping from feeling sexual desire towards women, which at the time was important because most of the women i knew at the time were radical feminists whose ideal was lesbianism and regarded me as irredeemably hostile. It meant i could achieve sexual gratification while never objectifying anyone. I use it as a way to avoid disrespect for people.
This later became more complicated because it turned out that there were a few women who fantasise about being inflated, and some who actually want to be inflated in real life. I wasn't expecting that and it kind of works against what for me is the whole point of indulging this fetish, although i'm glad there are such women.
Just in the last couple of days i've been wondering if for someone who fantasises about inflating others, it's often more about the appearance than the experience of the inflatee. The interesting thing about that is that it has a kind of metaphorical companion because if the inflation is with air, there's a kind a paradoxical fullness and emptiness - the victim is full of something which is invisible and undifferentiated, so they're kind of full of nothingness.
It is about lack of control, certainly. I also tend to mix it with fantasies about being female because i detest being male (no offence to any other men - it's my problem and you're all absolutely OK - i just hate being male myself). I am in the peculiar situation of being as frustrated by my maleness when i inflate on video as the viewer is - i want to be female at least as much as they would like me to be.
Anyway, yes, basically it's about lack of control, an S&M-type thing and so on, but for me, no, it's absolutely not about fantasy, or rather, the fictitious nature of inflation which means that in reality i will probably never be hugely inflated is extremely irksome to me. I for one desperately want it to be real, and happening to me.
http://www.youtube.com/user/nineteenthly