Comments on: Regarding Dollhouse

By: Writing the Future » I present: a Dollhouse blogaround!

Writing the Future » I present: a Dollhouse blogaround! — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 02:49:13 +0000

[...] Regarding Dollhouse, from The Pursuit of Harpyness. Unfortunately for all of us on that score, Joss does not appear to have any particular philosophical commitments when it comes to the question of prostitution. [...]

By: rengeko

rengeko — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 06:11:45 +0000

i find myself very confused about what whedon is trying to say here-i mean, originally, i had thought it was a treatise on identity-you can see that in buffy, too-so i thought…ok. then i started watching the eps. the issue of consent is HUGE to me…and there really is no consent. there is no such thing as, “you signed a waiver, you consented to whatever” it just can’t be that way. and realistically, how is it that these actives, who are basically sex dolls, never come back broken? we all know that people, if allowed to do whatever they want, will often do things that are horrible. i also find the caroline/echo just unbelievably written. the only character that seems sympathetic is the doctor, and i think she’s probably oversympathetic…the motivations in the show are murky at best, and i just don’t see where he can be going with it.

By: HanaMaru

HanaMaru — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:21:14 +0000

I’m still watching and I also find it hard to care when the characters are so flat. Most of them seem pretty dim, too. Caroline comes of as a conservative’s stereotype of an over-idealistic liberal naif, Ballard can’t come up with anything beyond the bits of info that fall into his lap, DeWitt was so hands off with her pseudo-closure operation that she let an active raid her armory, possibly kill a handler, almost kill her and Topher, and succeed in releasing the lobotomized dolls, who I guess would have been hit by cars by the time they got to the road.

Between that stuff and the cliches in the dialogue, the fanservice outfits, the copious rape, Joss is seriously wearing on his fans’ trust in him. I agree, Helen, on seeing the continuation of disturbing themes introduced in Firefly.

By: StaySea

StaySea — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:31:44 +0000

@Spark: Yes, but the pairing of Ballard and November felt more like sloppy seconds than a real relationship. I mean, she’s clearly been pining for him and it felt like he just had a moment of horniness that needed satisfying. I doubt their “relationship” would have really went anywhere, since he clearly is fantasizing about Echo. So, yay fat girl gets the guy…at least until the hot girl shows up.

@Maritsa: OMG, you are right. I had forgotten that as well. And hello, she actually has a nice rack so a tank would have looked nice!

By: Spark

Spark — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:39:11 +0000

@StaySea: Agreed, but I do like that they paired hard-body Ballard with a woman a little bigger than your average prime-time waif.

I’m defending this show again. I’m not even a Joss Whedon fan. I need help.

By: Maritsa

Maritsa — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:48:39 +0000

@StaySea, I noticed that even beyond those frumpy dresses, when they woke up last week Echo and Sierra were wearing little short slip nightgowns and November was wearing a sleeved nightgown. CUZ SHE’S FAT!!! Ugh. Oh and of course the men were wearing t-shirts and pants.

By: StaySea

StaySea — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:10:14 +0000

I’m still watching and trying to “keep the faith” in Whedon. But I do agree, it’s over-sexed. And I am getting annoyed with the lack of background on the main characters – I expected a lot more out of the last episode. I’ll hang in until the end of season, but at this rate I don’t expect a season 2.

But here’s what’s really bugging me, why the hell do they have to dress November like some old lady? So she’s not a size 4 like the other Actives, why does that mean she has to be all covered up? It’s like they are trying to de-emphasize her sex appeal by putting her in odd-fitting flowery dresses that only grandmas wear. I mean, can we not sex her up a bit, or would that be sending the wrong message?

I know, I know, “plus-size” is not attractive. Have I not learned anything from the media?!

By: maisnon

maisnon — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:31:20 +0000

I’m watching and … not so happy with it. I’m reserving judgment bc I know that Whedon’s shows often kick it into gear later on. We shall see.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:01:21 +0000

I am watching! And I’m liking it. I think they’ve definitely made everything sexier than it needs to be (including gratuitous camera angles of Echo coming out of the shower or whatever, etc). Mostly the show has got me pulled in because I’m really curious and it’s still all a mystery. But its leaving me hanging TOO LONG and I’m going to need answers pretty soon.

By: Helen

Helen — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:40:20 +0000

To me the show has all along seemed an unsurprising evolution of some of Whedon’s creepier obsessions in Firefly.

He created the courtesan character who was supposedly all empowerful and respected, then showed his main male character constantly invading her boundaries while she put up with it. But since we were *told* she was all empowerful, that was supposed to be okay, or something. And then there’s Whedon’s creepy commentary on the even creepier gratuitous spongebath montage in the pilot.

With River, he ran with the lovely young girl with lack of agency but some superpowers aspect. Again, for the full creepifying effect, it’s worth checking out his commentaries. He refers to the opening of River’s container in the pilot — where a teenage girl is displayed naked to a bunch of strangers without her consent — as the most beautiful image imaginable.

In Dollhouse, it’s looked all along like he just wanted to slap the two wankish fantasies together.