Dollhouse, the new Joss Whedon show, is finally here. I’m honestly not sure what what to think.
- Eliza Dushku is an awesome actress. She even makes ‘completely spaced out’ entertaining.
- Amy Acker is only slightly less awesome
- The lady in charge is really creepy. If she’s really at the top on the ladder, she’ll be really interesting.
- The evil geek was even creepier – I really, really hated him!
- Eliza Dushku can really kick ass. (I’m shallow).
- Eliza Dushku is really hot. (Yes, that shallow)
Negatives:
- There’s no plot. I was going to write a review of the episode, but nothing actually happened beyond introductions! It wasn’t even a realistic nothing.
- The FBI investigator is boring. Boring, boring, boring, and I don’t care.
- Echo needs an identifying personality stat!
- Even more, there aren’t any sympathetic characters, except perhaps the ‘handler’.
- The story of the episode doesn’t have any resonant meaning, since the character (the hostage negotiator) involved disappears at the end.
- The loss of agency theme makes me feel sick. More on this later.
Jaclyn at Bitch Ph. D. wrote a list of questions, and Aviva at Fourth Wave added some others, so I’m going to answer them:
From B PhD:
2) Were you as psyched as I was to see that Mutant Enemy tag at the end?
No. I hardly noticed it in Buffy, etc.!
3) How did you feel about Eliza D as Faith in Buffy? How have you felt about everything she’s done since Buffy? What did you think about her performance as Echo?
Love, love, loved Faith. I hope that the character Echo develops into is somewhat Faith-like. Tru calling was a terrible show, but Dushku was still really good in it. Echo was performed as well as could be.
4) Why the hell did Joss agree to work with Fox again? Or ever?
They gave him money. Nobody else would. He decided that making a show with Fox was better than no show at all. Corporate America sucks.
5) Um… are there still no people of color who want good roles in Hollywood? It’s a real problem, isn’t it? How on earth can we fix it, so that all the producers and directors aren’t forced to only cast white people all the time? (Yes, there’s Harry Lennix as Echo’s handler, but a) that just makes him the token and b) Driving Miss Daisy, anyone?)
I have no idea why this is so hard. Corporate America sucks. I suppose we can help it by supporting show with POC, but I’m guessing that the current bunch of executives/directors/producers/establishment will have to retire, at the very least, if we are ever to fix it.
6) Ditto fat people, people with physical disabilities, people who aren’t freakishly pretty, etc.?
I don’t think people who are freakishly pretty are going anywhere. I think we can redefine ‘freakishly pretty’ somewhat (both disabled and fat people can be very pretty, for instance), but I know that I’d far rather look at a pretty person on TV than one who, say, looks like me! (See positive #6 above…) Does this make me a horrible person?
7) Did they really have to start with the girl-is-broken-due-to-sex-abuse-and-requires-the-intervention-of-a-kind-man-to-seek-redemption plotline? Why is that never the secret weak spot for male action stars, huh?
Yes, of course they did. Because every strong woman has a history of abuse. The abuse makes them strong! Didn’t you know that? Women who have happy, un-abusive lives end up as boring housewives. (Yes, I’m very angry about this.)
If Person A is desperate and out of options, and is coerced into fully giving up her agency and identity, and if, after making that one decision, Person A no longer has any meaningful ability to consent to anything, nor does she have the ability to withdraw her consent from the original agreement — under those circumstances, if Person C pays Person B money to have sex with Person A, is that really prostitution, as Joss and Eliza have said it is? Or is that sexual slavery?
I had the impression that ‘Caroline’ was some sort of violent criminal, and they were giving her a way to avoid the electric chair. Or something. So, it somehow didn’t bother me, as a principle (Humane treatment of criminals is another issue). I am probably completely misreading this, though! Anyway, I also got the impression that Caroline was tricked – she didn’t understand what she was really signing up for. Presumably, when Echo figures it out, she’ll be pretty mad. Also, when Caroline agrees to be wiped, does she cease to exist? Echo seems to be a different person – she didn’t agree to anything! If so, she is definitely in slavery. This brings a bit of AI/existence (What defines a person? Can a person be duplicated? Transferred?) related stuff into the equation.
In other words: Insufficient information.
9) Can someone tell me that Joss is going somewhere good with this? I want to believe…
We’ll he hasn’t really done anything bad yet (Dr. Horrible excluded on grounds of extreme campyness), plus the network screwed with the pilot big time, so I think that it has a chance.
Now for Aviva’s questions:
a) Can a disturbing premise be mitigated by the subjugated character developing agency and control over her oppressors? If so, to what degree? Does she need to escape? Seek retribution? Take over?
It all depends on how it’s handled. I’m not a big fan of ‘vengeance stories’ – I’d like to see something bigger happen. Taking over might qualify (a la Alice in Resident Evil). Or perhaps something else.
b) How long can a show like Dollhouse continue on with this same “she can be anything you want her to be” shtick before something has to give?
One episode. If they don’t start making me fall in love with Echo herself in the next episode, I’m going to really dislike it. Characters make a story. They’re all that matter.
c) Is it possible to maintain narrative interest if Echo escapes or if Dollhouse (the place, not the show) is shut down? If so, how? If not, then doesn’t the continued need for the Dollhouse as an element of narrative interest necessitate the continued exploitation of the “actives” for our viewing pleasure?
I think they could do anything they want to. One caveat: see my answer to b) – we have to care about the characters. If Echo develops a personality, falls in love with Sierra, and they blow the Dollhouse, move to Mars and open a coffee house for pilgrims from Pluto, I’ll be happy – as long as I care about Echo! If I don’t care, whatever happens in the Dollhouse doesn’t interest me now.
One last thing:
Back to Negative #6:
I can’t really explain why, but the whole concept of loss of agency absolutely terrifies me. This is true even in lesser contexts. People who are addicted to substances or gambling or sex, mob groupthink, people who are unable to perceive the societal influences that they are acting on, people who only react to their current whim, people who don’t care about the effect of their actions, etc., etc. I could never, never, never accept the idea of determinism. Belief in free will is absolutely necessary for me to function. It’s central to my morality, religion, feminism, sexuality, relationships – not to mention boring, everyday life. It was even the primary influence for the name of this blog!
Echo doesn’t have agency, doesn’t have free will. If it was simple coercion, I wouldn’t like it, but I could live with it. Instead, she doesn’t even know she doesn’t have a choice. That makes me feel sick. Perhaps the show will explore this subject somewhat. But if they end up on the side of determinism, I’m going to be very, very angry.