I Totally Skipped Dollhouse

[marydell]

So when I read about Dollhouse, the new Joss Whedon TV Adventure, I was not enthused, because it's supposedly about a hot girl who has no personality of her own, who becomes different people based on the needs of the current adventure.  Which is a pretty textbook male fantasy, and if we're going to explore it I'd rather see a reality show about Japanese fantasy sex clubs, because those are cool. 

Alias embraced this concept by dressing Sydney up in hooker clothes all the time, but she had her own personality, so it was a contrast thing, in which the fantasy object was really a sweet, complex person with a family, who will kill you 18 different ways.  

So, the other thing this concept immediately reminded me of was Molly in <i>Neuromancer</i>, who used to work as a "meat puppet," being given to clients who would do nasty things to her that she wouldn't remember, except that one time she "woke up" in the middle of a session and she killed the hell out of the client because he was cutting her up or some shit like that.  See, it was just one conversation in a book I read 20 years ago, but it was VIVID and has stayed with me, and Molly was SO AWESOME.  So I don't want to see a lameass rip-off of the same concept that's crossed with a lame-ass rip-off of Alias.

So I skipped it.  Judging from my flist's reactions to the show, I totally did myself a favor, because it's bad, bad, bad, and also has more of Joss' annoying old-school Orientalism, which I managed to deal with in Firefly by coming up with my Theory of Chinese People in Firefly* but just don't feel like dealing with any more.

Yay, me! Reading 2-line descriptions of show concepts does pay off.

*Theory: there are a lot of Chinese characters in Firefly. They just aren't played by Chinese actors.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I like your Theory of Chinese People in Firefly.

As I said elsewhere, "I'm not watching Dollhouse because I don't want to get so pissed off I can no longer watch Firefly."

[viorica8957.livejournal.com]

I like your theory. I did notice while watching Firefly that the people from the Core planets- Simon, River, Inana- tended to look more Chinese than those from the outer planets, so I assumed that Chinese people and white/black/Hispanic/Native American/etc people had been mingling and intermarrying until the genetic makeup changed. As for Dollhouse, I did watch it, mostly because I think the premise is that the whole scheme gets blown open, and I'm hoping the female characters play a big part in that. It's too early to tell if they will, but the pilot itself was rather meh.

You didn't miss much

[asyouknow-bob.livejournal.com]

The Dollhouse premiere was annoying and stupid on plenty of other levels without even worrying about the sexual politics of it.

[dharma-slut.livejournal.com]

goddammit goddammit goddammit goddammit goddammit...

You just can't trust anyone anymore.

[bravest-unsaid.livejournal.com]

I think the premise is that the whole scheme gets blown open

I think this is pretty much explicitly the case. When I read the review beforehand, it was all but stated and the pilot launched the idea in like five different ways. I also think it bears mentioning that the protagonist is a woman, but not all the "dolls" are women and not all the adventures are sexy. (None of that means that the premise isn't problematic.)

This show is no Firefly, certainly. Some of the dialog/acting was truly awful. Still, it was at least intriguing enough that I plan to see the second episode.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

I figure Joss'll do something to challenge the concept. Presumably, the story will be about who she really is under all of that but even so the basic concept is too squicktual for me. And I don't trust Joss to take it in the right direction. I loved Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, but his characters tend to discover who they are through intense relationships with other characters. Starting with no personality at all means that even more than the usual amount of inappropriate sex, mysterious pregnancies, tragic deaths, and torture will be required before this protagonist gets to make her 5th-season speech about being strong.

If I'm wrong, I'll be glad, and will watch it on DVD, but I'm going to wait and see what LJ thinks of the next several eps before going near it!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I was immediately reminded of the meat puppets in Neuromancer as well.

We watched the premiere last night, and can I just say? It bothers me that Joss Whedon gets so much credit for being an antisexist wonderboy while still, you know, setting up television premises in which the plot requires that a bunch of skinny hot girls shower together.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I don't know why LJ is using my "dove of peace" icon when I explicitly selected the "feminazi" icon. There are subtle differences between them, you know?

Serenity Spoiler

[marydell.livejournal.com]

See, I stopped trusting him 2/3 of the way into Serenity.

[SPOILER]


TBDF, bleah, and throwing away an interesting, not-fully-explored character just to make the hero angry, bleah.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

LOL, it looks like the right icon to me (it's the feminazi one) - awesome.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it kind of shows how low the bar is set.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Amen to that. I still like Firefly but I have to avoid analyzing it too much.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this is why I wait and watch the things people have recommended on DVD. So far, this doesn't sound like it'll be one of the shows I actually get to.

[unhappytriad.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of Chinese characters in Firefly. They're written on posters on the walls.

I'm pretty much done with Joss Whedon. I see no evidence in his work that he's ever met an actual woman.