“Forget morality. Imagine it’s true. Imagine this technology being used. Now imagine it being used, on you. Everything you believe, gone. Everyone you love, strangers. Maybe enemies. Every part of you that makes you more than a walking cluster of neurons, dissolved at someone else’s whim. If that technology exists, it’ll be used. It’ll be abused. It’ll be global. And we will be over. As a species, we will cease to matter. I don’t know, maybe we should.”

For the uninitiated, here’s the short description: The Dollhouse is a highly illegal organization, the real purpose and extent of which is just now being revealed, which hires out a group of people called “Actives” or “Dolls”. These Actives have willingly (or at least that’s what we’re led to believe) had the memories of their previous life wiped out so they can exist in a child-like state when not in an engagement – which range from crimes, fantasies, to the occasional good deed. When a Doll is hired, he or she is then imprinted with the persona that the engagement requires, which includes memory, muscle memory, skills, and language, and that the Doll fully embodies until the engagement is complete and is again mind wiped (which they call “treatment”) and kept for the next assignment.

For the last five episodes from the series premier, the show has been taking flak from viewers and critics alike that many believe it will not be picked up for a second season. The sixth episode which aired last Friday, Man on the Street, may change all that. The mythology of the show has finally kicked in. Giving up on watching a movie with bad lighting on the TV, I turned to my PC to look for this latest episode (Dollhouse is available on iTunes and Hulu.com for those residing in the US; for the rest of the world, there are other streaming sites online), and, boy, was that a fine hour of television! I finally saw Joss Whedon all over the episode – from the sly, off-handed humor to the dark, thought-provoking tones.

I don’t intend to summarize the episode because it will be pointless for nonwatchers and again pointless for those who are in for the ride. But I leave you with the quote at the beginning of this post to ponder on. The Dollhouse is a bad place, of that we are certain. But is there anything in the world that will make you want to give up your identity, your self-awareness, and your control over your own body? I wouldn’t think so.

I grew up in a patriarchal family amidst a very patriarchal society, so I’m not certain as to the extent of the feminist advocate I have in me. Sure, I support equal social, political, and all other rights for men and women. But it’s an all-encompassing concept that can be highly controversial when radical tendencies set in. At the same time, I have to be honest and admit that if, in the future, I will decide [inner-dialogue translations: hopeless romantic - I'll find "the one"; realist - I'll get lucky; snarky - I'll get desperate] to start a family of my own, I’m hoping it will be with a guy who can make decisions that I can trust and wholly support (maybe even admire) because I don’t want to be the one who shoulders that responsibility. Is that anti-feminist? Or maybe just plain lazy (j/k)? Here’s a related article from PDI regarding the effects of gender mainstreaming on the emasculation of the fathers and, in effect, the teachings of Christianity.

I was just over at Whedonesque, and I chanced upon a heated discussion about footwear (of all things) in the new Joss Whedon show Dollhouse. A fan questioned the practicality of having a doctor on duty wear high-heeled shoes. Did the costume department do it on purpose to flaunt femininity and entice the male viewers? Was it to follow certain stereotypes? At one point, the main character was wearing a pretty mean-looking pair of boots (not sure if it’s UGG boots; maybe not), while another woman character was walking around barefoot. Somehow, it all meant something, and Joss Whedon himself chimed in to have his say on “the issue that is tearing at the very fabric of my fanbase: shoes.”  Hell, yes, Whedon fans are that passionate about details. And it’s not too much to say that people look to Joss to create strong female characters and role models because that is what he’s famous for, starting, of course, with Buffy (THE Vampire Slayer, duh!).

I will not dwell on the politics of it because I figured feminism is a highly volatile and debatable topic.  All I’ll say is that I do want to live in a world where I, as a member of the female population, can be “awesome” (*in my best Barney Stinson impression*) and not be resented upon (or hindered) by the other sex. All’s fair in all.

On the eve (or the eve of the eve, depending on your time zone) of Dollhouse’s premier, here’s a promotional picture with the creator, Joss Whedon, and the two leads, Eliza Dushku and Tahmoh Penikett.

Joss Whedon shows have always been rife with ‘controversial’ themes but what I like about it is that they never seem to be a ratings ploy. It’s always about the exploration of the human condition. Sure, TV is all about ratings and keeping things ‘mainstream’, which is probably why Whedon is said to be quitting TV after this one.

Dollhouse has been called the anti-Buffy by some critics who have already watched the first few episodes because it deals with a female character who has no control over her actions. Someone who willingly had her memory erased to be injected with one personality after the other depending on who hires her services (which range from sexual favors to high-profile assassinations). The NPR questioned the premise as possibly the ‘ultimate misogynistic male fantasy’. 

Whedon studied gender studies and feminism in college, and his interest is to “bring the world up to the fact that women are not less physically or morally incomplete beings.” Buffy was all about girl power. You don’t see women in sexy lingerie rolling around a bed just to titillate (when they do that, it’s because they’re under the spell of a demon, and then they kill it).  But, as Joss said, the point in taking the control away from the female lead, in Dollhouse, is for us to be with her as she gets it back. Some fans, however, can almost see the prophetic writing on the wall (Whedon’s last Fox show, Firefly, was cancelled after 12 episodes). There’s the stuff of the network pressure to keep things exciting and, again, mainstream and the writers’ aim of dishing out contemplative stories. My favorite quote so far from Whedon is this:

I believe the best way to examine anything is to go to a dark place. You can’t be a storyteller and a speechwriter at the same time.

Internet, meet my new TV (or should I say DVD?) crush – Dr.  Simon Tam.

He’s a highly intelligent and refined medical doctor who gave up a promising career to save his gifted but troubled sister in the TV series Firefly.

He does look dreamy; he’s prim and proper and has trouble with swearing. But he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty for the sake of those he care about.

he mumbles and fumbles when he likes a girl,  

and he’s actually saving that guy even if he looks funny doing it.

He’s the resident doctor on the spaceship Serenity, which is boarded by a bunch of crooks, errr I mean a crew involved in all sorts of “space business.” The captain of the ship, Mal Reynolds (who probably have no need for those Torgoen watches), accepted him and his sister, River, as part of his crew, which set upon an intruiging series of events in the show, which was later more dealt with in the movie version Serenity.

Here’s something so insanely great I have to blabber about it again even if I’ve already featured this in my other blog. 

If you haven’t heard of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog by now, then let me introduce the lovelorn videoblogger and aspiring supervillain with a Ph.D. in “horribleness”:

“Any dolt with half a brain can see that humankind has gone insane” -Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris)

It’s #15 in TIME’s Best Inventions of 2008 and listed among Washington Post’s Best Viral Videos of ‘08.

Apparently, the webisodes were created during the writer’s strike in America. Quoting the WP, “the video was enough to make us consider the types of things we might all be watching when we’re no longer watching TV.” And here’s something from the master himself:

The idea was to make it on the fly, on the cheap – but to make it. To turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the internet. To show how much could be done with very little. To show the world there is another way. To give the public (and in particular you guys) something for all your support and patience. And to make a lot of silly jokes. Actually, that sentence probably should have come first. – Joss Whedon

So, it’s a musical about a guy whose grand ambition is not to have a high-profile job, wearing nice suits or silk ties, but to become a supervillain who will rule the world with his “evilness.” With the girl of his dreams, Penny, and his arch nemesis, Captain Hammer (a “smarmy superhero who thinks he’s all that”), they are featured in a 43-minute, three-act Internet phenomenon that is refreshing both for its silliness and awesome music. Keeping Sondheim songs in his iPod really did wonders for Joss Whedon.

At the Buffy reunion during the 2008 Paley Festival this year (I saw the DVD), Marti Noxon, producer and writer from TV shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grey’s Anatomy, and Private Practice, said that if Joss Whedon will call her one day to say that he’s building a rocket, she wouldn’t doubt him for a minute. Some people are just so talented they come up with unexpected things just by setting their minds onto it. Well, I believe such people only set their minds on things they know they can do; it just surprises others to finally see how much they really can.   

Another person in that panel who has been working a lot is Amber Benson. Her credits include actor, writer, director, producer, singer, and humanitarian. She’s only 31.

From left to right: Amber Benson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Emma Caulfield (March 2008, PaleyFest)
 

I’ve been lurking around Buffy forums to read episode discussions and fans seem to love this girl even if she isn’t as well known as her costars, mostly because besides creating an endearing character on TV, she seems to be a genuinely nice person in real life. What impressed me is seeing the range of her work. The acting part seems to be the bread and butter (she’s been in some obscure movies I don’t think I’ll ever watch), but she’s also co-written comic books and books; wrote, directed, produced, and starred in two of her own independent films; cowrote and directed a cult animation called Ghosts of Albion for the British network BBC; written and presented her own stage play; composed and recorded two songs for her fans; and is about to release her first solo book series to be published by Penguin Books.

I would do anything to be able to have half of that. Well, anything that I can do, I mean, without having to pack a Zero Halliburton and travel the world to learn things. Anyway, I haven’t finished watching her first attempt at writing/directing – a movie called Chance (2002) – but I kinda like the opening monologue (voiceover):

All right, you live your life in a totally normal, full-on reality check kind of way. That’s good and cool. Things don’t get messed up. People you love hang around until you can’t stand them anymore. Things never change. But shit like that doesn’t happen in real life. Real life is just a movie with someone’s finger jammed on fast forward. The numbers change faster than you can count. When you’re a little kid, you never think you’re gonna die. I mean death is just some kind of esoteric thing you see on TV or read about it in a book. Then one day you realize what it really is, and nothing is ever the same again. From that day on, you’re f&*%ed.

So what makes a show a cult hit? What is it about some TV shows that garner a cult following – devoted fans, sometimes overly so, that convene on message boards, chat rooms, and even on conventions to share mutual interest and devotion about a particular media – as opposed to others that have a more mainstream appeal? I won’t really go into the psychology of that, although I must say that I find that fans of The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are among the smartest ones around and they’re demographically diverse, too (though you may think I’m only saying that because I’m a fan of both). Anyway, if anything, that is what make these shows good franchises. They may have been off the air for years now but they live on through DVDs, online fan discussions, comics, and even in movies. We haven’t even considered how any franchise can spawn related products – toys, action figures, costumes, books, etc. It spells big money for the entertainment big wigs who are deft enough to play the obsession of the most ardent fans to jump on any franchise opportunity. That’s why we know Twilight is now a huge movie franchise, as much as the Harry Potter movies are never forgotten.

Now if Fox will only give a nod to XF3 and Joss Whedon will seriously consider writing a fantastic script to a BtVS movie soon.