Welcome to the House of Fun
Feb. 14th, 2009 10:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eumeliaI just finished watching the first episode of Joss Whedon's new show Dollehouse.
It's available via streaming (thanks![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nurint!) and the Pilot episode is titled Ghost.
The rest of this entry is placed under a cut for spoilers, I'm generally very bad with that sort of thing because I tend to watch things after they've been "out" for a while and thus don't bother. However, seeing as this is a brand spanking new show that only began this week, I'll be considerate.
The concept of this show isn't new. Take people, wipe their past, brain wash them into new identities and they will do your bidding.
The Bourne movies are examples of this, as is to a certain extent The Manchurian Candidate.
The main character, Doll, is Echo.
When I first heard of the show, I had this really elaborate theory of them naming her after the figure in Greek mythology who had her voice taken from her and had no words of her own.
It's not a theory totally removed from what I could tell, as these Dolls have their personalities stripped away and have new ones implanted to serve whatever purpose is needed at hand. Once their mission/engagements are finished, the memories of those events (along with the implanted personality) are removed.
No voice of their own.
Of course Echo is also US American Army code for the alphabetical letter "E".
There is another Doll by the name of Sierra - which is what tipped me off to the use of the Military code - and of course by the end of the episode there is a mysterious - dun-dun-dun - file which is about Alpha very likely the first Doll.
It begs the question - are there only 26 Dolls at any given time?
I suppose we shall see.
The moral ambiguity... isn't so ambiguous.
As a viewer, what I am seeing is just wrong.
On more than one level.
We are given the impression that all the Dolls chose to be there - in the very fist scene we see The-Girl-Before-She-Was-Echo (Eliza Dushku - worships briefly) sign away her life for five years instead of go to prison.
She is offered a life in which her actions have no consequences, neither good or bad.
Right there is the first ethical hiccup.
What meaning does any action have if there are no consequences. And in any event, it's not as though all the parties involved forget what went on... only the party not regarded as human.
The dehumanizing aspect disturbed me.
The women and men who have been wiped are called Dolls, they have Handlers, like zoo animals and as such are treated like expensive pets.
All of the Dolls live in the lap of luxury, but they are not self-aware, they don't know why they are there and they don't ask questions.
Except Echo.
Who is special and precocious.
I'm definitely rooting for her.
This is, of course, all done for the Greater Good.
I suppose the only way doctors, technophiles and ex-cops get to sleep well at night is to believe that.
Plus dehumanizing the Dolls, I should think.
The Greater Good of catering to the needs of the excessively wealthy.
Methinks for the Greater Good of the Head Authorities of the Dollhouse.
Another ethical hiccup.
The parallel plot is that of a Federal Agent who is sure that some kind of secret human trafficking is occurring, not to do with bringing women illegally across the border in order to enter them into the sex trade, but something else - which has to do with the personality wipes.
Another interesting aspect.
I'm not an automatic Joss-Fan. I didn't particularly enjoy Firefly, nor did I think Buffy Season 8 was a particularly well crafted comic book.
Teevee is where Joss belongs and I hope this show grows into its huge amount of potential.
Here's to a new show we can obsess about!
It's available via streaming (thanks
nurint!) and the Pilot episode is titled Ghost.The rest of this entry is placed under a cut for spoilers, I'm generally very bad with that sort of thing because I tend to watch things after they've been "out" for a while and thus don't bother. However, seeing as this is a brand spanking new show that only began this week, I'll be considerate.
The concept of this show isn't new. Take people, wipe their past, brain wash them into new identities and they will do your bidding.
The Bourne movies are examples of this, as is to a certain extent The Manchurian Candidate.
The main character, Doll, is Echo.
When I first heard of the show, I had this really elaborate theory of them naming her after the figure in Greek mythology who had her voice taken from her and had no words of her own.
It's not a theory totally removed from what I could tell, as these Dolls have their personalities stripped away and have new ones implanted to serve whatever purpose is needed at hand. Once their mission/engagements are finished, the memories of those events (along with the implanted personality) are removed.
No voice of their own.
Of course Echo is also US American Army code for the alphabetical letter "E".
There is another Doll by the name of Sierra - which is what tipped me off to the use of the Military code - and of course by the end of the episode there is a mysterious - dun-dun-dun - file which is about Alpha very likely the first Doll.
It begs the question - are there only 26 Dolls at any given time?
I suppose we shall see.
The moral ambiguity... isn't so ambiguous.
As a viewer, what I am seeing is just wrong.
On more than one level.
We are given the impression that all the Dolls chose to be there - in the very fist scene we see The-Girl-Before-She-Was-Echo (Eliza Dushku - worships briefly) sign away her life for five years instead of go to prison.
She is offered a life in which her actions have no consequences, neither good or bad.
Right there is the first ethical hiccup.
What meaning does any action have if there are no consequences. And in any event, it's not as though all the parties involved forget what went on... only the party not regarded as human.
The dehumanizing aspect disturbed me.
The women and men who have been wiped are called Dolls, they have Handlers, like zoo animals and as such are treated like expensive pets.
All of the Dolls live in the lap of luxury, but they are not self-aware, they don't know why they are there and they don't ask questions.
Except Echo.
Who is special and precocious.
I'm definitely rooting for her.
This is, of course, all done for the Greater Good.
I suppose the only way doctors, technophiles and ex-cops get to sleep well at night is to believe that.
Plus dehumanizing the Dolls, I should think.
The Greater Good of catering to the needs of the excessively wealthy.
Methinks for the Greater Good of the Head Authorities of the Dollhouse.
Another ethical hiccup.
The parallel plot is that of a Federal Agent who is sure that some kind of secret human trafficking is occurring, not to do with bringing women illegally across the border in order to enter them into the sex trade, but something else - which has to do with the personality wipes.
Another interesting aspect.
I'm not an automatic Joss-Fan. I didn't particularly enjoy Firefly, nor did I think Buffy Season 8 was a particularly well crafted comic book.
Teevee is where Joss belongs and I hope this show grows into its huge amount of potential.
Here's to a new show we can obsess about!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-02-15 08:41 am (UTC)Skeevy tech-guy reminded me too much of Warren *shudder* - did not enjoy the scenes with him.
I hope they make Doctor Fred the love interest! Now that would be great!