Feminism in my Dollhouse? Part 1

I think that you only need to watch one episode of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse to know that the breadth of the show, and the implications of its premise are too wide and far reaching to boiled down to just one philosophic ideology.  That’s not to say that Joss’ other works have been completely myopic in their scope, but from the title alone of his first hit t.v. show Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, you knew exactly what its primary premise was going to be: a message that would be echoed from its opening scene in “Welcome to the Hellmouth” all the way to its series closer “chosen”: Buffy was a show about women who kicked some serious vampire tail.  (And, as the show ran its course, it also became a show about women who bagged some serious vampire tail… but more on that later.)

In the late 90′s — early double-0′s, Joss’ name seemed to be as synonymous with feminism as Dr. Ruth Westheimer’s is with sex.  (Why anyone would want to link Ruth’s mug with sexy-time is anyone’s guess, but whatever…)  However, since the launch of his newest show Dollhouse, some fans are asking that Joss’ feminism card be revoked.

Okay, so at a casual glance, you nay sayers out there (the knights who say “nay”?) seem to have some valid points.  First, as Zone points out in “Epitaph One”:

“You mean to tell me that the tech that punk-kicked the ass of mankind was originally designed to create more believable hookers?”

That’s right, the Dollhouse’s primary function, at first glance, is to be a brothel.  And, for the casual viewer, the case against the Dollhouse seems to gain even more traction.

In the long awaited sixth episode, “Man on the Street”, we discover that one of the house’s resident Dolls is being raped — by the episode’s end we see a woman nearly beaten to death.  (There’s more to the episode, but I’ll save that for another post…)

As the series progressed we learn that not all came to the Dollhouse by their own free will, and by the middle of its second season, we get a full view of exactly how Piyra, the tragic Doll in question, landed there — and let’s just say it ain’t a Helen-Keller-feel-good type story.

So, the question has been asked: can a show containing such abundant acts of violence against woman have any value in feminism?  Is the show just down right misogynist?

I’ll argue no to the latter question.  Moreover, I’ll argue that Dollhouse may have some of the strongest feminist messages of any of Joss’ creations.

In Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, we’re given a pint sized gal who’s been “chosen” to fight the forces of evil on earth; and in the shows penultimate season, she faces evil itself, in the form of “The First”.

Then, in Firefly, we’re given River Tam, a girl with psychic abilities who’s butt-kicking abilities are enhanced when the Government experiment with her brain in an attempt to make her a “supper-weapon”.  (ETA: As one reader pointed out, Firefly does offer its viewers a much wider scope of female characterizations, but more on that later… promise)

Finally comes Dollhouse, where we get hookers… who get into the occasional brawl… who sometimes aren’t even given basic hand-to-hand combat skills!

It seems no contest.  Dollhouse should come in at the bottom of the list, if not out right offensive when it comes to treatment of female characters.  But take a closer look:

In Buffy, we have a girl who is “chosen”, and gifted with “super-strength”.  Her strength, we later discover, was forced into her by men, to create a force to fight against earth-bound demons.  Buffy may have been a symbol for real girls, but her powers were anything but.  And again in Firefly, we’re given an equally un-obtainable scenario for River.  Both of these shows demonstrate excellent craft for storytelling, and create a mythology as equally compelling as Homer’s.  (The Iliad guy, not the Simpson)  But I think Dollhouse may offer us something even deeper: more human characters.

Now I know that it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see an exact replica of the Dollhouse technology in real life, but the people they create are just as “human” as you or I, down to Elenore’s bad vision and badly-timed asthma.  The skills the Dolls acquire are skills that any of us can obtain, with the right perseverance and training.  The Dollhouse just offers it “On Demand”.

In the episode “Spy in the House of Love”, it’s Echo who brings the spy to justice (er, Dollhouse justice, that is), ending the complaint that it’s always Echo’s handler, Boyd Langdon (an man BTW) who has to come to this perma-damsel’s rescue.  By the episodes end, Adel informs Mr. Langdon that “it is her that is watching out for us.”

To clarify: In Buffy, we got a girl gifted with super-powers who could kick but; in Dollhouse, we have a girl who has had her conscious diminished to that of a child who ends up saving the entire house from collapse.  (Or at least it was her idea…)

When we return, I’ll take a look at Piyra as Sartre’s “ideal” human.

continued in part 2

‘South Park’ and the “F” word…

Of all the “taboo” words, there seems to be one that holds an inordinate power over the rest.  Even the most foul-mouthed amongst us blush like we’ve just seen our first areola at just the thought of this word.  This word is missing from both Lenny’s and Carlin’s list of “dirty words”, and received no mention on Penn and Teller’s Bullshit episode on profanity.  That’s right, I’m talking about the word “nigger”.  The word “nigger” has even earned a special spot amongst other racial pejoratives like “spick” and the now-dated “wop”.  (Wop stands for “without papers”)

So what is it about this single word that has bent our collective undaroos in a bunch?  Dose the shear utterance of the word – in any situation – constitute racism?  (Man, you’re talking about racism?  I thought this blog was about South Park! I’m getting there, I’m getting there…)  Should we empower the word “nigger” even more, and make it a criminal offense to say – in any circumstance?

Fortunately, we haven’t quite hit the crescendo of imprisonment for saying one single word yet.  (unless that word is Fire, an F word that I’ll save for another post…)  Music artists and stand-up comedians alike have taken to the charge of doing what we do with all other words: they are re-forming and re-shaping it.  And I say good for them!  But, others say, not so much.  Pundits, experts and Oprah alike are clamoring about how saying that one single word will put American civilization into a “Lost” like time warp and catapult us as a society back to the 1800′s.  What, no internet!  God that would suck.

So, I decided to devise a little experiment: to all of you reading this at home, let it out.  Just say it: “Nigger”.  Go on, don’t be shy.

Now say it again.  Louder.  Now shout it!  (Or, if you have close-by neighbors, not so loud?)

If you’re still reading this, then we obviously are not in the 1800′s, whew!  In fact, I’m fairly sure nothing happened, except that maybe you feel a little ridiculous for talking to yourself, which you should!

Maybe this means it’s the context of what we say that matters, not the individual words.  And it’s that thought that brings me into the title of this post: South Park and the “F” word.  The “F” word the episode is referring to is another word that is quickly gaining the weight of its big brother “nigger”, and is sparking an even more heated controversy, due in part because the group the word is (currently) referring to is still fighting for its rights.  That, in-and-of itself, might have been enough to grant its status as the “penultimate pejorative”, and expel its use from our colloquial language.  Then along came those wacky fourth-graders from South Park elementary in and reminded us once again just how wrong we are.

For those of you reading this from the short bus, the word in question is “fagot”.  If  you have yet to see the episode, the kids of South Park elementary deem attention-whoring Harley-riders “fagots” when they disrupt the community with their obnoxiously loud bikes.  The boys are shocked when they are accused of being homophobic, stating that they didn’t even know the word WAS a pejorative against gays!  Soon enough, however, the bikers so badly annoy the denizens of South Park that even its resident homosexuals begin shouting FAG at the Harley-hounds.  After a third-act lobby session, the kids have the definition of fag officially changed to mean a person who “ride a loud Harley up and down the streets ruining everyone’s nice time.”  And everyone lived happily ever…

Aw fuck, does it ever really go that way?  Almost as soon as “The ‘F’ Word” hit the air, GLAAD was ready with their response, and it wasn’t to thank them for battling prejudice head on.

Now, before I proceed, I must say that it is heart braking to see the Phelps’ clan dawning posters that read: “Fagots burn in Hell”.  It makes me angry to my core any time I see such expressions of hatred, especially when those signs are put into the hands of children, as Phelps is also notorious for doing.  But is it really the word “fagot” that is the offender here?  Is it not his intention?

And isn’t that just what the children of South Park were really asking?  That it’s not one word that’s the problem, but the context, and the intent in which it was used?  Even if the word “fag” were erased from our collective conscious, wouldn’t the Phelps clan just use some other word?  Or turn the word “homosexual” – the proper nomenclature for a “homosexual person” – into a pejorative itself?

Maybe we should be less concerned with being word police, and instead focus our energies on… oh, I don’t know, not wishing people to hell?  People use words like “fag” “nigger” “spick” et. al. as pejoratives because they’re there.  If you take just the individual words away, you won’t eliminate the thought, you’ll just shift it to a different word.

How often have you used the word “fag”, had the word used toward you, or heard the word used against someone in a context that is specifically intended to be slanderous against homosexuals?  How often have you heard it used in a context that does NOT specifically intend to be slanderous against homosexuals?  Which is more?

Violent acts against any person is heinous; I think that’s something that we all can more or less agree on.  And, prejudice sucks.  No doubt.  So shouldn’t we be pleased that signs like these have come to signal that we might be headed in a new direction?  Lexicographer Erin McKean says that it is completely natural for words to shift meaning in culture, and we should embrace that change, not fight against it.

I understand the ideology that targeting words like “nigger” and “fag” strive to make for a better tomorrow – a tomorrow where our grandchildren don’t have to know the same hatred and prejudices that we face today.  So what future would you rather have?  One where our grandchildren laugh at a time when those words held such venom and significance, or one where we police our individual words, but still foster hateful thoughts?  And nothing washes hate away and brings together like laughter.

As a closing thought, perhaps this is about something even more fundamental than prejudice – after all, each generation seems to find new groups to target, they rarely stay the same.  Maybe this episode of South Park was important because of another “F” word.  I’ll let the one and only Mr. Wallace say it for me: “Freedom”.

Cody Hobbs