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