Comments on: Joss Whedon Opens a Dollhouse of Infinite Sexuality, with a Price

By: radicaledward101

radicaledward101 — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 21:10:28 +0000

I just watched episode 1 for the second time on Hulu (http://www.hulu.com/watch/57885/dollhouse-ghost). I have to say I absolutely loved it. The psychological ideas here go hand in hand with my general (surface) understanding of some famous philosophical theories. It challenges the idea of humans being a blank slate (a.k.a. you can be born gay, you can be born to enjoy music etc.). It also reinforces Robert Nozick's Experience Machine ideas.

@naprem:
He's not nearly as hot as David Boreanaz IMHO. I started watching Bones for him. Now I watch it for the interesting way Dr. Brennen's brain works though.

@Eclipse:
Is he really? I heard he got a lot of crap from some about his treatment of Willow and Tara. I personally thought it was a very well done, very human relationship, but that's just me.

I guess I should note, for the record, that I'm a straight male. That sort of makes me a guy "from the outside looking in" on this particular stance on the show. I trust Whedon more than any other tv writer/director of our times. If we give him the chance, and Fox doesn't stifle his freedom, he will create something that is deep, entertaining, and positive.

By: PatrickD

PatrickD — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 12:21:07 +0000

@naprem: Quite true! Personally,the show made me feel a bit dirty. The Promos sort of put up the idea that this was done for Good, yet immediately, you see it's basically the Sex Trade dressed up. The Good? It's like the neighborhood hooker helping someone with the door….public relations, nothing more.

By: naprem

naprem — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 01:47:17 +0000

Also, Tahmoh Penikett is one of the sexiest men every on TV.

By: dgz

dgz — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:05:39 +0000

i've loved Eliza Dushku ever since "bring it on." crap, i'm SUCH a stereotype.

spirit fingers,
dgz

By: Eclipse

Eclipse — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:02:51 +0000

@Dudous Migratorious: I get what you're saying Dudous, but you need to know Joss Whedon. He's one of the most vocal feminists (male or female) in the industry. This is certainly not a hetero fantasy- this is subversive discourse about hetero fantasy. I'm the first man-hating dyke to step in and call bullshit, but Whedon is a great ally to LGBTs and women.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:30:15 +0000

I suppose one could call this return of the Buffy-Bot; Joss' treatment of the perverted male fantasies that led his adolescent evildoers to create a robot buffy for their own fantasies was one of the most uncomfortable moments of the entire Buffy series for me. I'm interested to see how deep Joss can delve into the ugly, ugly things at the heart of that impulse.

By: vernonvanderbilt

vernonvanderbilt — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:19:10 +0000

Before I even begin…I'm biased. Joss Whedon is one of my main artistic influences, and generally one of my favourite humans. That being said, I'm looking forward to seeing this show, and have been since I first heard about it last year. Anything that will get Joss' work back on television is great news for me, and bringing Eliza into the mix makes it that much better.

Joss has always had a knack for exploring philosophical issues in entertaining ways, and I expect no different from his latest offering. Sure, there's always the chance that the show will be a creative, critical, and poular failure…but if Joss Whedon's at the helm, those chances are reduced significantly. I will definitely be tuning in tomorrow night.

By: kevin

kevin — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:23:39 +0000

Great insight, Japhy! This is one of the best television reviews I've read in a long time…with the exception of your fabulous run-down of RuPaul's Drag Race.

By: Dudous Migratorious

Dudous Migratorious — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:42:47 +0000

I heard an interview with the creator of Dollhouse the other day on NPR. I kept thinking, as he seemed to be scrambling to defend the show, "nice try, asshole." It may be good. I may check it out. BUT, it sounds like a straight guy making a straight-guy fantasy show.

By: Hint

Hint — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:11:28 +0000

You never mention that the show features male "actives" as well. So the potential for gayness and exploitation is not just of the female variety.

By: rose

rose — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:29:07 +0000

i was at the Dollhouse panel at NYCC on Sunday and the preview of the show that we were shown made it look interesting enough for those of us who are already interested in Whedon's work, but like you said, it might have to really work harder to win over Fox viewers. I'm always interested when an artist chooses to portray the very thing they are "against" in order to try to make others see the horror of it. Whedon even mentioned that it was as close as he could get to portraying human trafficking which is definitely one of the scariest things happening in this world today. He said the storyline itself scares him and is really unnerving, lets just hope it has the ability to be read the way Whedon wants it to be read by Fox viewers.