two points about Dollhouse
Feb. 23rd, 2009 07:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lotessePoint the First: I've been trying to figure out what's going on with the early reveal of Echo's pre-Doll name. If this was going to be a narrative of recovery, I'd expect the name to be withheld a la Gollum/Smeagol. Because he gave us "Caroline" so soon and without fanfare, I suspect that Joss isn't going toward that at all.
She's like Angel - as he says, it isn't the monster in him that needs killing, it's the man. There are three people involved in his internal struggle: Liam, Angelus, and Angel, who comes from the other two identities but is his own new thing. Angel isn't struggling to get back to Liam. Rather he's struggling to define a new self. Same thing, I think, with Echo: she can't stay a blank doll, and for some as yet unrevealed reason she can't go back to being Caroline. She has to dig a new self out of the experiences she's had. Which I think is way cool. I looove this thing that Joss does.
Point the Second: I have no idea if this is canon, or authorially intended or whatever, but I'm going to read Echo's imprints as her until otherwise instructed. Possibly even if. That is. The imprints essentially paint a new history, set of experiences, neuroses, anxieties, strengths and passions over Echo's extant self. She's like playing a game of "what if": what if she'd had different parents, come from a different social class, been captured and sexually assaulted as a little girl, had a lifelong passion for outdoor sports. Each imprint is different, but each one is also an aspect of her.
Again, I have no idea if this is going to continue to be a possible reading, but I'm hanging on to it, because it gives me a character to hang on to.
Also, re the feminism thing - I took ungodly satisfaction in the way Echo took apart Skeevy Hunter John!Dude. Last week was particularly rage-inducing wrt patriarchy, and I really needed to see a jerk beaten down by a strong, fierce, angry woman. I still have reservations as to the politics of the Dollhouse as a whole - it kind of weirds me out that the madam seems to have such a real devotion to the place - but that smackdown felt really, really good.
I'm making The Boy watch Clueless - apparently he's never seen it before. I don't even know!
She's like Angel - as he says, it isn't the monster in him that needs killing, it's the man. There are three people involved in his internal struggle: Liam, Angelus, and Angel, who comes from the other two identities but is his own new thing. Angel isn't struggling to get back to Liam. Rather he's struggling to define a new self. Same thing, I think, with Echo: she can't stay a blank doll, and for some as yet unrevealed reason she can't go back to being Caroline. She has to dig a new self out of the experiences she's had. Which I think is way cool. I looove this thing that Joss does.
Point the Second: I have no idea if this is canon, or authorially intended or whatever, but I'm going to read Echo's imprints as her until otherwise instructed. Possibly even if. That is. The imprints essentially paint a new history, set of experiences, neuroses, anxieties, strengths and passions over Echo's extant self. She's like playing a game of "what if": what if she'd had different parents, come from a different social class, been captured and sexually assaulted as a little girl, had a lifelong passion for outdoor sports. Each imprint is different, but each one is also an aspect of her.
Again, I have no idea if this is going to continue to be a possible reading, but I'm hanging on to it, because it gives me a character to hang on to.
Also, re the feminism thing - I took ungodly satisfaction in the way Echo took apart Skeevy Hunter John!Dude. Last week was particularly rage-inducing wrt patriarchy, and I really needed to see a jerk beaten down by a strong, fierce, angry woman. I still have reservations as to the politics of the Dollhouse as a whole - it kind of weirds me out that the madam seems to have such a real devotion to the place - but that smackdown felt really, really good.
I'm making The Boy watch Clueless - apparently he's never seen it before. I don't even know!
no subject
Date: 2009-02-24 08:04 am (UTC)Boys miss out on so much, don't they?
no subject
Date: 2009-02-24 03:31 pm (UTC)As far as Dollhouse goes, man does it feel good to have a Joss show back on air! I feel safe braining about his stuff, because I know that even if I'm totally wrong, he'll have been braining too. It's a nice feeling!