Dollhouse 1.3

[lotesse]

I both adored and hated the new Dollhouse - and I felt those two ways about the exact same aspect of it.

As a feminist-trained woman, as someone becoming more and more radical in that feminism every year, I can say that at this point in my life I no longer recognize the bra-and-booty-skirt shake-and-grind routine as any sort of sexual cue. I'm not just saying that I don't find it sexy - which would be true - but that in my head that sort of thing sets up/directs toward oppression rather than libido. Show me a woman dressed like Rayna, dancing like Rayna, and I'm narratively cued that she's subjugated. I find her clothes every bit as symbolic of horror as Claire's scars.

But I know that most people aren't there. They see it as meaning sex still, and sexual availability. The intended response is libidinal, not political, not analytic.

So for me, the episode was a lovely diatribe against the iron bars of empornulation, in which Rayna's scanty clothes and gyrations served as signifiers of her enslavement. They sing a spiritual, a freedom-song, because freedom is exactly what they don't have, because they are indentured members of the sex class. And I loved the episode that I watched. But I'm worried that not everybody - probably not even the majority - watched that ep. I'm thinking a lot of people saw some cute T&A, and some cool action scenes.

Fox is not helping me with this anxiety, btw. Their use of Eliza's body is becoming really disturbing, in that they seem to expect the viewers to happily collude with her (heavily sexualized) victimization.

Linking to miriam_heddy's very illuminating remarks on Joss and public display of id, and to yunita's unspeakably beautiful vid My Medea, on Joss and his girls in boxes.

Comments

[lotesse]

It's exactly that "tactical" aspect of it that's got me freaked out, maybe because it just feels so cynical - do a feminist high concept, but dress it up as soft porn so the doodz won't be offended and turn off the show. Ugh.