Wow. Wow. Wow.<\/p>\n
If you haven\u2019t watched \u201cMan on the Street\u201d, the sixth episode of the Dollhouse, don\u2019t read another word. This episode is available on Hulu and itunes for those in the US (and through less legal means for those outside), go watch it and then come back. You really don\u2019t want to be spoiled. <\/p>\n
Where was I? Oh yeah \u2013 Wow.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure I\u2019ve talked before about the strength of serial storytelling \u2013 of the depth that can be explored by developing characters over time. Man on the Street had all the elements of great TV. It had zippy plot twists, ((Since I\u2019m not going to talk about it in my main review, I want to say that I don\u2019t think there\u2019s an insider in the dollhouse. I think the parameter that was supposed to be an insider, was in fact the dollhouse giving Paul Ballard what he needs \u2013 their specialty.)) people we care about, and something to say, and all three elements fitted together organically and didn\u2019t feel forced. If the sixth episode of Dollhouse is this powerful, I can only imagine how strong the show will be in its second season (please let there be a second season. I really love this show).<\/p>\n
In an episode this densely layered, I\u2019m not going to try and talk about everything. I just want to look at three of the key ideas this episodes, the nature of the dolls, rape and love.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s only one reason someone would volunteer to be a slave is that they is one already<\/b><\/p>\n
Like many other people, I was worried about how the actives would play as characters, if they\u2019re just blank states then why would you care about them? I had no idea how quickly and how deeply I\u2019d come to care about the actives. When Ballard called the actives \u201czombies\u201d in his conversation with Joel Myner, I got mad at him for being so very wrong. Whatever Sierra, Echo, Victor (and now November) are, they\u2019re not Zombies. Ballard has the same idea about actives as Boyd did in the flashbacks of The Target. After only six episodes I find any character who denies the humanity of the actives instantly less likable.<\/p>\n
There are people who have asked who you\u2019re supposed to root for in this show, and I don\u2019t really understand the question. You root for the actives. Each episode makes it clearer that the mindwipes don\u2019t take away their humanity, and whatever is taken away from them their capacity for friendship and love is still beautiful.<\/p>\n
While my empathy and support for actives in their inert state only increased this week, what really changed was my attitude towards the imprints. Although I\u2019ve enjoyed some of the imprints, and sad when we weren\u2019t going to see Lubov any more, I\u2019ve never really thought about how I thought about them. They would be there and then they\u2019d be gone, and they were not why I was watching the show.<\/p>\n
But with Mellie as a doll I think about the imprints differently. I don\u2019t know how Joss Whedon and Miracle Laure did it, but she\u2019s like Willow on steroids, in terms of being the character that every female viewer (and I\u2019m sure a few male ones) identify with instantly. ((One of the thing I\u2019m undecided on is Mellie\u2019s whole \u201cI know I\u2019m not the gold standard in LA\u201d, which is clearly a reference to the fact that she\u2019s larger than tiny. On the one hand (unfortunately) it\u2019s realistic. Women say and think all sorts of derogatory things about their bodies, and I\u2019ve heard people just as close as Mellie to society\u2019s vision of ideal say just as fucked up things. But it bothers me in a number of ways. First, by making Mellie\u2019s body the only one which is discussed critically that reinforces the idea that the other female active\u2019s bodies are normal and hers is \u2018other\u2019. Second, I found the scene reinforcing a kind of faux-body-diversity \u2013 \u201cDon\u2019t hate yourself it\u2019s OK to be a size 12 (or 8 in the US)\u201d. And third (and I mean this as no insult to Miracle Laurie who is doing an amazing job) it reminds me that the casting call asked for someone \u2018heavy\u2019, and I wonder if those who produced and cast dollhouse really think Mellie is heavy. But I get why that line is in there, and what it\u2019s doing for Paul and Mellie\u2019s relationship \u2013 and it does the job.))<\/p>\n
Even knowing that she\u2019s an active I\u2019m still on her side, and I still care for her. For example, I\u2019m worried because the catalyst for Paul kissing Mellie was clearly his conversation with Joel Myner. ((* I thought this scene was very well done (despite the cliche of the insightful one off character). I particularly like that they covered the messed up nature of Paul Ballard’s quest for Echo. I hope they don’t lose that note later in the season (not least because it would make Mellie sad).<\/p>\n
On that note, I\u2019m wondering about the scene at the beginning between Paul and the bad FBI Agent\/Badger\/lawyer dude president (depending on which show you\u2019re watching). First time I watched it I didn\u2019t like it at all: \u201cI am a manly man, who will prove his man-ness by beating up other men who insult the woman I love.\u201d But the more I think about it, the more I think that it was underscoring the points that Joel Myner\u2019s was making about the ridiculousness of Ballard\u2019s position.)) Because he was trying to prove that he wasn\u2019t obsessed with Caroline, he was on one level thinking of her while kissing Mellie. I\u2019m sure this is going to end up making her sad, and I don\u2019t want her to be sad, even though she is on some levels not real. I think this show is so much deeper and more interesting when we care for the imprints as well as the actives. And I\u2019m still untangling the many ways I do think Mellie is real.<\/p>\n
There’s a difference between being attracted to someone and hurting them<\/b><\/p>\n
I was going to say that this was the most honest portrayal of rape that I’ve ever seen on television, but decided that would be damning with faint praise. This episode portrayed sexual abuse in a way that was powerful, unflinching and real.<\/p>\n
I had been anxious, ever since I saw the preview,that they were going to show Victor raping Sierra. It would have been a deal-breaker for me, I think, if Dollhouse portrayed rape as something inherent in a man. I was very glad when I was sure they weren\u2019t telling that story.<\/p>\n
Instead the story they did tell was about institutional rape. It wasn\u2019t just Claire Saunders perspective, the show made it clear that rape isn\u2019t about sex, it\u2019s about power. ((Not to go on a huge tangent, but I want to acknowledge while that idea is an important feminist concept, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the only truth there is. Rape is sometimes about sex, both for perpetrators and survivors, and I think it\u2019s important not ignore that reality. In particular to say \u201crape is entirely different from sex\u201d ignores the way that many of the ways that we\u2019re socialised to think about sex involve pressure and non-consent. None of this takes away from the importance of making it clear that rape is about power. But once we\u2019ve got that idea across I think it\u2019d be useful to talk about the way rape is about sex (or sex can be about rape).)) Institutional rape isn\u2019t discussed nearly as much as it should, and I really appreciated the stark, unequivocal stand the show took. And while the situation in the dollhouse is different from institutional rape as it exists, nothing about the writing, directing or acting ((The scene where Sierra is walking along the corridor is so powerful. If I was going to rave about the acting I would be here all day, but Dichen Lachman (Sierra), Miracle Laurie (Mellie), Enver Gjokaj (Victor) and Olivia Wililams (DeWitt) all excelled in this episode. I am also more and more convinced with Eliza Dushku\u2019s many personalities. I felt like Rebecca was unlike anything I\u2019d seen before.)) was trying to make that distinction. Instead I felt they were emphasising the similarities between this and what actually exists. The scene between Sierra and the Handler, reminded me of passages from Louise Nicholas\u2019s autobiography. ((For those relatively new to the blog, Louise Nicholas was a New Zealand woman who was raped by police officers, one of whom went on to become an assistant commissioner of the New Zealand police))<\/p>\n
The conversation between DeWitt and the handler was as powerful as it was disturbing. The handler\u2019s answer to Dewitt\u2019s \u201cDid it make it better that she didn\u2019t struggle?\u201d made the audience sit with the reality of abuse. And by having the Handler place blame on the institution they left space for the view that abuse is impossible to eliminate in situations with these power imbalances (which is my view). The Handler wasn\u2019t portrayed as an inscrutable monster, but a person, with a point of view, who had done monstrous things. That conversation depicted both the horror, and the normality of sexual abuse.<\/p>\n
The attack on Mellie is terribly painful to watch, even when you know the outcome. But it wasn\u2019t eroticised, and it wasn\u2019t glamorised, even though she\u2019s only wearing a shirt.<\/p>\n
There were a lot of subtler notes in the show that I really valued. The only reason Sierra\u2019s rape was acknowledged was because she has friends. Because Victor noticed that she was behaving differently, and Echo remembered her cries. The scene where Topher and Claire were interrogating Victor drew an explicit connection between Topher\u2019s objectification of women and his indifference towards rape.<\/p>\n
This episode hit so many feminist ideas about rape, without seeming didactic. I think it\u2019s hard to tell a story about rape without being feminist. The problem is that most of the time rape is portrayed on television they\u2019re not telling stories about rape, they\u2019re using rape to tell some other sort of story. ((See I was being really restrained and didn\u2019t even mention Spike.)) One of the most exciting things about the concept of the dollhouse is it\u2019s ability to look at such realities head on. I\u2019m really glad they\u2019re taking that challenge seriously.<\/p>\n
“How does Sierra make you feel?”<\/p>\n
“Better”<\/b><\/p>\n
I would argue that, despite how much this episode had to say about rape, it was actually about love. The strength of love stood out in this episode even more as it was contrasted with the degradation of abuse. Victor was brilliant in every scene. But the ending with him and Sierra was beautiful. And, as I\u2019ve said, like Adelle I value Mellie\u2019s love for Paul Ballard, programmed or not.<\/p>\n
The interviews were clearly all supposed to be true on some level. But the one I had the hardest time with was the young woman who thought maybe it would be OK. I thought she was just being a hippy; I didn’t think I could sympathise with a client. But in the end, I think maybe I got there. In the end Echo’s desire for things to be finished was beautiful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wow. Wow. Wow. If you haven\u2019t watched \u201cMan on the Street\u201d, the sixth episode of the Dollhouse, don\u2019t read another word. This episode is available on Hulu and itunes for those in the US (and through less legal means for … Continue reading