Whedon has done a lot of shows about magically powerful women and the men who protect them (Buffy had Giles, River had Simon and Mal), which is sweet - hey, at least they aren’t actively seeking to take power away from those women - but also paternalistic and troubling, and in Dollhouse he seems to know and specifically address just how creepy it is. Lots of parallels have been drawn between the “handler,” Boyd, who is a protective father figure to Echo, and Giles, who is a protective father figure to Buffy, and those parallels are correct. However, this time around, Boyd is also directly invested in keeping Echo powerless: he’s the guy in the creepy van, who takes her back to the Dollhouse to have her self taken away once she’s served her purpose, and if she were a whole person, she might not need him at all. The question of whether he loves her enough to help her free herself is continually raised. Paul Ballard, the FBI agent who wants to “save” Echo, is also implicated: a hero, sure, but also weirdly and sexually preoccupied with “saving” a girl he doesn’t know so that she will love him, a person just as involved in projecting his desires onto a blank slate as any Dollhouse client. The show doesn’t steer around that fact. You don’t hate these men - you love them, in fact - but Whedon is far more willing than ever before to implicate them in the oppression that he condemns. He’s toyed with ambiguity and complicity before, but this time around, ambiguity and complicity are what the show is about.
Source: tigerbeatdown.blogspot.com
335 Notes/ Hide
-
tasalmalin reblogged this from tamryneradani
-
shannonundone reblogged this from fuckyeahjosswhedon
-
insanelizzard88 likes this
-
densetsu-no-stahpenisu likes this
-
karabooe likes this
-
stupid-skeleton likes this
-
selkie-heart likes this
-
hunterbadger reblogged this from methodistcoloringbook
-
atuin reblogged this from universal-invariant
-
lionnnea reblogged this from rugbylovesnerds
-
lionnnea likes this
-
grahamburglar reblogged this from fuckyeahjosswhedon
-
rugbylovesnerds reblogged this from fuckyeahjosswhedon
-
gossamerflight reblogged this from methodistcoloringbook
-
ravenskyewalker likes this
-
nounofrassilon likes this
-
janeturenne reblogged this from universal-invariant
-
thelastmanipulation reblogged this from fuckyeahjosswhedon
-
tinierpurplefishes reblogged this from danikasapphistry
-
callidorablack likes this
-
videogameheart likes this
-
ooonedaymore reblogged this from fuckyeahjosswhedon
-
jossisboss7 reblogged this from whedonesque
-
namelessw0nder reblogged this from methodistcoloringbook
-
nocticola likes this
-
hunterbadger likes this
-
freshstrawberries likes this
-
methodistcoloringbook reblogged this from dandelionchild
-
bohemianarthouse likes this
-
dandelionchild reblogged this from danikasapphistry
-
lady-writes reblogged this from mynerdishowing
-
serenitynerd reblogged this from whedonesque
-
theimprobabledreamer reblogged this from captainkark
-
whynotnibbler likes this
-
unicornspwnall reblogged this from whedonesque
-
georgialobbe likes this
-
captainkark reblogged this from fuckyeahjosswhedon
-
imagineifthisallcamedown reblogged this from fuckyeahjosswhedon
-
theboyfallsfromthesky reblogged this from theheroheart
-
burnuptheland reblogged this from fuckyeahjosswhedon
-
thatmattdavies reblogged this from lawfulgoodness
-
lawfulgoodness reblogged this from whedonesque
-
tamryneradani reblogged this from fuckyeahjosswhedon
-
gingerblivet reblogged this from fuckyeahjosswhedon
-
i-am-wildgrantaire likes this
-
tinierpurplefishes likes this
-
waitingforasign likes this
-
elatrometer likes this
-
agarthanguide likes this
-
danikasapphistry reblogged this from notemily
- Show more notes