Joss Whedon’s newest creation, Dollhouse, is a fantastical world of beautiful people that are wiped clean of their personalities only to be imprinted with new ones to accomplish missions for the rich and powerful. It’s as bad ass as Buffy, The Vampire Slayer without the vampires but other blood sucking soulless creatures: dirty politicians, corporate heads, and other well-connected thieves instead.
The writing is imaginative, fresh, and well adapted to appeal to the late twenties to early thirties demographic that watched Whedon’s Buffy. He even brought Eliza Dushku as the head doll, Echo. The characters are written with dimension and the actors deliver convincing performances, which is necessary due to the range in personalities they must portray in each episode.
In response to the recent web buzz that this show is anti-feminist: I beg to differ. Whedon brought us a strong female character, Buffy, and surely does not disappoint in his new show. If you look close enough you will find similarities between Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Whedon’s Dollhouse. Nora, the protagonist of Ibsen’s play, must conform herself to act as a simple childlike wife, while she is secretly hiding her talents and abilities for the sake of her husband. In a similar kind of fashion, Whedon’s Echo must enter a childlike state after every mission and her exceptional abilities as a doll are often viewed as problematic for the male Dollhouse officials. There are more similarities, but I refrain from going into detailed analysis since this is not the point of this blog post. Whedon’s talent for weaving feminist threads into his writing is genius, but it also takes careful analysis of Dollhouse’s storylines to realize it.
I have great expectations for this show and am delighted that Whedon has brought us another phenomenal female character, Echo. Dewitt, the head official of the Dollhouse, also delivers as a steely leader without being stereotypically catty, which is how female bosses are usually depicted.
I have only seen five episodes so far, but I suspect that Whedon has plans for Echo’s character to grow, find the same kind of self discovery as Ibsen’s Nora, and to shatter traditional gender assumptions of strength and power.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
My Top Five and Why
Here’s my top five of all time (or just right now). Not that you give a shit, but my opinion is valuable and you’re probably not doing anything productive anyway.
1. Keanu Reeves: Just shut your mouth. His face is perfection, which is awesome since sometimes his acting is less than. But honestly, half the time when I watch his movies I hardly even notice that he’s talking. He could be in silent films for the rest of his career and I would see every single one. Let’s try not to be too hard on the dude he provided great performances in: Bill and Ted’s, Matrix, The Lake House, and I Scanner Darkly. Keanu, whatever you do, I will always love you, Whitney Houston style.
2. Jack White: Everything this man touches turns to gold. He’s a musical genius with a work ethic of a medical student, only cooler and less annoying. His eccentric nature only makes him more fascinating. A plus (a HUGE plus) is that a friend of mine saw him in concert when Meg wasn’t suffering from anxiety (poor thing) and Mr. White apparently has a dong down to his knees. I don’t care what that rag, People Magazine, has to say, Jack White is the sexiest man alive.
3. Joaquin Phoenix: I dig the unkempt beard, the sunglasses, and the homeless look. I dig whatever it is Joaquin wants to do. Not only is he a talented actor, but he doesn’t give a fuck. He’s vegan, which would probably be hard to deal with on the daily, but I could work through it. He’s a bit eccentric and gives interesting interviews, but his dark brooding disposition is absolutely magnificent.
4. Adrien Brody: This man is beautiful. If you don’t think so, you probably prefer some country music asshole to be your snuggle bunny. Just google some pictures of the lad and take a look see. (It’s okay. I’ll wait.) He’s tall as shit and as pretty as a tranny. What else do you want? Darjeeling Limited… He was so pretty in that. Fabulous actor, too.
5. Christian Bale: He has a temper. So what? You try walking around all beautiful with a six pack and bulging biceps without stopping every fifteen seconds to look at your perfect self. That would be hard on anyone. Did you see this man in American Psycho? Naked with a chainsaw chasing hookers. I’m in love. Now, he is John Connor? Perfect.
Other notable hotties that I am too lazy to offer explanations:
Joe Jonas (Shut your face. He’s a teenager, but don’t lie to yourself, he’s hawt.)
Zac Efron (Another teenager that I am dying to baby-sit.)
Seth Green (Robot Chicken is awesome.)
Rob Pattison (The Twilight vampire dude)
Shia LaBeouf
Giovanni Ribisi (I’ve been sweet on this mofo since Boiler Room.)
Ryan Phillipe
Jake Gyllenhall (Ryan’s arch enemy)
Topher Grace
Danny Masterson
Harold and Kumar
David Beckham
Gavin Rossdale
Brandon Flowers (Lead singer to Killers)
There are so many others. But we’d be here all day.
1. Keanu Reeves: Just shut your mouth. His face is perfection, which is awesome since sometimes his acting is less than. But honestly, half the time when I watch his movies I hardly even notice that he’s talking. He could be in silent films for the rest of his career and I would see every single one. Let’s try not to be too hard on the dude he provided great performances in: Bill and Ted’s, Matrix, The Lake House, and I Scanner Darkly. Keanu, whatever you do, I will always love you, Whitney Houston style.
2. Jack White: Everything this man touches turns to gold. He’s a musical genius with a work ethic of a medical student, only cooler and less annoying. His eccentric nature only makes him more fascinating. A plus (a HUGE plus) is that a friend of mine saw him in concert when Meg wasn’t suffering from anxiety (poor thing) and Mr. White apparently has a dong down to his knees. I don’t care what that rag, People Magazine, has to say, Jack White is the sexiest man alive.
3. Joaquin Phoenix: I dig the unkempt beard, the sunglasses, and the homeless look. I dig whatever it is Joaquin wants to do. Not only is he a talented actor, but he doesn’t give a fuck. He’s vegan, which would probably be hard to deal with on the daily, but I could work through it. He’s a bit eccentric and gives interesting interviews, but his dark brooding disposition is absolutely magnificent.
4. Adrien Brody: This man is beautiful. If you don’t think so, you probably prefer some country music asshole to be your snuggle bunny. Just google some pictures of the lad and take a look see. (It’s okay. I’ll wait.) He’s tall as shit and as pretty as a tranny. What else do you want? Darjeeling Limited… He was so pretty in that. Fabulous actor, too.
5. Christian Bale: He has a temper. So what? You try walking around all beautiful with a six pack and bulging biceps without stopping every fifteen seconds to look at your perfect self. That would be hard on anyone. Did you see this man in American Psycho? Naked with a chainsaw chasing hookers. I’m in love. Now, he is John Connor? Perfect.
Other notable hotties that I am too lazy to offer explanations:
Joe Jonas (Shut your face. He’s a teenager, but don’t lie to yourself, he’s hawt.)
Zac Efron (Another teenager that I am dying to baby-sit.)
Seth Green (Robot Chicken is awesome.)
Rob Pattison (The Twilight vampire dude)
Shia LaBeouf
Giovanni Ribisi (I’ve been sweet on this mofo since Boiler Room.)
Ryan Phillipe
Jake Gyllenhall (Ryan’s arch enemy)
Topher Grace
Danny Masterson
Harold and Kumar
David Beckham
Gavin Rossdale
Brandon Flowers (Lead singer to Killers)
There are so many others. But we’d be here all day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)