Gerry Canavan (who claims to be "thinking hard", but I think perhaps not hard enough) briefly discusses the pseudo-porn as a study of the problem of porn problem here:
http://gerrycanavan.blogspot.com/2009/03/dollhouse-rape-culture-and-women-in.html, earlier quoted Whedon's explanation of the misogyny and identity issues in
Dollhouse here:
http://gerrycanavan.blogspot.com/2009/02/joss-whedon-is-my-master-now.htmlRegarding consent, here's a relevant bit of
Whedon's NPR interview:
In the new show's premise, Dushku's character, Echo, is an "active" — someone who has volunteered to have her personality erased. Every week, the Dollhouse installs a new personality into her and sends her out on "engagements" that involve sex, violence and, often, both.
It's a surprising show from someone who, in a 2006 acceptance speech for an award he was given from the women's human rights group Equality Now, said, "The misogyny that is in every culture is not a true part of the human condition. It is life out of balance, and that imbalance is sucking something out of the soul of every man and woman who's confronted with it."
Jacki Lyden asks Whedon to explain how a show starring a young female character who has no free will isn't the ultimate misogynistic male fantasy.
"I won't necessarily say that it isn't that," Whedon says. "The fact of the matter is that, in the wrong hands, it is a completely misogynist thing, except it's happening to men as well — but what we're trying to do is take someone's identity away in order to discuss the concept of her identity."
Whedon says the first group he pitched the show to — after Dushku and Fox — was the board of Equality Now.
"I knew that would be the toughest room I would ever sit in," Whedon says. "What I basically told them was I was examining the idea of fantasy, and some of the stuff that would happen would be good, and some of the stuff that would happen would be kind of awful, and that the whole point was going to be to blur those lines, to take what we want from each other sexually, how much power we want to have over each other."
In the second episode, Echo is programmed to have sex with a man who then attempts to kill her with a bow and arrow. Lyden says it has a "snuff-film motif" and asks Whedon why he chose to present this type of main female character.
"Obviously, the point is you have to take control away from her so that she can get it back. Obviously, the man does not kill her," he says.
Whedon says the theme of hiring people for sex was something he and Dushku were eager to explore.
"All of the actives have that as part of their engagements," he says. "And that is something Eliza and I set out to do from the start — she wanted to, before I even came up with the idea, was talking about doing a premise that dealt with sexuality."
Lyden points out one of the uncomfortable aspects of the premise is that Echo "doesn't really have a choice about who she's sleeping with … it isn't consensual."
Whedon agrees. "I'm not saying that nonconsensual sex is ever OK. This is, after all, a science fiction show."
— — —
My verdict: Fail.
At least facebook is giving me something else to do with my Friday nights, with real people, even.
I have a whole other set of issues with facebook, though. Maybe later on that.
ETA: for a different pov, Twisty Faster on consent (scroll down to "The problem wiht consent")
http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/2009/02/20/two-posts-two-posts-two-posts-in-one/And another one yet (NSFa&s: "not safe for artandsoul"):
http://www.takeninhand.com/node/230
My point: you can't pretend to be sympathetic to the feminist POV while vicariously enjoying the Taken in Hand POV. Makes me want to tie Whedon up and beat him until he begs for release.
