Description
Book Synopsis Premiering on Fox in 2009, Joss Whedon''s Dollhouse was an innovative, contentious and short-lived science fiction series whose themes were challenging for viewers from the outset. A vast global corporation operates establishments (Dollhouses) that program individuals with temporary personalities and abilities. The protagonist assumes a different identity each episode--her defining characteristic a lack of individuality. Through this obtuse premise, the show interrogated free will, morality and sex, and in the process its own construction of fantasy and its audience. A decade on, the world is--for better or worse--catching up with Dollhouse''s provocative vision. This collection of new essays examines the series'' relevance in the context of today''s social and political issues and media landscape.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction: Welcome to the Future
Michael Starr and Heather M. Porter
Part I: Society and Self
"Now that we have a black president": White Feminism, Post-Raciality, and the Curious Case of Boyd Langton
Mary Ellen Iatropoulos
"The body doesn't matter, it's the mind that we want": Examining and Critiquing Contemporary Socioeconomic and -political Structures Through Rossum and the Framework
Erin M. Giannini
Ripley, Alice, and Echo: Corporate Malfeasance and the Female Body
Sherry Ginn
"We're also misunderstood, which great humanitarians often are": Examining the Intelligence and Wisdom of the Mad Scientist Topher Brink
Heather M. Porter
Part II: Philosophy and Technology
Earning a Place on the Ark: Evolution, Ethics, and Epitaphs
Madeline Muntersbjorn
From Androids to Actives: Death of Identity and the Legacy of Technicism
Thomas D. Parham III
Agencied Objects: Locations of the Technodomestic Object-I in the Whedonverses
Juliette C. Kitchens
"How does it feel to end the world?": The Dark Ecology of the Dollhouse
Michael Starr
Part III: Form and Function
What You Don't Know Won't Hurt You? Constructive Omissions in the Title Music
Janet K. Halfyard
Friday Night Rites: The Posthuman Hero's Tale in the Television Narrative
Devon E. Anderson
"You cannot possibly stop them alone": The Formula Conspiracy Story, the Monomyth, and Whedon's Complicated Heroics
Stephen G. Melvin
"Tell me about the Dollhouse": The Impact of Promotional Paratexts on Audience Reception
Tanya R. Cochran
Part IV: Influences and Allusions
"I'm awake now": Female Cyborgs, Self-Awareness, and (Qualified?) Rebellion in Dollhouse and Westworld
Eve Bennett
"To grow, we all need to suffer": Memory and Trauma as the Path to Personhood
Jeana Jorgensen and Keegan L. Mills
Lost, Not Gone: The Haunted (Doll)House
Catherine Pugh
Pod People, Zombies, Dolls: Fear and Anxiety in I Am Legend, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Dollhouse
Charmaine Tanti
Appendix 1: Dollhouse Episode List
Appendix 2: Westworld Episode List, Cited in Text
Appendix 3: Whedon Television Episode List, Cited in Text
Appendix 4: Whedon Filmography, Cited in Text
About the Contributors
Index
