Spoiler alert: Season 1 of Dollhouse contains rape.
How much rape? SO MUCH RAPE.
Joss: Would you like some rape plots to go with your rape subplots?
Me: No. No, I would not Joss. Of course not.
Dollhouse. More like Rapehouse. Population: rapity rape rape rape rape rapetown. With a main of rape, dressed in rapesauce, featuring creme de rape for dessert.
And when it’s not flat out rape, it’s hypersexualized violence. Holy sexy sexy slashy face wounds Batman!
The rape with rape on rape effect was especially potent as I was bingewatching Dollhouse after getting home from travel (travel summary: Chile was chilly). I was too fried to do anything but sleep and eat and recharge on The Husband — the man is the human equivalent of footie pyjamas.
We started keeping track of how many episodes either starred or subplotted around rape, but then we got bored, because the answer was All The Episodez. An episode guest starring Rape, followed by an episode featuring Rape, and then the story arc continued with… wait for it… recurring character: Moar Rape.
The fuck Joss. The. Fuck.
Soooo…. yeah. All done Season 1. Deeply uninspired to watch Season 2. And, very sadly, this experience has cost me more than a little Faith (GET IT?!) in Whedontopia.
It’s not just because I have zero interest in shows featuring rape. It’s because it’s just so … lazy. Rape is shooting the beloved pet, beating up the nerd in the locker room. It’s what a writer busts out when they can’t be bothered to come up with nuanced characters, complex backstories and motivations. It’s goodfernuthin, socially-destructive, normalizing shorthand. The Bad Guy(s). The Broken Girl(s). Done.
In the worst — and increasingly frequent — cases, rape is used the same way they’d use an actual sexyfuntimez scene, to make the show titillating. It’s like the deeply depressing observation that it’s easier to show a woman’s breast being cut off than to show it being kissed. Spoiler #2! Kissing is so much better! Yay kissing! Actual pleasure! wheeeeeeeee!!! Team Geniune Sexyfuntimez FTW!
Also, this:
“KevinB Aug 29, 2009
The only way I could give this a positive score is if the second season reveals that Dushku’s character is actually a horrible actress and the real life Dushku is an incredible actress, acting like a horrible actress, who is acting like randomly-generated personalities. Bring back Firefly.”
The opening credits, listing all the many ensemble actors and actresses, but showing only footage of DushkuDushkuDushku (seriously, did her granny crochet those thigh-highs for her? *shudder*) led me to come up with own version of the theme song. Main lyric: “It’s the Eliiiiza Dushkuuuu shoooow!”
TV, you have failed me again. I guess I’ll just have to go back to reading books. But not Game of Thrones because… sigh.
Why does the dog become a star? Where does his little doggie body go? Why doesn’t he get a helmet? Dogs need oxygen too! Oh god, here come the nightmares again… RUN SCRUFFY RUN!!