you painted me in chromakey blue and kept me thin, so i'd disappear when you put your landscape in.

[intrikate88]

It's been a day now since I saw the Dollhouse finale and I still don't know how I feel about a lot of it. I'm going to rewatch it at some point and you better believe there will be even more analysis then. But for now, just some random points of thoughts.

• Vertigo connection, not even kidding. Okay, Mellie = Madeline? The obsession Paul is chasing and the one he eventually uncovers is named MADELINE? I swear to God Joss is fangirling Hitchcock. He HAS to be.
• Guy rescues the girl and finds out she wasn't what he was always after and instead gives the greatest gift to the woman he already had. It's so anti-cliche it's a cliche. Alright, November goes off into the sunset. YAWN. I was rather hoping those badass promo pictures of her as a bounty hunter would actually be shown.
• I was kind of iffy about Alpha being all "you want to save the girl?" and chucking the wedge over the railing. So now Echo has to be the Daring Heroine Saving Herself In Defiance Of Fairy Tale Tropes. BUT WAIT. The prince rescues Sleeping Beauty after all! GOD WHAT. THIS IS CALLED A CLICHE THAT IS UNEXPECTEDLY SOMETHING YOU'D TOTALLY EXPECT. Yawn, again. Can we maybe have the Grrrl Power in something that isn't quite so tidily resolved? PAUL IS NOT THE HERO HE IS THE OBSESSED RAPER DUDE, Y'ALL.
• Okay, I DID like how there was that tradeoff of names in the end with Paul and Madeline. He says that he's nobody, just as she gets back her name (and thus her identity.) He is admitting that his pursuit of the Dollhouse has caused him to think in Dollhouse mentality. And so no matter how much he may fight the Dollhouse, disagree wtih them, investigate them... he has become them. That's why he smiles when he says he's not working for Adele yet. Because he knows that he's gone.
• Alpha is still on the run, yay for unresolvedness, and it still wasn't addressed how he so very specifically guided Paul to the Dollhouse and used him to get in. I'm disappointed with Alpha, though... I'm not sure why. I mean, it's really a shame, he was kind of adorable in his infatuation with Whiskey and then with Echo. But horrible at the same time. Lots of horrible.
• "If you made me.... why did you make me hate you?" Okay, does anyone else think that Topher was madly in love with Whiskey and made it so she wouldn't come around him and remind him of what he didn't have? Or something? Also, aw, Dr. Saunders. I am totally fascinated by when Topher asked her if she wanted to know who she was, she answered, "I know who I am." I don't know what that means but I love her for it. I don't know if it means she has decided that, for better or worse, she's not Whiskey, she's not the girl that gave up and signed a contract, but she's Dr. Saunders and she will do her damndest to be the person she is today. Up to and including offering lollipops. :P
• Okay, so who else thinks that in-depth essays should be composed about comparisons to Frankenstein with this show, and wtih bringing in Laura Mulvey's essay about the male gaze. Fellow film students? ninamazing, ohvienna, notfadeaway616? Look, I'm gradumutated, I need to do SOMETHING with that film minor I acquired.
  
  Stay tuned for further explosive contemplations.

Comments

[ninamazing.livejournal.com]

PAUL IS NOT THE HERO HE IS THE OBSESSED RAPER DUDE, Y'ALL.

OH MY GOD, THANK YOU. JESUS H.

I can't even really find it in myself to LIKE that he saved November, because (a) I sort of have this feeling that he did it just to get her out of the way so he could Wait For Caroline Instead And Watch Over Her With Sparkly Eyes, and (b) he had to make a big fucking thing about it. Like if he really thought he was "nobody" and wanted to respect her independent life, he wouldn't have been all "OH HAI I WILL JUST FLIRT WITH YOU A LITTLE SO YOU WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS GUY WHO MYSTERIOUSLY APPEARED AT THE END OF YOUR SERVICE AND TOLD YOU YOU HAD A LOVELY NAME."

Gag.

I was rather hoping those badass promo pictures of her as a bounty hunter would actually be shown.

ME. EFFING. TOO. D:

This probably means if there is a season 2 there will be no Miracle. I mean, stupid anyway, because season 2 is HIGHLY unlikely, but DDDDDDDDDDD: I WANT EVERYBODY TO REALIZE HOW GREAT SHE IS.

Also Enver. I have seen some critics who are like "psh, I dunno about this VICTOR guy" and I am like "OH MY GOD ARE YOU EVEN PAYING ATTENTION. HE HAS BEEN A DELIGHT. HE IS DOING SUCH A GOOD JOB. I MEAN JUST SHUT UP."

I swear to God Joss is fangirling Hitchcock. He HAS to be.

THAT MAKES IT BETTER, AT LEAST.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK OF THE TOPHER-WHISKEY THING YET. It's super-intriguing, though. An excellent followup to all the "wtf?" vibes we were all getting from their various glares earlier in the season.

Also: Whiskey is obv. the best. "I know who I am" was freaking amazing.

DEF. WRITE THAT ESSAY. I'M NOT GOING TO ABLE TO FUCKING DO IT. I KNOW NOTHING. *_*

P.S. Icon win. :)

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Yeah, (a) sounds probably about right because he is still oddly sparkly! (Like other sort of destructively stalkerish obsessed so-called romantic dudes named Edward Cullen. Ahahaha.) But part of me feels okay. Cause yeah maybe he is the smarmy guy trying to come off looking like a hero, BUT there is no denying he just lost his identity and integrity and has been sucked into Dollhouseville. Bwah. For some reason, this makes me love Boyd a lot because I'm sure the same sort of deal happened to him EXCEPT HE MANAGED NOT TO BE THAT HOBBIT NAMED DOUCHE BAGGINS.

This probably means if there is a season 2 there will be no Miracle. I mean, stupid anyway, because season 2 is HIGHLY unlikely, but DDDDDDDDDDD: I WANT EVERYBODY TO REALIZE HOW GREAT SHE IS.

SOB I KNOW. She is the non-Eliza, she's the girl with actual boobs and hips that has a hit-or-miss idea of fashion and instead of just being the dumped upon nobody she actually has Depths. I.E., ALL OF US. I am not Buffy, and I'm okay with that. Is the world? Yet?

Also Enver.

UM UM UM. It is people like him that PROVE how limited of an actor Eliza is. When he played Dominic? That was greater than or equal to David Tennant passing from John Smith to Ten in the middle of ONE LINE in Family of Blood. And he can do the blank!Doll thing so well, too, and does anybody realize how hard that is?

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK OF THE TOPHER-WHISKEY THING YET.

It's on my list of themes for the re-watch. When I have a marathon re-watch I might have an actual list of questions I'm looking for and develop a Master Plot theory. Or something.

Also: Whiskey is obv. the best. "I know who I am" was freaking amazing.

I know, I know, the more I think about it the more I'm in awe. It's like that quote, "Life isn't about finding yourself; it's about creating yourself." SHE HAS BEAT THE SYSTEM, HOMG. She takes who she was, who she is, and consciously decides to be somebody. *.*

DEF. WRITE THAT ESSAY. I'M NOT GOING TO ABLE TO FUCKING DO IT. I KNOW NOTHING. *_*

You know more than you think, do we need to make you a How Awesome Is Nina list to stick at the top of your journal? On your bathroom mirror? I will write it, and I will send it to you for review first. YAY PEER-REVIEW LIKE WE ARE SCHOLARS. (Dude, how awesome would it be if we could get a fandom-academic comm going? I mean, beyond just stuff like fanthropology and its affiliates. Actual critical discourse and reviewing each other's articles and shit. A girl can dream.)

[scornedsaint.livejournal.com]

now Echo has to be the Daring Heroine Saving Herself In Defiance Of Fairy Tale Tropes. BUT WAIT. The prince rescues Sleeping Beauty after all! GOD WHAT. THIS IS CALLED A CLICHE THAT IS UNEXPECTEDLY SOMETHING YOU'D TOTALLY EXPECT.

The way I saw that, especially with Echo saying "You saved the girl" right when he caught it, was Joss saying that in the end, the girl who has to be rescued is never a person, she's just an object with nothing to say. By turning the stereotypical helpless girl into a thing, he was showing that Echo had evolved (to use the watchword) into something more than that.

and it still wasn't addressed how he so very specifically guided Paul to the Dollhouse and used him to get in.

I just assumed that Alpha knew his way of getting into the Dollhouse wouldn't be very subtle and he needed someone with a little more stealth. But yeah, it doesn't make much sense without some tweaking.

As for all the Dr. Amy Acker (I can't call her Claire because that's my name and it's all very confused up in my head) drama--omg. At first I was pissed that she was a doll, because I don't want everyone to be a doll, especially since the non-dolls are my favorite characters, but now that she's aware of it I like where this is heading.

I'm pretty sure that Topher has always been creepily in love with Dr. AA/Whiskey. I remember some gazing across the Dollhouse at her from the pilot, and I immediately started shipping them based on that. I didn't really pick up on her hating him that much--I just got a sense that she thought he was skeezy. But maybe she's been breaking down her programming?

[ohvienna.livejournal.com]

If you need essays/books re: Vertigo, I am your girl. I took, like, a class. It was called thus: "Advanced Seminar: Hitchcock's Vertigo." o_0

I do have this tendency to see the phrase "the male gaze" and have a spasm, do forgive me, NYU film theory flashbacks are not my friend. I am more down with aesthetics than psychoanalytic theory, but that is just because I am that way and Richard Allan who was my Hitchcock prof. totally rocked my world. I'd recommend also reading some updates and challenges to Mulvey if you haven't, just because they are interesting, particularly in regards to her positioning of the spectator. Were you thinking about the the audience for said essay or Ballard or Both?

I think the Ballard + November, Scotty + Madeline comparison is apt, just in that Paul Ballard makes no sense ever regarding his obsession. I actually quite hate him. Meep, I don't mean to sound bitter or hostile, except that this show does that to me. It makes me sad because it completely disagrees with me on a bunch of levels, except for the level where I continue to love Alan Tudyk and crush on Amy Acker. :)

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Fuck, that's amazing. I only took a general Hitchcock class, not a VERTIGO one. Though I bet my teacher would love that, he loves Vertigo. He wishes he was the person that was sent out to acquire the vertigo-swirl ashtray in Scottie's office. I would LOVE to see essays, though.

Ddue, totally get it on the male gaze twitches. I go both ways wtih the aesthetics and psychoanalytic theory, I think each are about equally as useful. Now, it's been a busy semester and a half since I read Mulvey and her followups so I need to refresh my learnings. I think, though, that I would approach this as kind of comparing Ballard and the Dollhouse clients, and Ballard and the audience. That may be more than one essay. Teh first topic may be redundant, since I think it was pretty obvious (or maybe just to me?) how Paul and the users of the Dolls were paralleled.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of Paul either. I sort of liked him at first, but then he was just flat as a hero archetype, and then he was just smelly as this obsessive creep. You're right, he doesn't make any sense about his obsession, that's why I desperately want him to be Alpha's active (this is part of my Dollhouse Master Theory, sort of like yours with A2A) because then it makes perfect sense.

This show is really really disagreeable. Aaaaand.. I can't believe that was done on accident. I don't think Joss is the Greatest Director Evar (can Fellini direct a tv show? pretty please?) but he does generally have a fairly decent idea of themes and what he's doing. So that makes me want to know what I'm so disliknig and why... I don't know. such a weird show.

[thunderemerald.livejournal.com]

I AM SO UNDECIDED ABOUT WHAT I THINK ABOUT THIS SHOW, IT IS RIDIC.

There is one thing I do know, though: I love Whiskey with all of my fucking heart.

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

GOD RIGHT. The fact that I was just about living to find out what happened in the finale last week says I like it, the fact that I find so much to dislike in it and can't determine whether its useful or conscious or what says I don't... don't even know.

[thunderemerald.livejournal.com]

YES TO ALL OF THIS.