Grr, Dollhouse: Or, Joss Whedon's Ongoing Problems With Black Characters

[dracunculus]

Comments

[plasticsturgeon]

It looks like my decision not to start watching Dollhouse was a good one.

[dracunculus]

I actually got pretty into the show by the end, which is partly why I found the ending so annoying. The early episodes are some of the ickiest TV ever--I think they tried to do some stuff at first with making the audience complicit in Echo's exploitation that doesn't work very well with a savvy or resistant viewer--but as it unfolds at least the show makes it perfectly clear that, yes, the Dollhouse is very very evil; this is basically a show about human trafficking, except that one of the slaves is a superhero. I'm up for that premise, and there are some good asskicking episodes to pay it off, especially in the second season. Plus a lot of the characters are compelling--almost all of them are flawed and self-serving in some way, which is pretty interesting.

But the ending is hooey.

Black Villains in Firefly.

[anonymous]

Given that Firefly has a) a series ending and b) a movie ending both of which feature black villains (admittedly badass though psychotic ones) I think this question bears the asking

Re: Black Villains in Firefly.

[dracunculus]

I think you make a really strong point.