Dollhouse noise
Structural Whedonism
Joss, In a Nutshell
Bet you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, huh?
Dollhouse came out and it was bizarre, lame, unsettling, fill in the blanks. And you never liked the few episodes you saw of Buffy or Angel anyway. So would these people please shut up?
Well, let me throw my two cents in and tell you what’s making them go ga-ga.
It’s knowing that you can’t fathom what’s coming.
Yes, so you’ve read and heard all the things about Dollhouse, perhaps even seen the pilot. You think you have the premise down and you know what the show is all about.
But you don’t. Forget Firefly, and forget even Angel. If Joss Whedon has gone back into the arena of the social/cultural perception of the female, if he has made a TV show about females and males who are programmed as dolls to satisfy the needs of paying customers, and if based on this premise you think you know what’s coming, I’m sorry to tell you that you don’t. No matter how tempting it might be to think otherwise.
How do I know this? Because of Buffy. Angel was a fun show, to put it mildly, but Buffy was evolution. In two ways.
One, for the simple act of removing the pre-concept of victimization from the female characterization.
Which means there was no need to have to “empower” them. Females, like everyone else in the universe, came as individuals-- either weak or strong, trustworthy or cowardly.
And two, quite simply, for changing “hour-long” television.
We take it for granted now as par for the course television, but the crazy-sounding fans are right: it really did all start with Buffy.
TV has always had good, great, and even excellent characters, but they had always been hampered by format.
But with Joss came the implementation of the simple notion that characters, like people, should change-- REALLY change; that major characters will die in the course of events; that actions will have REAL consequences; that you can build and build on something and on audience expectations, and then like life have it be rendered meaningless in one painful instant by the small, insignificant act of another character; that metaphors are powerful; and that characters will remember.
It’s almost hard to put into words what Whedon did, but in television there was definitely a before and after. Nowadays, all those things can be found in just about every other show on TV.
But Joss Whedon did it first. And did it best. And he did it by the understated and profound act of deconstructing the internal logic structure of a television show, and putting it back together in a way that’s organic to the human mind. The show followed emotionally and psychologically, and plot itself became a feint.
I’m the farthest thing from a blind worshipper of anything. I see shortcomings glaringly alongside merits, and I was dismissive and came very late to the Buffy/Angel-Joss Whedon thing.
But I remember what people were going through watching Buffy as it aired. I remember when Dawn came. And when it comes to television writing, Joss Whedon is the real deal.
He’s had misfires, and he’s not for everyone. But on the whole he’s managed to speak to grandfathers and pre-teen girls and just about everyone in between.
And all this is just to say: all this hype and losing-their-minds because Joss Whedon has put out a new show... Well, it’s because we know what’s coming. We’re bracing ourselves, not for the shocker of the week, but for the long haul-- who we’re going to love and hate, who we’re going to understand and misjudge. And the day we’re going to be forced to say oh-my-fucking-god and reverse ourselves on that position.
Yes, there is a lot of pressure and hype around Dollhouse, which is never a good thing, because people immediately want to see the sick being cured and the paralyzed starting to walk.
But that’s not what a television show is about. It is, or should be, about meeting characters and taking a journey with them. It might not pan out, but we don't know that yet.
So if you’re interested in something different, something more than just a good episodic plot or great characters, something that might challenge, entertain, frustrate and shock you, psychologically drag you in and blow you away, then I'd advise you hold off on dismissing Joss Whedon.
And as for the professional critics trashing the pilot of show from a creator/showrunner whose previous works they’ve admittedly never seen, and whose current work they have no context for... Where to even being.
Joss, In a Nutshell
Bet you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, huh?
Dollhouse came out and it was bizarre, lame, unsettling, fill in the blanks. And you never liked the few episodes you saw of Buffy or Angel anyway. So would these people please shut up?
Well, let me throw my two cents in and tell you what’s making them go ga-ga.
It’s knowing that you can’t fathom what’s coming.
Yes, so you’ve read and heard all the things about Dollhouse, perhaps even seen the pilot. You think you have the premise down and you know what the show is all about.
But you don’t. Forget Firefly, and forget even Angel. If Joss Whedon has gone back into the arena of the social/cultural perception of the female, if he has made a TV show about females and males who are programmed as dolls to satisfy the needs of paying customers, and if based on this premise you think you know what’s coming, I’m sorry to tell you that you don’t. No matter how tempting it might be to think otherwise.
How do I know this? Because of Buffy. Angel was a fun show, to put it mildly, but Buffy was evolution. In two ways.
One, for the simple act of removing the pre-concept of victimization from the female characterization.
Which means there was no need to have to “empower” them. Females, like everyone else in the universe, came as individuals-- either weak or strong, trustworthy or cowardly.
And two, quite simply, for changing “hour-long” television.
We take it for granted now as par for the course television, but the crazy-sounding fans are right: it really did all start with Buffy.
TV has always had good, great, and even excellent characters, but they had always been hampered by format.
But with Joss came the implementation of the simple notion that characters, like people, should change-- REALLY change; that major characters will die in the course of events; that actions will have REAL consequences; that you can build and build on something and on audience expectations, and then like life have it be rendered meaningless in one painful instant by the small, insignificant act of another character; that metaphors are powerful; and that characters will remember.
It’s almost hard to put into words what Whedon did, but in television there was definitely a before and after. Nowadays, all those things can be found in just about every other show on TV.
But Joss Whedon did it first. And did it best. And he did it by the understated and profound act of deconstructing the internal logic structure of a television show, and putting it back together in a way that’s organic to the human mind. The show followed emotionally and psychologically, and plot itself became a feint.
I’m the farthest thing from a blind worshipper of anything. I see shortcomings glaringly alongside merits, and I was dismissive and came very late to the Buffy/Angel-Joss Whedon thing.
But I remember what people were going through watching Buffy as it aired. I remember when Dawn came. And when it comes to television writing, Joss Whedon is the real deal.
He’s had misfires, and he’s not for everyone. But on the whole he’s managed to speak to grandfathers and pre-teen girls and just about everyone in between.
And all this is just to say: all this hype and losing-their-minds because Joss Whedon has put out a new show... Well, it’s because we know what’s coming. We’re bracing ourselves, not for the shocker of the week, but for the long haul-- who we’re going to love and hate, who we’re going to understand and misjudge. And the day we’re going to be forced to say oh-my-fucking-god and reverse ourselves on that position.
Yes, there is a lot of pressure and hype around Dollhouse, which is never a good thing, because people immediately want to see the sick being cured and the paralyzed starting to walk.
But that’s not what a television show is about. It is, or should be, about meeting characters and taking a journey with them. It might not pan out, but we don't know that yet.
So if you’re interested in something different, something more than just a good episodic plot or great characters, something that might challenge, entertain, frustrate and shock you, psychologically drag you in and blow you away, then I'd advise you hold off on dismissing Joss Whedon.
And as for the professional critics trashing the pilot of show from a creator/showrunner whose previous works they’ve admittedly never seen, and whose current work they have no context for... Where to even being.