Dollhouse and body issues: actually way deeper than Miracle Laurie's cleavage!

[pocochina]

Not that it takes a lot of prodding for me to be thinking about Dollhouse, but me_llamo_nic ’s recent poll and post about body issues in the Jossverse (which I highly recommend, along with all of the other links below) got me thinking about one of the reasons that I really love the show. And that- despite the eventual fail that me_llamo_nic  points out in his incisive

Comments

[eowyn_315]

Huh. Interesting stuff. I'd noticed some of it - like Mellie cooking food she doesn't eat and talking about herself as a commodity - but not the implications of the Actives' meals. (I also probably saw that differently because my issues with food are very much about choice, in that I see my weight as my personal failing. I sometimes think I'd prefer to be told what to eat and not have a choice, because then it's not my fault.)

The one counterpoint I'd raise, though, is that although Mellie is selected specifically to attract Paul, ultimately it is Caroline that he's obsessed with, and Echo that he falls in love with, which I think undermines the idea of his "dream girl" because in the end, Mellie isn't enough to win him over. He cares for her, and feels protective of her once he realizes she's an Active, but when push comes to shove, it's Echo that he wants and always has been.

[pocochina]

although Mellie is selected specifically to attract Paul, ultimately it is Caroline that he's obsessed with, and Echo that he falls in love with, which I think undermines the idea of his "dream girl"

Totally, and I do think that the show does fall down a bit on body issues. But that doesn't change the fact that the Dollhouse, who are experts on seduction, have their pick of TV-skinny Actives to send to Paul, but they go with November, and she gets the job done. That's a pretty strong authorial statement, regardless of how the plot goes from there. And Paul's affection for Mellie is, all told, quite healthy for him; his obsession with Echo gets him dragged into the Dollhouse, clinically dead, and then Dolled up himself - I'm not so sure that relationship is brushed off in favor of the perpetually unsettling Echo/Paul situation.

Body issues are so cruel on any level.

[eowyn_315]

And Paul's affection for Mellie is, all told, quite healthy for him; his obsession with Echo gets him dragged into the Dollhouse, clinically dead, and then Dolled up himself - I'm not so sure that relationship is brushed off in favor of the perpetually unsettling Echo/Paul situation.

Maybe meant to symbolize our unhealthy obsession with TV standards of beauty? It's obvious that Mellie is better for him, but he can't stop chasing Echo, whom he's built up in his mind as being the answer, symbolic of everything he wants to achieve in bringing down the Dollhouse, perfection that doesn't really exist.

[pocochina]

Holy shit! That's brill. I totally didn't think of it like that, but you're absolutely right, it fits perfectly.

[eowyn_315]

Hee! Thanks. If you do all the work putting together the meta, I can come in and make one brilliant comment. :)

[pixxelpuss]

I read that totally differently. I actually read that they picked Mellie because, being "bigger", she'd be more likely to fly under the radar, as a girl-next-door type.

[pocochina]

she'd be more likely to fly under the radar, as a girl-next-door type

Is that mutually exclusive with the dream girl situation, though? It's only if we collectively qualify beauty as something so utterly rare that it becomes a status symbol. If the girl next door is lovely, then she's lovely, and it doesn't matter if the building is full of her clones.

[pixxelpuss]

Nope, not mutually exclusive. Although you could argue that people are unlikely to not notice/not fixate on their dream girl. Honestly, when it comes to women I don't really have a type, but I have love the "girl-next-door" type. With men, I do have a type, but it's not a conventionally attractive one (tall and gangly).

I never thought of the rarity=status symbol thing. In retrospect, nearly every fetishized physical type is comparatively rare, some of them are controlled by recessive genes. I'm thinking of things here like redheads, blondes, and brunettes with blue eyes. Although, even taken to extremes, the rarity thing still rings true: Little people, amputees, the extremely obese, etc. It's an interesting thesis.

[pocochina]

It would've been a really interesting thing to explore in the Dollhouse context, because of course the super-rich folks are going to be interested in the most status-granting date - I think there's a scene in the unaired pilot where Echo is a date to an ex's wedding? - but wouldn't necessarily have hired the same Doll out for a private romantic getaway. It would for sure have been an interesting thread.