I'm inclined to agree with you. The whole concept behind Dollhouse, originally, was how being an actor deprives you of your own agency, because you're forever playing the roles other people give you. I bet that when Eliza Dushku meets random people on the street more of them address her as "Faith" than as "Eliza". Someone - I think it was aycheb - compared the Dollhouse to an old-fashioned Hollywood movie studio, with the actors under contract and completely at the beck and call of the producers. It's all about power, like you say.
As for the prostitution analogy, I think it's exactly that: a metaphor, NOT the whole point of the show. You can equally say that it's a critique of globalisation, and the belief that employees are completely interchangeable assets and can be fired and replaced by cheap contractors from India or Mexico with no repercussions. Why hire an actual expert when Dollhouse can program one up for you then wipe them again when you've finished with them? The prostitution analogy is there to say hey, maybe when the companies we work for do this to us, they're treating us like whores?*
* Although personally I'd recommend treating prostitutes respectfully as professional people offering a service, rather than as stereotypical "whores". :-)
From a practical perspective, of course they're going to show that Echo's engagements often involve sex. That's what every single person in the audience is going to assume anyway, so why play coy? And yes, the whole question of consent is a genuine controversy. But like you, I'm not sure that this is the only issue that the show wants to address...
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-02-26 10:50 pm (UTC)As for the prostitution analogy, I think it's exactly that: a metaphor, NOT the whole point of the show. You can equally say that it's a critique of globalisation, and the belief that employees are completely interchangeable assets and can be fired and replaced by cheap contractors from India or Mexico with no repercussions. Why hire an actual expert when Dollhouse can program one up for you then wipe them again when you've finished with them? The prostitution analogy is there to say hey, maybe when the companies we work for do this to us, they're treating us like whores?*
* Although personally I'd recommend treating prostitutes respectfully as professional people offering a service, rather than as stereotypical "whores". :-)
From a practical perspective, of course they're going to show that Echo's engagements often involve sex. That's what every single person in the audience is going to assume anyway, so why play coy? And yes, the whole question of consent is a genuine controversy. But like you, I'm not sure that this is the only issue that the show wants to address...
This might be the most Marxist element!
I'm going to vote for this being the most blatant example of Marxist theory in the show:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_consciousness
:-)