I recently began watching the short-lived science fiction series Dollhouse on Netflix. I found the basic premise very intriguing: there exists an organization in Los Angeles called “the Dollhouse,” in which normal people voluntarily (or so it first appears) agree to have their personalities wiped and periodically replaced with new artificial identities. These “Actives,” as they are called by their caretakers, are indistinguishable from the real thing, and are created to satisfy the fantasies or desires of the highest bidder. The show mainly follows the House’s most popular Active, Echo (played by Eliza Dushku), and her growth from mindless Doll to a defiant person of her own.
The nature of the Dollhouse’s activities forces the characters of Dollhouse, both the actives and those responsible for them, to confront their many moral implications. The Dollhouse’s practice of hiring out people to fulfill the desires (often sexual) of the obscenely wealthy already carries strong overtones of human trafficking, prostitution, and slavery. As the series progresses, we see that the Actives, who might have joined the Dollhouse to escape troubles in the real world, are now facing exploitation and abuse in their mindless state, incapable of doing anything to stop it.
The show first aired back in 2009, but due to a lack of strong viewership and mixed review from critics, the show ended with only two 13-episode season in 2010. Which is a shame, because from the little I’ve seen of it, Dollhouse deserved much better treatment than it got five years ago.
The show (and the way you describe it here) sounds really interesting. I like the way you point out some of the themes that symbolize and represent other cultural issues. Some questions for future posts: How does gender, especially in relation to the main characters, influence they way we perceive the Actives? How may it be received differently if genders were reversed? Why are shows like Dollhouse (and other Joss Whedon shows) often so short-lived, while other shows with less dynamic plot lines (comedies such as Two and a Half Men, for instance) stay on air for years?
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