Dollhouse (TV series)

Dollhouse. Joss Whedon, creator. Eliza Dushku, Kelly Manners, producers. Fox, 2009-10. Run-time: 44 minutes, 26 episodes[1]

First season reviewed Nolan Belk, SFRA Review #288 (Spring 2009): pp. 18-19.[2]

Dollhouse follows the exploits of a group of programmable people called “dolls,” who fulfill the desires of whoever buys their time, and also follows the intricate relationships of those who control, program, and aid the dolls. [...]

Although Dollhouse’s approach to doll programming involves fancy computer touch screens and lots of hardware, including a rather ominous chair, stories of programmable people have been around as long as there have been golems or demon possession. Where Whedon’s take on the dolls becomes interesting is in motivation: whereas the wives in The Stepford Wives are replaced against their wills, these dolls [...] seem to have chosen identity annihilation rather than to face the truth of their lives. (Belk p. 18)

Note, then, that the "dolls" are human beings and that the programming involves images of the superimposition of the cybernetic upon the human and the association of that imposition with themes of possession and the legend of the Golem (see and cf. Robert Plank's essay, "The Golem and the Robot"). For that "ominous chair" cf. and contrast relevant images in TOTAL RECALL (1990).

Discussed by Sherry Ginn, Power and Control in the Television Worlds of Joss Whedon (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, 2012), reviewed by Nolan Belk, SFRA Review #301 (Summer 2012): pp. 38-39.[3]

RDE, finishing, 14Feb21, 15Jun21