oyceter | Dollhouse 1x01

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Dollhouse 1x01

Dear Joss,

While it's nice that you have an Actual Asian Person (TM) in your cast, it would be even better if you would stop using things like Asian teapots, hotels, clothes, and geisha (who seem to, like all the others, act as scenery in your world) while populating the surroundings with all white people.

No love,
Another Actual Asian Person (TM)

Spoilers

I will probably keep watching for now, because despite the extremely sketchy premise, the amnesia and the doll bits are right up my manga kink alley.

On the other hand, WOW sketchy racial politics! We have Latino victim/businessmen, threatened by a Latino gang, disembodied Asian artifacts set in a world of white people, and even more white people with all the power and control! And another white person investigating. (see ETA)

And a single black man, who though I like so far as a character, have almost zero faith in his development.

I know I read as very cynical and angry. I love Buffy, but I feel that with each continuing product, Joss gets more and more problematic, like he spent all his feminist cred on Buffy (hello, Angel) and then basically just stopped thinking about anything past what floats his own boat, id-wise. It's lucky for us that some of it involves women with guns, but at this point, I'd like a little less crazy brunette and a little more of something else.

Also, the writing in Dollhouse wasn't so great—clunky As-You-Know-Bob's, not much humor or wit, and characters who I feel I've seen in many other Joss shows before (hello Warren! hello damaged brunette out to get her abuser! hello Lilah! hello Wolfram & Hart! hello police guy who vaguely looks like Nathan Fillion!).

ETA: Wait, FBI guy is Helo? Wow, I am out of it fannishly. OK, another plus for a POC actor, and I am crossing my fingers that they are not doing the "multiracial person coded as white" and actually write the agent as POC.

ETA2: And apparently the Spanish is not so much with the grammatical! Why am I not surprised?

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OMG the Asian hotel! Full of partying white people! It was so bad! So bad! And random people in the Mandarin collars and frog button things! And the geisha! WTF? Also, to be nitpicky, from a quick glance, her kimono did not look particularly authentic—too loose and foldy and draped, with the obi being not at all stiff enough.

I did like seeing the Latino character as a man of power and wealth and sensitivity (although also annoyed with the Asian decorations in his house! For a while, I was trying to figure out if the actor was multiracial to explain the framed kanji and the bamboo), but I really didn't like that he basically was only there as plot fodder, that he gets shot and has absolutely nothing to do with the rescue of his daughter, and then is out of the picture for the rest of the show. And the egregious accent on the kidnapper over the phone! And that even with the kidnapping gang, the white guy is in power!

I like Boyd the most as well and really hope I am wrong re: his character development.

I don't know. I am just angry and cynical and tired. And the egregious Asian trappings SO did not help.

Oh, wait, yes! The neon pagoda! How could I miss the neon pagoda! ::facepalm::

Although I admit I was too busy being horrified by Echo's just-below-the-hairline minidress to notice the Mandarin collars and such.

My sense is that all the Engagements are going to be plot fodder for a while, but I understand your frustration about the father being taken out of the way so the white people could get their heroic on. Not to mention the guy on the phone's accent. Jeez.

The Mandarin collars I think were on the uniforms of some of the Dollhouse staff? Most of the costuming in the neon pagoda was teeny party clothes (and yes to the horror of the minidress!).

I.. yeah. I mean, I get that there is going to be a lot of Monster of the Week with the Engagements, but that is why it would be nice if some more of the regulars were POC. Sigh. (Not angry with you; angry with the casting.)

I don't know how he identifies, but the actor playing the cop obsessed with proving that Dollhouse exists, Tamoh Penniket, is partly of First Nations ancestry (his mother is a member of the White Horse Nation).

I just realized that after reading other comments and feel dumb! I am very much hoping that the show writes his character as POC.

I am very much hoping that the show writes his character as POC.

It would be nice, yes. I'm not sure, but I think that the First Nations/American Indian perspective is not explored as often in US media as it is in Canadian media (not that what we do here is necessarily adequate, or always well-done). So to have the perspective of an urban First Nations person (who doesn't "look the part") would really be interesting.

Not that I believe Whedon is going to do it.

I mean, I liked Buffy, and Angel, and Firefly and Serenity despite many manifest problems, but... he's never been very good with race issues.

Yeah... That is mostly my take. Like, I am very glad a First Nations actor is getting more screen time and getting paid and etc! But I am also wary by the media's general tendency to take mixed-race actors who can pass as white and proceeding to erase their identity (not a judgment about the actors themselves, given the sucktastic atmosphere in film and TV for POC actors, and I think they are stuck between a rock and a hard place).

But I am also wary by the media's general tendency to take mixed-race actors who can pass as white and proceeding to erase their identity

Yes. This is a problem.

Heck, even with an actor who can pass as white and who can reasonably be assumed to be highly assimilated, you can still toss in something in the way the character is presented that tells us that the character is aware of being mixed-race, even if that character is passing. Which adds a level of consciousness of race issues to the character.

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oyceter - 2009-02-19 19:46 (UTC) - Expand

I would be very very surprised if they did so.

Yeeaaaaah. Me too. I am grumpy because there is the cred of casting a POC actor without actually having to deal with the POC-ness, but I also do not want to assume the character is white and reinforce the white as default thing. But I am also totally cynical and think that the character is meant to be read as white by the show's audience.

I will bet you lunch at Chez Panisse that they will never ever reference his First Nations identity in this show.

I am that cynical.

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delux-vivens.livejournal.com - 2009-02-15 04:52 (UTC) - Expand

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lady-ganesh.livejournal.com - 2009-02-15 14:15 (UTC) - Expand

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oyceter - 2009-02-19 19:47 (UTC) - Expand

I would bet a large amount of money that Penikett's character will be written white. I hope otherwise -- a potentially rounded and complex First Nations character who is not a Wise Shaman, how fantastic would that be -- but it's a very, very thin hope.

I... yeah. I am pretty much betting so too.

That is awesome, and I'm pleased, especially since I sort of like him.

Oh, I didn't think you were angry with me.

I said elsewhere that I think that Joss believes in feminism and self-identifies as a feminist without being willing to see or address his male privilege most of the time. Sadly, I don't think that he's gone even THAT far, with respect to race.

The show suffered doubly from being after SCC, I think, which actually has an interesting Asian woman who has more agency in her brief appearance than almost anyone in the whole episode.

I linked to your review in my post, hope you don't mind.

Yeaaah. Although arguably, there isn't much evidence in the text of Jesse's POC-ness. Although then there are issues of visibility and passing and how white culture gets to decide who is white enough and who is not, and it is tangled and messy.

And I think after the apocalypse, racial politics have probably changed somewhat, and I can't blame them for not going there. I like the show but it's not that good.

Heh, now that you mention it, I really do want them to tackle racial politics post-apocalypse.

I think I am slightly more forgiving of SCC in terms of race so far because Ellison is not yet dead (oh my standards, they are so low) and because there's not the history Joss has.

I'm really not sure I trust them to do it, alas! Especially as the ratings continue to suck and they seem to be running out of time.

It seems like they're trying to keep Ellison around, even when they're not sure what to do with him, and that kind of endears me to them.

(although also annoyed with the Asian decorations in his house! For a while, I was trying to figure out if the actor was multiracial to explain the framed kanji and the bamboo)

Unfortunately for Joss, "realism" doesn't work well as an excuse when the whole premise of your show is inherently unreal. Because in reality, Asian-inspired design *is* everywhere in high-end clothes and home furnishings, appropriative though it may be. So those elements are very convenient for suggesting "modern, well-to-do, and sophisticated" -- but this ain't The Wire, here, and an accurate portrayal of contemporary flaws isn't necessary for the success of the show.

Plus, the clothing isn't part of that aesthetic, IMO.

Eileen Fisher (http://www.garnethill.com/jump.jsp?itemID=18438&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C4477%2C9140%2C9676&iProductID=18438) counts as high-end for me, but then I am notoriously cheap *g*.

But those are jammies, not officewear! (hah, me too, but I watch Project Runway?)

Hahaha! But yes, I very much agree re: Asian-inspired design now being short hand for "modern and rich" (and have all sorts of issues with that too), but oh man. Like you said, it's not The Wire, and it's not like this is a new issue for him! You'd think there would be more thought going into it after Firefly, but so far, no.

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