(27) Quote Integration 4

Today I watched Joss Whedon’s “Equality Now” speech, as referred to me by Miss Chambers, and it really helped clear up my view on Whedon’s approach to a hot topic like feminism. The first time I examined scenes in Dollhouse, I found some to be very evidently anti-feminist, which led me to assume that Joss Whedon just failed at making another “feminist” series to live up to his reputation. Only after my talk with Miss Chambers and after watching the YouTube video of his Equality Now speech was I able to see where he was coming from. He relays his many different answers to a question he is asked at almost every interview, “Why do you create these strong women characters?” In his speech he says,

“Why are you even asking me this?! This is like interview number 50 in a row. How is it possible that this is even a question? Honestly, seriously, why are you -- why did you write that down? Why do you -- Why aren’t you asking a hundred other guys why they don’t write strong women characters? I believe that what I am doing should not be remarked upon, let alone honored and there are other people doing it. But, seriously, this question is ridiculous and you just gotta stop.”

His response addresses the fact that people still see “strong women characters” in shows as uncommon and strange since it is something to comment on, which gets people thinking why it isn’t the norm in media today if equality is really present in our society.

http://filmick.blogspot.com/2006/07/transcript-of-joss-whedons-equality.html

(26) Quote Integration 3

Many of Dollhouse’s feminist criticisms stem from the “rape” idea that, critics argue, is being downplayed by the fact that the imprinted actives give their consent because they are “programmed” to do so. Some believe that Whedon normalizes and idealizes rape by integrating it subtly in the show and showing it without the consequences. One feminist blogger wrote, “The rape scenes on Dollhouse are rarely shot as rapes. The horror is intellectual, not yet on screen — at least not often. This isn’t about subtlety for me, it’s about a lackluster use of the medium. The shots are too glammy. The editing doesn’t make you question what’s going on.” (Palma, 2009)

While these critics have a point about the subtle and undermined rape concept of the show, there are actually many other scenes that are blatantly anti-feminist. Many viewers choose to focus on and critique the whole premise of the show, when there are many little snippets in the episodes that evidently show real horrific situations and not just a subtle, symbolic one.

*After writing this, or something similar to it, I plan to describe the two scenes that I will be basing most of my evidence for arguments on: the exchange between Paul Ballard and his co-worker, and the actual rape scene of Sierra and Hearne. I don’t plan to focus too much on the prostitution/rape concept of the show, and intend to only touch on it in the paragraph above.  I really need to fix my outline and figure out the flow of my paper, because right now all my ideas are all jumbled up.

http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=1138

(25) Quote integration 2

                There are two approaches for feminism in media: promote women empowerment by showing how women are ideally supposed to be seen and treated, or raise awareness and stimulate reactions from people by showing real situations that women face, and how wrong they are. Whedon’s Dollhouse can be seen as an example of the second approach; a different kind of response to patriarchy and oppression in modern day society. Given, this might not be interpreted by viewers the same way as Whedon may have intended, but this is to be expected as everyone interprets things differently. One blogger shared her understanding of his show and wrote,

“Getting smarter about oppression, I would submit to you, requires making the visible manifestations of it or metaphors for it much, much uglier.
The answer to whether Joss Whedon and his showrunners know how rape-culturey the entire Dollhouse concept is would seem to be, at this point, a big huge Yes. The Dollhouse is a giant metaphor, not only for rape culture, but for patriarchy and oppression at large”  (Tiger Beatdown, 2009)

By showing exaggerated symbolisms of anti-feminist concepts and situations, Whedon has managed to create a metaphor for that type of culture, which definitely catches the attention of viewers and has successfully drawn responses from them. The fact that the audience has noticed and reacted to the kind of horrific situations that Whedon has placed his female characters in, means that they understand that this is wrong and that women are not supposed to be treated like that.

http://tigerbeatdown.blogspot.com/2009/04/dollhouse-joss-whedon-and-strange-and.html

(24) Quote Integration

I think defining and explaining sexual objectification is imperative for the development of my argument, since it is the major evidence I use for the sort of “anti-feminist” perspective that people use when watching Dollhouse.

So what exactly is sexual objectification and how is it employed in the plot of Dollhouse? In her article in 1995, Martha Nussbaum tackled the many different ways in which sexual objectification can be carried out:

“Instrumentality: the objectifier treats the object as a tool of his or

her purposes; Denial of autonomy: the objectifier treats the object as lacking

in autonomy and self-determination; Inertness: The objectifier treats the

object as lacking in agency, and perhaps also in activity; Fungibility: the

objectifier treats the object as (a) interchangeable with other objects of the

same type, and/or (b) with objects of other types; Violability: the objectifier

treats the object as lacking in bodily integrity, as something that it is

permissible to break up, smash, or break into; Ownership: the objectifier

treats the object as something that is owned by another, can be bought or

sold, etc., and Denial of Subjectivity: the objectifier treats the object as

something whose experience and feelings (if any) need not be taken into

account.” (Marino, 2008)

Basically, acts of sexual objectification can be identified by these seven characteristics. It deals with how the objectifier sees and treats the “object” or person that is being objectified. This can be observed multiple times in the sixth episode of Dollhouse, by the way that the male characters express their thoughts about the girls and treat them when they don’t think anyone is around.

(23) Blog 6

The blog entry I read about today was a reaction to Joss Whedon's Dollhouse and how unlike him the concept of the show is. An avid fan of his dominantly feminist shows, the author of the blog was pretty outraged at the way that Whedon portrayed the women. After talking to Miss Chambers, I was able to see it in a different light. You could see it in a feminist view if you consider the portrayal of women in the series as a response to the real world, trying to expose real life situations and raising awareness for the maltreatment of women. Since Whedon is known for being a feminist and promoting women empowerment with his shows, people don’t expect him to show women the way he did in Dollhouse. His intentions for the show could be interpreted as a wake up call for people, exposing the prejudice and sexual objectification that is prevalent in the real world. Considering the fact that it’s coming from Joss Whedon, the renowned feminist director of television shows, one must consider what kind of viewpoint that he’s coming from. Knowing Whedon’s background, there must be some kind of feminist way to look at it. It’s a pretty interesting way to look at it, and it could make for a really good paper. I just feel like I might not be able to defend it properly and do the topic justice. Hopefully it works out once I really get into the research thing.

(22) Article 5: sexual objecftification

The focus of the scholarly article that I read today was sexual objectification. It started off with questions about when something would be considered sexual objectification, and it clarified that it depended on the consent and autonomy of the female. It stated the many ways that someone may be sexually objectified:

Instrumentality

Denial of autonomy

Inertness

Fungibility

Violability

Ownership

Denial of subjectivity

I found this list to be very interesting and pertinent to my research. I think that all these acts of sexual objectification were demonstrated in the sixth episode of Dollhouse. Instrumentality is using a person for one’s own personal gain or pleasure, denial of subjectivity is the disregard for a person’s emotions or feelings, inertness is when one treats a person as if he or she lacks agency, etc. These can all be seen in the way that the male characters in Dollhouse treat the female actives. The scene with Hearne and Sierra can definitely be an example of all three of those, and the scene with Ballard and his co-worker shows inertness and violability. These words are fairly new to me so I will have to do some more research on them, but I’m glad that I found an article that I can base most of my research on. It explains the terms pretty well and is written in a way that is relatively easy to read. A lot of the other scholarly articles that I read were written in such a way that I had to read one sentence around 3 times before I got the gist of it. 

(21) article (more like blog entry) 4

The material I read for today’s blog wasn’t exactly an article, but a blog entry like this one. It was about the writer’s first impression of Dollhouse upon watching the pilot episode. I decided to blog about it because it made a few valid points and introduced a few terms that I think would be useful for my research. The word that she used was “misogyny,” which is defined as the “display of prejudice against women; hatred of women; looking down upon women.” I suppose this is the more technical term that I can use instead of “anti-feminism.” However, I find it to be a bit strong because all the entries online say “hatred of women.” But for the sake of academic language, I think it would be more proper to use this term. The blog entry opened the discussion with a question for readers asking if they find it problematic that the female characters “have no free agency (except to join the dollhouse)” and that even the joining of the Dollhouse was mostly forced upon them because of the bad situations they were in. it then talks about how the supposed prostitution that is going on in the show is somehow justified by the fact that they are not aware that they are essentially being raped, and that their memories are wiped after so it’s not really a big deal. Since the author of the entry only watched the first episode, she was not able to touch on the whole handler-active issue that was raised by the 6^th episode, but I’m sure I can find some material on that somewhere.

http://open.salon.com/blog/voicegal/2009/02/14/foxs_dollhouse_one_more_excuse_for_misogyny

(20) article 3

The article I read today wasn’t from Academic Search Complete, so I’m not sure if it can qualify as a “reliable resource,” however I had a much easier time understanding it compared to the previous two. It mainly covered how women are represented in different forms of media such as television, videogames, and magazines. Television representations mostly depict gender roles and how women are weak, or the prime candidates for domestic roles, or just commodities that can be passed around. These representations are often reflections of how society views women, but can also work the other way around, by reinforcing these ideas and influencing the viewers to see women in a certain way. Videogames and magazines on the other hand focus more on the body image of women, displaying them as mere sex objects that are pleasing to the eyes. This sexual representation of women in media emphasizes the physical aspects of women rather than their mental capacities or other capabilities. It also changes how women view their bodies because media interprets beauty as skinny with big boobs and a firm butt. This persuades girls of all ages that that is how they should look like and sets this as a goal. It also influences men’s taste and what they set as their standard for comparison. Some scenes and aspects of Dollhouse can definitely demonstrate these general observations about media, which is very helpful for my case. If I can’t use it as a proper source, it at least gave me ideas on how to go about it.

Article: http://www.articlemyriad.com/9.htm

(19) research again

Coleman’s “An Introduction to feminisms in a postfeminist age” talks about the different “waves” of feminism and the differences that they have. We are supposedly experiencing “third wave feminism” in our society today, which is basically feminism that includes all kinds of sexualities, races, and socioeconomic classes. Second wave feminism was centered more on white women, and didn’t really include transgenders, bi-sexuals, or lesbians. Third wave feminism encompasses all these types of “women,” therefore broadening the scope of material. Postfeminism on the other hand is the belief that society today has grown past “feminism” due to the rise of equality between genders. I’m not too sure if I agree with that, but I guess I have to read up more on these articles to figure out the logic behind all these. Again, this scholarly article was hard to understand because of the flowery language that was used, so most of what I got from it were the definitions. It was really interesting reading up on the origins of feminism and how it came about, but it definitely wasn’t pleasure reading. It was really hard material to absorb, to say the least. I’m not too sure if I want to stick with Academic Search Complete to find all my data for research, because I feel like there are many other reliable articles that I can find online that are much easier to understand. Right now though, I suppose the only references I have are the ones from that search engine, which is fine.

(18) Article 1

In Amy-Chinn’s “Tis a Pity She’s A Whore: Postfeminist Prostitution in Joss Whedon’s Firefly?”, the author describes the character of Inara in Firefly as a sort of failed attempt of reconstructing the view of people on prostitutes of color. The paper talks about how Whedon did this with Buffy – changing the way people view the typical small, blonde, white girl because of the strong personality that he gives her. It states how Whedon is a self-proclaimed feminist, with many of his shows characterized by feminist ideas. I have a hard time seeing how a prostitute of color could represent feminism in the show, and how women empowerment is supposed to be depicted through this, and even the article I read did not explain that to me clearly. I suppose the fact that she has a very strong personality and is treated fairly in the show is supposed to show it; but since I have not watched the show it is pretty hard to conceptualize all of it. I guess this article has showed me the different ways in which I can interpret the characters’ personalities in Dollhouse; and the possible flaws that the representations might have if intended to represent feminism. I have yet to research all the terminology and ideas behind the study, but it was helpful to relate Firefly to Dollhouse and see where Joss Whedon is coming from. Seven pages of feminism may be a bit hard to come up with, but I think that that single episode of Dollhouse will give me enough material to work with.

(17) Research and Bibliography

                My goal is to relate modern day feminism in our society with the feminism demonstrated in the series “Dollhouse.” To do this, I plan on researching about the definitions of the different kinds of feminism, modern feminism, and how it is portrayed in the media. I searched Academic Search Complete for relevant articles and I came across a few that might be able to help. The language used in the articles were pretty difficult to understand, being scholarly articles and all, but I suppose if I spend enough time reading it and looking up some of the unfamiliar words, I’ll be able to decipher most of its content. I was even able to find an article about feminism in one of Joss Whedon’s other shows, “Firefly.” Hopefully that will be able to give me insight on how Whedon shows typically depict women and how the issues of feminism are brought up by his other works. I chose to use feminism as my argument because of two main reasons: 1) I have already tackled feminism in past research papers and am therefore relatively familiar with it, and 2) there is more than just one scene that shows feminist ideas, so it’ll be easier to write a longer paper.

Coleman, Jenny. "An Introduction to Feminisms in a Postfeminist Age.” Women’s Studies Journal 23.2 (2009): 3-11. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 21 Jan. 2011.

Ackerly, Brooke, et. Al. “Global Feminisms: Theory and Ethics for Studying Gendered Injustice.” New Political Science 31.4 (2009): 543-555. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 21 Jan 2011.

 Amy-Chinn, Dee. “’Tis Pity She’s A Whore: Postfeminist Prostitution in Joss Whedon’s Firefly?” Feminist Media Studies 6.2 (2006): 175-186. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 21 Jan 2011.

(16) Prospectus

In episode 6 of Dollhouse, the anti-feminist character of the episode is highly observable, which can be linked to modern day abuse and scorn of women. Many people argue that anti-feminism is not present in society anymore because of the rise of equality, but while it is true that the level of equality has definitely increased and improved the situation of women in current times, there are still many countries and parts of society that suffer from this. Domestic violence, discrimination and abuse in the workplace, prostitution, and many other things, prove that women today still suffer from all sorts of prejudice and ill-treatment. Dollhouse reflects all this, which makes the series very relatable to women and people in general. Even if the things that go on may be sort of futuristic and show some things that people can only imagine, the presence of real-world problems gives the series an aspect to which people can connect with and possibly identify with at a certain level. The research questions that my paper will hopefully be able to answer are, “How is this kind of depiction of the female characters a reflection of society’s view of women? Is the plot of the show somehow legitimizing the exchange of sex and pleasure for money? What are the implications of the derogatory statements that the male characters make about women in the series/episode?” The paper aims to raise awareness to the stereotypes and issues of women in modern times that are brought about in the episode. 

(15) Grammar rules

After Googling common grammatical errors, I realized how unfamiliar I am with a lot of the rules of the English language. I had no idea that “everyday” was an adjective that meant common or ordinary while “every day” was the adverb form, meaning “daily.” (source: Wikipedia)  Also, as said during one of the English lectures, “alright” is not an acceptable shortcut for “all right.” It isn’t even a real word. I’ve always used “everyday” and “alright” and no one has ever bothered to correct me. I assume this is because they use it too and have no idea that it’s wrong. I feel like I should start using it properly, especially in academic papers, so I’ll probably practice using it in “every day” conversation. (Was that right? I honestly have no idea.) Other than these, I’m sure I commit a lot of other grammatical mistakes, especially with punctuation. I’m not always too sure when it is proper to use the semicolon or the comma, and I’m a big fan of run-on sentences. My spelling is generally good; I’m usually sure about my spelling, because when I’m not sure, I make sure not to use the word until I find out exactly how it is spelled. I also generally don’t use words that I don’t quite know the meanings of, so my vocabulary tends to be a bit limited. Now that I’m a little bit more familiar with some of the grammar and punctuation rules of the English language, I can practice speaking and writing in the most correct and proper way as possible.

(14) dollhouse 6, again

I re-watched Dollhouse’s sixth episode and wrote down all the scenes that were pertinent to my argument. It turns out that there were quite a lot of scenes that reinforced my claim, which helped a lot. The main scene that I chose to use though was the one where Ballard and his co-worker talk about the Dollhouse case. The co-worker comments on Echo’s looks and says things about her that could definitely be classified as anti-feminist. My main argument is basically that the show shows strong evidence of objectification and condescension of the female characters, and how that relates to modern times. I touch on the parallelism to prostitution, and how Dollhouse can be seen as a high-class prostitution company. The show also undermines the gravity and cruel nature of this kind of business, in a way legitimizing the exchange of sex and pleasure for money. I wasn’t too sure about this argument at first because there are really two sides to it and there is definitely some evidence of pro-feminism as well, however I was able to see more evidence against it and therefore chose to base my claim on that premise. In episode 6 alone I was able to come up with around 5 different scenes that showed women as objects or inferior. Sierra gets raped, Mellie gets dumped by some guy because she isn’t perfect, etcetera. I really hope I am able to really back up everything I say with the scenes from the show, and hopefully my episode analysis turns out alright.

(13) Dollhouse 7

Two scenes in this episode support the argument about anti-feminism and how it is showcased in this series. One would be the sort of flashback about Sierra and her handler, Hearne, wherein Hearne rapes Sierra while she is in her doll state, therefore taking advantage of the doll-handler relationship and the fact that in this state they are generally helpless and defenseless because they are supposed to have child-like capacities. The other scene would be during the first part of the episode where Echo is once again hired by some guy to be his fantasy lady, much like the engagements in other episodes. I believe there is a fine line (if any, really) between this type of transaction and prostitution. Many may argue that this is just a very high-class form of prostitution, because any guy with enough cash can “program” an active to be his dream girl in every possible way. Since Dollhouse focuses mainly on Echo, with Sierra playing a big role as well, it is hard to see any comparison to the male actives in the dollhouse. So far there hasn’t been an engagement wherein Victor or any other male active has been hired for a fantasy date, and this could be due to a number of reasons. Is it because there aren’t that many filthy rich women who can afford to hire a dream boy? Or because it just isn’t very common for men to be “made-to-hire”? Either way, it can be argued that the women in the series are often objectified, or portrayed as weak, or whatnot. 

(12) Dollhouse 6

The dolls continue to show many signs of memory retention, which concerns all the members of the Dollhouse management team, because the wipes should not allow for that to happen. Victor and Sierra develop a sort of “relationship” (if you can call it that) and Victor, Sierra, and Echo continue to sit together and appear to be grouping, which is odd for actives to be doing. This development in the series can serve as proof for a real-world argument, that man-made things like technology have their own imperfections and flaws. Many technological advances in society which should essentially lead to progress in humanity, have ironically been the cause of its decline. Media and the internet have revolutionized the spread of information and made it so much more convenient for people, yet it has also caused many problems and issues. The invention of firearms and bombs has arguably been helpful for protection and such, but have also lead to violence and chaos. The events in Dollhouse can be seen as a mere microcosm of the bigger things happening in our world today, and should open the eyes of people to the detrimental effects of technological advancement. I have considered exploring this perspective of the series, yet I am still unsure if it is really the essence of what Dollhouse has to offer as an argument. Feminism versus technology is what I have been going back and forth on since I started watching this series, and it has been extremely difficult to choose which stance to take. I hope to be able to make a firm decision soon, since the episode analysis is due on Wednesday. The pressure is so overwhelming!

(11) Dollhouse 5

In this action-packed episode of Dollhouse, what I really liked was the development between Victor and Sierra. I know, there were so many other things that happened in the episode, but what can I say, I’m a sucker for romance. The whole shower spying was admittedly really creepy, and could serve as evidence for arguments that concern human rights and how the dolls don’t really have this, but I think the fact that Victor likes Sierra even if they aren’t really supposed to have “feelings” is really cute. When stuff like this happens, it gets pretty confusing to viewers, who are trying to figure out if actives really do have their own thoughts and emotions. Having their whole personality and memory wiped should mean that they aren’t able to think for themselves, but so many scenes and incidents show evidence that they do in fact have some sense of personal thought and feeling. When Echo remembers the whole “shoulder to the wheel” thing, when she still tries to save Sierra even with an imprint during an engagement, and when Victor gets all happy when he sees Sierra during shower time; these are all incidents that show that they retain information for some sort of human response to certain things.

Back to the whole idea of human rights violation with the actives, I feel like this moral argument could be easily backed up with many other scenes from this episode and the others, however I’m not sure if it really “represents” a real world issue in modern day society, other than the literal parallelism to violating human rights. I have a few other ideas as to proposals for the episode analysis, but I really want to go over them with Miss Chambers, and get some feedback from other people. 

(10) Dollhouse 4

In this episode, Echo’s memory wipe stimulates thought in viewers because a conspiracy against the Dollhouse could lead to a lot of other things. Speculation in the episode brings up Alpha and how he could possibly be alive and doing all these remote wipes on the Actives. This sheds some light on the whole back story about Alpha and other things, so even though the episode itself wasn’t all that interesting (to me at least), it builds up the anticipation for the possible revelation of Alpha in the upcoming episodes. He obviously has some beef with Echo or at least we see that what he wants has something to do with her since he chose to meddle particularly with her and her mission. Sierra ends up sort of replacing Echo in her mission, but not after a lot of prodding and pushing. They program Echo’s thief personality into Sierra so that she can continue carrying out the plan.

I’m starting to get a little finicky trying to pinpoint an episode that I really want to go over for my paper. Again, I don’t think that this one is the right one for me but I’m not really considering watching anything else because this concept has really stuck out to me and I feel like a lot of valuable arguments can be made, just based on the whole plot of the series. This episode didn’t have much obvious evidence of feminism, or at least not as much as the past ones, and that is kind of what I was leaning towards in terms of my main argument for the paper. Guess I’ll just have to watch a few more of these over the weekend!

(9) Dollhouse 3

I think Dollhouse’s third episode had a lot more girl drama than the other episodes, probably because of all the estrogen that was present in the episode. Echo’s relationship with two girls, Rayna the pop star and Sierra the other doll, sort of clashes and she is kind of stuck in the middle trying to figure who she has (or should have) more loyalty to. Echo mentions in the first part of the story that she considers Sierra a “friend” and that “friends look out for each other.” Rayna, on the other hand, is the pop star that she is assigned to “protect.” Seeing these two relationships, it is understandable that Echo had a hard time choosing loyalty over the other. She saves Rayna from her psycho ginger stalker, but when Rayna’s stalker captures Sierra because she won a backstage pass for being Rayna’s “number one fan” and Rayna does nothing to help her, Echo sticks up for Sierra and hits Rayna on the head. I think that this whole development in the story was really interesting because it shows that Echo isn’t merely a robot doll without any personal feelings, choices, or whatever. She may be a doll but you can tell that she thinks for herself and she makes decisions based on what she feels.  Her relationships are also dependent on her personality.

                The episode was interesting enough, but I still don’t think I have found the episode that I want to cover for my academic research paper yet. I am still strongly considering Dollhouse though, just because it tackles some obvious issues and it is probably easier to identify valid arguments based on feminism and such, which I am already familiar with. 

(8) Highschool is Hell

After reading “Highschool is Hell,” I was impressed by the thoroughness and the depth of its analysis, and inspired to make my research paper just as deep. The article covered all relevant points of the writer’s main argument, and communicated them clearly. When I first watched Buffy, I was not too sure if I wanted to use one of its episodes for my academic research paper because I couldn’t really pinpoint the important argument it was making with all those vampires and demons. I didn’t immediately relate it to the real world problems that the article mentioned, but after reading it, it is a lot clearer to me now. I think that the science fiction genre serves as an outlet to indirectly tackle real life issues, but addresses them in a way that would entertain viewers, because of its incorporation of the supernatural elements. Some of the issues covered in Buffy were exaggerated or displayed in a way that metaphorically represented situations in real life, but was left to the interpretation of the viewers. Science fiction utilizes metaphors to get their message across, while still keeping the interest of the viewers. I plan to use this perspective when I tackle my own science fiction episode, and try to identify the real life issues being represented by the supernatural creatures, the metaphors used, and the situations that develop in the episode. As a viewer myself, my own interpretation of the episode would depend on how I relate to it personally because of my own experiences and knowledge. 

(7) Dollhouse episode 2

I was pretty confused with some scenes in this episode of Dollhouse, but the parts that I did understand were really interesting. I, being a sucker for romance in any series, loved the task that Echo was assigned to in this episode. Her romantic “date” (more like job but whatever) with Richard Connell started off as such a sweet and seemingly perfect getaway for the two of them, but turned a whole 380 degrees when Richard decides to try and kill Echo. This however is not the part I want to focus on. What I really enjoyed about the episode was the relationship between Echo and her caretaker of sorts, Langton. The dynamics between the caretaker and his doll were revealed in this episode, and we find out that when Echo was programmed to download any personality possible, she was also programmed to trust Langton under any circumstance. Their whole mantra went something like

“Everything’s going to be alright”

“now that you’re here”

“do you trust me?”

 “with my life”

It gets all the more interesting when that too is turned around near the end and Echo ends up saying Langton’s lines and vice versa.

I am really beginning to appreciate this series and its aspects of science fiction. I feel like it is more my type of show than “Star Trek” or “Battle Galactica” probably because it has more of a modern and relatable feel to it. It’s action-packed and it utilizes its nature of science fiction to show real life issues.

(6) Dollhouse

The first episode of Dollhouse really impressed me, because I did not really expect anything amazing since the show was cancelled so early. The concept of it reminded me of this one movie (forgot the title) wherein all people had robot counterparts to live out their lives for them, because these robots were capable of doing virtually anything and everything that normal mortals couldn’t do. This concept was just a little bit different in the sense that these “robots” (for lack of a better word) were made to be hired for specific tasks. A personality could be downloaded into each of them, making it easy to manipulate the traits and skills needed for the assignment. I really like this series and am considering using this for my research paper because of the fact that there are so many moral arguments that can be made based on the whole concept of the show. The morality of creating robots for hire is a very interesting and controversial topic that can be thoroughly discussed in detail, whereas Buffy the Vampire Slayer basically does not have any real moral dilemmas (or at least none that are worth making an entire research paper about.) The biggest issue in Buffy is the slaying of blood-sucking vampires, which cannot possibly be argued as a morality issue of being wrong, unless you say that “vampires are humans too, with equal rights to life.” Yeah, no. The main problem in Dollhouse covers many issues such as religion, role of government, effects on society, etcetera. Overall, I think Dollhouse is a good series to consider for the academic research paper, but I’m still keeping my options open.

(5) Vampire Slayer episode 2

Season 1 Episode 2 of Buffy was really interesting and the way the plot was designed was easy to follow. The plot development was nice because there was really no dull moment, which kept the interest of viewers. The vampires’ kidnapping of Jesse was a good start to the episode because it keeps the viewers hooked right from the get go and makes them want to watch just to find out what ends up happening to Jesse. The prophecy about the Master and how he could be released once again by his followers maintained the thrill of the story all throughout because only at the very end were they able to completely put an end to the fulfillment of said prophecy. The really annoying but really memorable part was when Xander accidentally kills Jesse with a stake. He dies after TWO episodes, I would be pretty pissed if I was the actor. But right after that, Buffy manages to kill Luke who also obviously dies after TWO episodes. At this rate, you would think that they would have new characters in every other episode, which is good for keeping it interesting and all but I personally appreciate some constancy and knowing how the characters develop throughout the series. Having them die after two episodes is kind of a let down for me, but I guess that’s what keeps it interesting. I wouldn’t consider Buffy to be much of an “episodic” series because even though each episode so far has had its own particular storyline, much of the information that you would need to understand this episode came from the first one. 

(4) Buffy

I chose to watch the very first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for my first free choice blog just to test the waters and see if it’s my type of show. I plan on watching the first episodes of some other shows too just to get a feel of them all, but I have to say that Buffy is definitely my kind of show. I’m a girly girl, at least when it comes to books and movies, so the teenage drama and cute guys all make for a very interesting series. Buffy, who moved away from her old town to escape the whole vampire situation and her reputation as the crazy girl who burns down gyms because it’s full of blood sucking creatures, just happened to move to a place that was on top of what they called the Hellmouth, which I assume is some mystical vampire infested thing. Just her luck. She starts off being firmly against the idea of slaying vampires again, but when she realizes that her friends and the other kids at her school are put in danger, she finally realizes that it's her duty to fight them and protect the citizens because she is in fact the only person capable of doing so. She was chosen for this job and backing out would show complete disregard for her obligations as the Vampire Slayer. This is sort of a glimpse of the moral dilemma she faces when she has to choose whether or not to carry on with her role.




It’s not as much sci-fi for me as the other shows like Star Trek and whatnot, I guess because it doesn’t involve ridiculously advanced technology and crazy motor vehicles that are completely out of this world (ha. Pun.). I always enjoyed vampire movies as a kid, my favorite being Interview With a Vampire (partially because of the appearance of Brad Pitt, but whatever). It’s much easier to identify with this series because the characters are so young, and it isn’t as serious and complex as the other shows on the primary source list. So far, this series seems most compatible to my personality, and matches my likes and interests, but I’m still open to watching some of the other options on the list. 

(3) The Train Job episode

I think the main argument present in the Train Job episode revolved around the morality of stealing medical supplies from The Alliance. The characters had already gotten away with taking the loot from right under the noses of these Alliance members (although not quite so discreetly), but after finding out what the supplies were really for, it kind of changed the ethical aspect of it all. I didn’t completely understand what was going on and why they wanted to steal from the Alliance, but nevertheless, I don’t think stealing medical supplies from a town with a population suffering from a fatal illness is ever morally upright, whatever the circumstances may be.

I personally think most people would need to refer to the pilot episode to make sense of what happened in this particular episode, but based solely on what I watched, that is about all I can confidently argue with what supporting facts I got from the show. Considering that returning the goods would have totally compromised their situation with the people that hired them, it was a pretty bold thing to do. They stood up for it and found a way around the situation, which is the most “heroic” sense of the story. Although their plan involved a bit of lying and scheming, the fact that they were brave enough to stand up to their employers and go back on their deal to be able to do good for the people of a completely foreign town, demonstrates their moral character.

(2) The Train Job

Firefly’s episode 2: “The Train Job” had a good number of gripping scenes sprinkled throughout the show and every new development and twist kept viewers on the edge of their seats. I think a very crucial scene in the episode was when the main characters, Mal and Zoe, realized that they were being manipulated into stealing huge amounts of much needed medical supplies from a disease-stricken town, and end up getting stuck on the train after a shoot out. They start out with such determination and even excitement to pull a fast one on the Alliance, but these feelings quickly change when they find out that the train job is one big ploy. The fact that they knew about the scam but could not communicate this information to the other members of the team before going through with the deal makes viewers frustrated and leaves them wanting to keep watching to find out what happens next. The other members of course are understandably scared of what might happen to them if they don’t carry out the deal as planned, It is not explicitly elaborated in the episode how the Alliance and the Serenity team came to be on such terms with each other, so first time viewers watching this particular episode start off a bit confused as to why all of these things are happening and just try to figure out for themselves what is going on. The episode really gives you the true sci-fi feel with the involvement of spaceships, mind control, and whatnot. 

(1) Introduction

Let's start with the basics. My name is Mercedes Beatriz Gutierrez, better known to my friends and acquaintances as Bea (pronounced bay-yuh). I am an international student taking up Business Management at the Ohio State University. I am currently in my freshman year and I just recently moved here from my hometown of Manila, which is the capital of the Philippines. I was born and raised in Manila, which comes as quite a surprise to most people I meet here in the States, due to my conversational English skills, and my complete lack of an accent. I have received a fair number of comments about this that are usually preceded with either a skeptical or dumbfounded look. Tagalog is supposedly my "native language," but in all honesty, I have a much harder time speaking that than I do English. It was never really one of my strong points, and people usually don’t get that. Don’t worry. I don’t get it either.

              

  Anyway, moving on. I enjoy a multitude of leisure activities; among them are reading, painting, and going to the beach. I was never really into sports, and I actually never knew how football was played until I came to Ohio State, which is possibly (and ironically) the biggest football school in America. I had also never seen falling snow, touched a squirrel, or jumped into a freezing lake until I came to study here. I have had so many new experiences since coming here, and I’m more than thrilled to have even more as the years go by.