Some Whedon fans that are familiar with his work may argue that several aspects of Dollhouse are feminist, like Adelle Dewitt’s position as head of the Dollhouse organization, and how Echo and Sierra are given strong fighting personalities during some engagements. But still more say that Dollhouse does not focus on female empowerment at all, possibly because it isn’t supposed to. One blogger wrote on this, saying,
“Dollhouse is not really about female empowerment. It’s actually strictly about disempowerment, both male and female (but still mainly female), and how everyone is complicit in that system.
In Dollhouse, Echo’s goal isn’t female triumph – it’s reclaiming basic human dignity and the right to choose your role and identity, a right that is consistently denied in the wiping process. Disempowerment, then, is the inability to create your own identity and make your own choices.” (Clementine, 2010)
Besides memory, one of the things that the Dollhouse takes away from each active is the ability to choose who they want to be. Imprints are given to them based on what a client asks for, and the actives have no say in this whatsoever. They have no sense of “self,” because they are basically empty shells waiting to be filled. The female characters in particular suffer from abuse of this, since many of the “choices” they make during engagements are not really their own, and even while they are not imprinted, they still answer to people of the Dollhouse (i.e. Sierra’s rape, etc.). The “dubious morals” (Clementine, 2010) of the show are intended to spark strong reactions and get people’s minds reeling.
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