annissamazing: Ten's red Chucks (Default)
Annissa ([personal profile] annissamazing) wrote2011-09-20 03:13 pm

Link to TGV

Another rerun, but perhaps you weren't on my f-list when I originally posted this essay on Dr. Horrible.

Dr. Horrible and the False Dichotomy of the Love Triangle
redcirce: Rose as the Doctor (Default)

[personal profile] redcirce 2011-09-25 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
This was great, I agree wholeheartedly, especially with the Buffy comparison.

I enjoyed Dr. Horrible a lot, but it failed on some levels for me, especially in how it relates to women. I understand that the particular focus of it was on male characters, but it still bugged me.

So much of Whedon's work plays on subverting stereotypes, and I feel like Penny never escaped hers- that of being the "nice girl"/love interest. It wouldn't have bothered me so much if there had been other important women characters in the series.

I think that what you point out- that she is treated as an object by the other characters- is intentional, but since Whedon didn't give her much of a personality, it sort of feels like he did the same.
redcirce: Rose as the Doctor (Default)

[personal profile] redcirce 2011-09-28 04:42 am (UTC)(link)
But my point wasn't that Penny is a weak character.
Sorry, I don't think I expressed what I meant there properly. I meant to say that I agreed with your point about her "choice", and say that additionally, my pet peeve was her lack of character development. I was trying to make some point about how I think some of the issues Whedon raised were intentional, but that the intentional issues ended up raising other issues that I don't think were (intentional). If that makes sense.

I also wanted to explicitly point out how Billy falls into the Nice Guy category
Yes, this! I hate how the audience is conditioned to want the underdog to "get the girl" regardless of whether they are actually suited to each other or whether she should be interested or not. And he was totally a Nice Guy, ugh.