Old FURIOUS nads! by The One True b!X

Feminist SF has managed to draw some attention to itself by proclaiming that Dollhouse fails something called the Frank Miller test, which “is applied to male sci-fi and fantasy writers”.

If the proportion of female sex workers to neutrally presented female people in his story is above 1:1, he fails.

The basis for arguing that Dollhouse fails this test are the character descriptions for the series and a misapprehension that the series is about “sex workers”. That this is a misapprehension can be seen if you read the show’s description.

A group of people, known as “Actives” (or “Dolls”), have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas and hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies and occasional good deeds.

More recently, Feminist SF tries to dismiss criticism of their criticism by saying that “the Frank Miller test says nothing about what moral judgements [sic] you are making about prostitution”. As already indicated, the show isn’t about prostitution (although it might include it), so applying the test is almost entirely irrelevant.

The deflection is a good attempt at a face-saving statement on their part, since if you read the casting sides for the show, it’s clear that while the show isn’t about prostitution, part of the point of the premise is to examine exploitation — and, indeed, grapple with whether or not the Dolls’ activities are exploitation, since they allegedly volunteered to become Dolls in the first place.

But while Feminist SF might claim that the Frank Miller test itself says nothing about what moral judgments the writer is making, the test does make a value judgment about the writer himself. Read the rest of their wiki entry on it.

Failure is an indication that the writer is suffering from a debilitating obsession with whores, and may be assuming that all women can be represented by sex workers.

The upshot, then, of using incomplete and preliminary information about the show in order to put it to the Frank Miller test prematurely, is that Feminist SF is saying that Joss Whedon “is suffering from a debilitating obsession with whores, and may be assuming that all women can be represented by sex workers”.

A fuller reading of all that is known of the show, however, doesn’t suggest this. Not only because the show isn’t about sex workers, but because (despite Feminist SF saying the test itself doesn’t care about this) the show appears to be about exploring the morality of the Dolls’ existence.

Really what we have is the Frank Miller test being applied to a series which Feminist SF hasn’t seen, a series whose available materials Feminist SF appears not to have read, and a series whose available materials actually suggest that the test is inapplicable.

It certainly, however, has succeeded in building up the page views to Feminist SF, including any traffic delivered to them from this very post.

Seen via Spoiler TV, and confirmed via My Entertainment World, what follows are the official casting descriptions (as opposed to Ausiello’s) for regular and recurring characters on Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse.

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The latest issue (pdf) of Production Weekly indicates that Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, recently reported as having been brought onto Dollhouse by Joss Whedon, each has been given the title of Producer.

It also gives an “early April” state date for production. In addition, it provides a synopsis of the show’s premise which I believe includes as least one new piece of information.

The drama, stars Dushku as Echo, a member of a group of men and women who are imprinted with different personalities for different assignments. In between tasks they are mind-wiped, living like children in Dollhouse, a futuristic dorm/lab. A group of people, known as “Actives” (or “Dolls”), have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas and hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies and occasional good deeds. When not imprinted, the Actives live, childlike and unremembering, in a hidden facility nicknamed “The Dollhouse”. Although the Actives are ostensibly volunteers, the operation is highly illegal, and under constant threat from a determined federal agent on one end and an insane rogue Active on the other. The story hinges around a greater and more subtle threat: Echo, a female Active, begins, in her mind-wiped state, to become self-aware.

The mention of one of the threats to the Dollhouse being “an insane rogue Active” is what I believe has not been reported previously. Based upon recent descriptions of the main characters, and the content of the casting sides, it’s not yet clear who that rogue Active would be.

Addendum: I take that last part back. One of the casting sides would appear to make it pretty clear who the rogue Active is, but it doesn’t appear to be someone listed in the character descriptions which Ausiello released.

Remember the lovely Lost recap that popped up (and then even aired, in a slightly different form, on ABC itself) just before the new season began? As near as I can tell, this Battlestar Galactica recap is done by the same people. Or, at least, it appears to be the same woman’s voice, and the same rapid-fire snark.

Addendum: Fixed the link, since I had managed to link to the Lost one both times. Also, it’s definitely the same people doing both.

In the aftermath of Ausiello describing the main characters in Joss Whedon’s new series Dollhouse, the casting sides (script scenes used for audition purposes) have managed to leak out online. If they are an at all dependable indication, the series is going to be quite dark. Possibly the darkest thing Joss has ever done.

There was a brief glimpse of this in the previously-linked preview, but now you can see the full season four introduction for Battlestar Galactica. Normal disclaimer: If you haven’t seen season three, don’t watch this.

Haven’t yet seen the third season of Battlestar Galactica? Or, don’t want even to be teased for the fourth and final season? Then do not, under any circumstances, watch this video from Space: The Imagination Station, a cable channel out of Canada.

Peter Carlin gives a brief overview of official outlets for television on the Internet. I mention it mainly because it reminded me of what I consider to be possibly the most impressive development which the Hulu effort brings: The ability to embed into your own site not just entire programs (which, to be honest, is rather pointless, because most people will just click through to Hulu itself to watch the full episode) but episode clips whose duration and location in the program you choose yourself. To my knowledge, this is the first time a major entertainment company (or, rather, a group of them) has specifically coded fair use into their online content. That’s rather huge.

By which I mean the Big Brother House, of course. Amongst the houseguests for Big Brother 9 which premiers next Tuesday: Natalie, a so-called “bikini barista” from Salem: “Natalie is religious and takes her Bible everywhere. She’s still very proud of her figure and loves to enter bikini contests.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this the second season in a row with a religious Oregonian on the show?

Edward James Olmos said it was the end. David Eick said not so fast. But now Eick and Ronald Moore have made it official: Battlestar Galactica will be entering its fourth and final season.