CAHSS Faculty Articles

Object Entanglements: From Postmodern Subjectivity to Posthuman Thingness in Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse"

Publication Title

Studies in Popular Culture

ISSN

0888-5753

Publication Date

Spring 2016

Abstract

Joss Whedon's Dollhouse (2009-2010) positions subjectivity in direct confrontation with posthuman hybridity by situating viewers to questions what it means to be human—how much technological integration occurs before we cease to be ourselves and become something else? Does that transformation require moral complacency? Are we a singular self, or are we many selves? Are we autonomous subjects, or interrelated objects, or something in between. Wrestling with sociopolitical issues common among Whedon's works, such as identity in the face of technology, politics in the belly of industry, and commerce on the backs of the proletariat, Dollhouse creates a metanarrative of these themes unlike any other Whedonverse.

Volume

38

Issue

2

First Page

1

Last Page

22

Link to Full Text
Peer Reviewed

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