Toys in the Attic: Joss Whedon Pulls Back the Curtain of Dollhouse

The Attic of the Dollhouse is “creepy… and… and… um… um… and…” Here, Joss Whedon begins to hesitate and fudge. Given this man’s notoriously articulate wit, one can only begin to suspect that something is up. Whedon finally admits that he cannot say more about the Attic, only that “it ain’t pretty.” When asked if it is a set designer’s dream, he answers, “Depends on the set designer. It might be a dream where he’s screaming.”

In a conference call interview, the creator of FOX’s Dollhouse weaves together threads of deadpan humor, tantalizing hints, casting tidbits, and insights into his vision.

Touring the Dollhouse

Dollhouse begins its second season on FOX on Friday, September 25 at 9-10pm ET/PT. The show takes as its disturbing premise the existence of secret institutions referred to as “Dollhouses.” Funded by a conglomerate known as the Rossum Corporation, the Dollhouses create fantasy from the blank slate of the human mind. “Dolls,” presumably volunteers who have contracted to escape their lives for a period of time, are wiped of memory, identity, and personality and are imprinted with the personas of “Actives.” The Actives are composites of multiple real people which render the Doll a perfect fit for a specific engagement. When the engagement, usually performed under contract for a wealthy client, ends, the Dolls are returned to the Dollhouse and wiped clean once more.

During the interview, Whedon admits to an obsession with people being “manipulated, and controlled, and conditioned, and lied to.” These themes show up in a number of his other projects including, coincidentally the upcoming movie, Cabin in the Woods. As he discussed the ways in which people are manipulated in real life, Joss asked, “How do we create ourselves when society is telling us who to be?”

The protagonist of Dollhouse, an Active called “Echo” (played by Eliza Dushku), was shown in season one to be a young woman named Caroline who contracted with the Dollhouse to escape the consequences of her choices. As an Active, Echo is indeed told who to be, yet, as season two begins, Echo appears to begin to create her self. In "Omega," the official finale of season one, Echo is flooded with a host of personalities by a rogue Active named Alpha. Following Alpha’s manipulation, Echo begins to develop an awareness of her original personality. Whedon stated that season two will see Echo coming into her own “through force of will.” She will be more “directed and driven” between engagements and has begun to understand her mission to be to get back to her original personality and to help the other Actives back to theirs.

Through the Door: A Glimpse at Season Two

Article Author: Christy Corp-Minamiji

Christy Corp-Minamiji is a livestock veterinarian, writer, and mother living in Northern California. She writes fiction and blogs on the eclectic range of topics that interest her.

Visit Christy Corp-Minamiji's author page — Christy Corp-Minamiji's Blog