Blog 22 - Abstract

Background information: 

Dollhouse takes place in a futuristic world where an underground company called Dollhouse makes the impossible possible; they sell the services of “programmable people made to order.” This company has developed technology that can wipe a person’s memory clean, as well as plant new memories for the ones that have been erased. With this cutting edge technology, Dollhouse employs a series of “volunteers” who undergo the process of memory wiping, where all of their past memories are erased. Their job as a doll is to complete any given assignment requested by an employer. This is accomplished by the company scientist and programmer, Topher, who imprints memories of required information such as personality type and skills into a doll, who then proceeds to complete the given task. Once the engagement is completed, the Topher wipes the memory of the whole mission clean, and so the process repeats for each proceeding engagement. 

Developing thesis:

Throughout our lives, we ask ourselves who we are and come to define ourselves through a series of events where we discover our likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, and interests. As life goes on, we develop and experience incidents that shape us into the people we are today. In the series Dollhouse, directed by Joss Whedon, Echo cannot identify with herself because she has no memory of who she was in the past. Because Echo is always a copy of another person, she never gets to discover who she is as an individual. Her lack of individuality almost makes her seem robotic in the sense that she isn’t alive. “She isn’t a girl. She isn’t even a person. Just an empty hat, until you stuff a rabbit in it.” Echo cannot feel or express like other people can unless she has been imprinted to do so. This limiting quality that the dolls have makes them extremely vulnerable when they are not imprinted with another person’s memories. Without memories and the ability to learn and infer from past experiences, people become sitting ducks, easy prey for others.