I’m not Joss Whedon. Nor in my wildest dreams could I hope to write as well as he does, create such fleshed out characters or plot out some fantastical stories. But I am an avid viewer of his work. And having just finished watching his latest piece Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog it has gotten me thinking about, well, stuff.
Whedon is a creative genius but he is by no means a god. And while I’ve always been in awe of him, I’ve found my faith…well, a little flagging of late. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy Dr.Horrible, I did. It was funny, cringe-worthy, campy and had all the right things one would imagine when you combine Joss and a musical. The ending, however, throws up a lot of confusing questions for me.
You may think the first one is: Why did Joss kill Penny? But no, it’s: Why did he need to?
All of Joss’s work that I’ve watched and read has always had a main character die. And always in tragic circumstances. This of course is to be expected because we are dealing with fantasy here. It wouldn’t make for much of an interesting story if Buffy’s grandma died of old age now would it? And before the death of Penny I’ve always understood WHY. There was always some purpose, be it in the story or a character arc that required such an event. It’s my feeling that Dr.Horrible did not.
Now you’re probably thinking why would I be shocked considering i’ve seen him do it over and over again? Well, for one thing the tone of this was completely different to any of his other work. It was much more light-hearted and death doesn’t seem to fall under the “light-hearted” category. Penny died and Dr.Horrible got everything he’d always wanted only to figure out that it meant nothing if he didn’t have what he needed. Great message, I approve, but did he have to resort to her death to accomplish this?
It seems like Joss relies on these “life-changing” moments to, well, change the lives of his characters. But the thing is, he doesn’t have to. Falling back on this method only leaves older viewers wondering if Joss can ever leave a story where the characters aren’t broken, and alienating newer viewers to his ‘verse.
It used to be said that Joss gave the viewer what they need not what they want. More and more it seems like he doesn’t know what we deserve.
I too feel a little iffy on the matter. It seemed to me that Joss had the perfect opportunity to explore something else, rather than falling back on the Jossisms that now seem so self-referential and self-indulgent, but he chose not to. I’ve often felt, as you say, that we’ve always been given what we need rather than what we want, but I felt as though, in the case of Dr. Horrible’s…. at least, he didn’t quite know what was needed. And sure, maybe the point is that this reaches a larger audience, breaks the Internet in half, and gives people their first exposure to Joss, so what the hell.
Also kinda feel like I’m ignoring the contribution of Jed, Zack and Maurissa by saying “Joss” this and “Joss” that.
Aha, I see you’d already answered the question.
I think in some ways Joss Whedon is still re-fighting his battles from high school. It really was nothing more than jealousy over Penny that motivated Dr Horrible to try to kill Captain Hammer, which is, any way one looks at it, villianous behavior.
The “fridging” of Penny annoyed me, I admit it, but more because it’s a tired, old, stupid cliche, than because it’s inherently wrong. I wanted much more character development from her. Mainly because I have an inordinate fondness for Felicia Day.
But also because I expect more character development from Joss Whedon.
I’m going to have to agree with Nathan here, I think. Joss and friends had plenty of opportunity here to explore something new to him. I don’t think that it is a bad ending, because really, what were the other alternatives? Penny-with-a-heart-of-gold could never love someone truly evil (which Billy aspires to be). I can’t imagine that she would, anyway, so, Dr. Horrible could either A) reform, put past his evil ways and get the girl or B) embrace his evil ways and realistically, not get the girl. The fact that Joss found a third, less expected way (in the scheme of things) is relieving. There is even the question to be ask; would a “Non-Joss-fan” who watched think it was a good ending? I imagine they would, because in a way, it does come from outside the box, Joss’s track record aside. That said, however, how many “Non-Joss-Fans” would have the patience to wait almost a full week to watch three ten minute installments of Musical Webisodes starring Doogy Howser?