9. Prospectus

For my prospectus I have chosen to focus on the concept of control. “Ghost,” the first episode of the TV series Dollhouse, seems to explain my concept in the most detail. Joss Whedon does a great job of displaying the concept of control especially when vulnerability is present. People come to the Dollhouse who are either poor, in trouble, in a bad place, or lost in their purpose for life. Regardless of the reason they chose to seek the Dollhouse’s help, they share one common theme: they are broken. The rich and powerful, the elite, take advantage of them in their weakest moments and relieve them of their memories and of all control. The wealthy claim that everyone wins in this situation. The dolls eventually regain their memories and get reimbursed for their participation, while the more fortunate people including government officials, prosper from the time they pay to spend with the dolls.

I will argue that it is unjust and unethical for humanity to take advantage of people even if they think that everyone involved gets compensated. This can be shown by mentioning the specific scene in the episode that relates to the issue and by describing it in detail. This will allow the audience to see how much power the elite have over the less fortunate. In today’s society there are thousands of examples of power and control that are used unjustly, but I would like to focus on a topic that I feel is extremely similar to the issue in Dollhouse: International organ trafficking. Wealthy citizens in need of kidney transplants pay thousands of dollars to the people in poverty to save their own lives. They see it as though they are helping these people by allowing them to start a business and to make a profit, but they also don’t see how it can affect the donors in the long run. Simultaneously the programmers did not anticipate that complications many of the dolls were experiencing. In both cases, human bodies are taken for granted and treated immorally. I would like to find out if there is a better instance where the rich and privileged control the poor and underprivileged, turning them into "dolls." Why are all the desperate people in the world okay with their bodies getting turned into dolls, playthings, worker slaves, even prostitutes.