Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Joss Whedon, 2008)

Horribleness,
Getting the Girl,
Anarchy, and the
Greek Tragedy:

Much like in Whedon's seminal television work, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, nothing is exactly as it seems in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. In the horror world, before Buffy, we knew who was bad and we knew who was good. We knew who was helpless and we knew who wasn't. This assurance made facing the horrible all that less horrifying - it was a safe, formulaic, and predictable world. These sorts of clichés were the immediate inspiration for Buffy. Whedon created a woman with power, who was a hero, and placed her in the horror realm where, traditionally, "the little blonde girl... goes into a dark alley and gets killed." Whedon explained this rebellion as a more subverted feminism: "The very first mission statement of the show was the joy of female power: having it, using it, sharing it." [1] This would, essentially, become a sort of "whedormula" in of itself; Villains would become heroes, heroes (sometimes) would become monsters (or be monsters), and you could learn to expect the unexpected.

The formula was successful; Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a critical and cult success and remained on television for seven full seasons. The Buffyverse further extended into the (equally successful) spin-off Angel, several different comic book series (both canonical and non-canonical), heaps of novelizations, action figures, video games, and even university-level lectures. Buffy was at once not only a commercial success, but an immensely successful philosophy. Even today both the surface and subverted qualities of Buffy are discussed on an academic level [2]. What I mean to illustrate by introducing the origins and success of Whedon's earlier work are the recurrent ideas (behind and implemented into nearly all of Joss' work) that echo and reverberate in
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Just as Buffy inverted and played on the ceremonies of the Horror genre, Dr. Horrible subverts the super hero world. There is a perfect sense of anguish and irony that serves as an undercurrent throughout all three acts of Dr. Horrible, arguably resurfacing from the sort of dubious way many of us, as children, must have viewed super heroes. Batman was an obvious capitalist cheerleader (independently wealthy, kicking the shit out of petty criminals). Superman was the personification of the American Dream (the ultimate immigrant, rising to success and heroism in the new world). Often the lines between good and bad were not only drawn, they were bolded and made to carry giant flashing billboard size marquees, "Joe Chill bad, very very bad!" Sure, there was serious socio-political subversion in the comic world, especially into the twenty-first century, but the majority of super hero worlds were full of democracy-wielding-might-as-well-be-slave-traders dressed up in capes and masks. Even as children we knew that this wasn't how the world worked, and we became aware of the pacifying nature of most media.

Dr. Horrible is the result of all this skepticism we have for our heroes (which includes capitalism, democracy, love, and charity), and because of this we immediately relate to him. His frustration is our own. His pain is not just a plot device or character motivation, it is a real and honest discontent that we all have with the world, and the "powers that be." This is why Dr. Horrible's arch nemesis, the so-called hero, Captain Hammer is such a prick. Captain Hammer is the embodiment of all that is wrong with the world: unmitigated egoism, exaggerated masculinity, bombastic idiocy, and malicious deceit. This is the most immediate inversion within Joss' new creation; Dr. Horrible, the villain, is truly our savior while Captain Hammer, the hero, is truly the bad guy. This point is obvious, but is necessary to establish before pushing this tale to its iconoclastic end.

What Dr. Horrible is, after a confused, love sick, and angst ridden young man (Billy), is an anarchist, and that the anarchist is our hero speaks volumes to the subversive elements present in Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Captain Hammer "corporate tool" is a destructive, militaristic entity; he is careless, moronic, yet well-liked and exceedingly powerful. I mean to posit that Captain Hammer is democracy, corporate interest democracy and Dr. Horrible is freedom, anarchy (sensitive, confused, impractical, vilified). As such, it is no surprise that romance is what moves both of these characters. For Dr. Horrible, Penny (the beautiful nerd from the laundromat) is the gentleness of mankind. Without the hope of a better future (Penny), Dr. Horrible could never aspire towards social change, or an upheaval of power. So, it is integral that Dr. Horrible love Penny, despite, of course, having never actually made contact or consummated his love (either of which would mean an actualized hope, and a new future which steps outside of just mere fantasy). However, Dr. Horrible fails to save his love and Penny is, ironically, the last to be corrupted by the perversion of Captain Hammer, and therein lies the tragedy.

As Dr. Horrible reported in his blog, "the status is not quo." And, it's true. The world is messed up. This is, fundamentally, why Dr. Horrible is our hero - however mistaken, he intends to save the world. However, his savior role is powered only by the love he holds for Penny. Some may see this as a character flaw, or a selfish conceit, and they wouldn't be wrong. But, in my model, Penny is symbolically the innocence and purity of mankind, thus, Dr. Horrible's love interest is not only optimistic in nature, it is also the root of his anarchistic aspirations. If mankind truly has no love, then we could not hope to survive in a state of... statelessness. Penny provides that hope for a better future, and, as such, operates as a justification for any "evil" committed in the hopes of revolution. At the end of the first act, when Dr. Horrible inadvertently introduces Captain Hammer to Penny, the real downfall of our hero begins.

Penny is slowly seduced by the power and disguise of Captain Hammer and Dr. Horrible feels helpless to save her. This is when (in the second act) the darker tones of the series begin to truly flesh themselves out. Billy (Dr. Horrible) sings, "hopes and dreams are shattering apart, and crashing to the ground," and that "evil inside" of him "is on the rise." This is the depressive state of cynicism Billy faces after having seen his love in the arms of his enemy. Or, to put it in other words, this is the pessimism born from the innocence of man being destroyed. Later, when Billy's aspirations of domination are challenged, he decides, for the first time, that he may be ready to kill to get what he wants, and he decides to assassinate Captain Hammer to claim his victory. This rash behavior, however, will amount to Billy's harmartia and the story's tragic ending.

The final battle, which ends in the malfunctioning of Dr. Horrible's death-ray, is set at the press opening of Captain Hammer's single-signature homeless shelter (a treatment of the symptom). Here, the mob style fans are present in full force and "justice" is renamed "Captain Hammer." But, Dr. Horrible lays in wait. In the middle of Captain Hammer's address, which amounts to self-praise and mob appeasement, Dr. Horrible freezes the Captain and delivers his own address. In his final mantra, Dr. Horrible sings, "now that your savior is still as the grave you're beginning to fear me," asking "can you really hear me?" In a violent rage, Dr. Horrible fires his death-ray into the air and the crowd runs for cover. For once, Billy has his chance to end it all by taking the life of Captain Hammer, yet he hesitates. This mistake is fatal.

Having been unfrozen, Captain Hammer gets the upper hand and turns the death-ray on Dr. Horrible. Hammer ignores Billy's warnings and misfires the death-ray, sending debris from the rifle everywhere. For the first time, Hammer feels pain and runs off in tears. For a moment, Dr. Horrible realizes his victory, that is, until he sees Penny. Shrapnel sent flying from the exploded death-ray had impaled his love. Apparently unaware that Captain Hammer had effectively murdered her, Penny tragically ensures Billy with her dying words that "Captain Hammer will save us." The press spins the story in Hammer's favor, labeling Dr. Horrible as a murderer. As a murder was the requirement for Dr. Horrible's admittance into the Evil League of Evil, the events are a sort of demented success. Dr. Horrible gains popularity, power, and dominance, yet loses the love of his life. In the final song Dr. Horrible is seen, for the first time, wearing his goggles singing, "now the nightmares real. Now, Dr. Horrible is here to make you quake with fear, to make the whole world kneel." Here is Billy's transformation into true villainy: the colors of death adorned and the light of day obstructed. This is the result of Dr. Horrible's anarchy without the hope he had for mankind, without Penny. The persona of Dr. Horrible has become overpowering and Billy hides away from the world and all its sensation by giving into the evilness which arose inside of him after Penny's death. In a final frame, Billy is seen sitting at his blog without his supervillain costume. He sings the last words of the last line of the last song, "and I won't feel a thing."

In the end, what is Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog but an exceedingly poignant and complex tragicomedy? The absurdist, almost silly quality of the whole thing only makes its tragic and socio-political concerns that much more cathartic. The audience is lulled into a musical sanctuary - hidden from the themes of tyranny, pain, and obsession - but, what we're left with is an unbelievably cynical ending punctuated by the downfall of our hero and the death of mankind's innocence and sincerity (all within an already dark and insincere world). And, really, the final absurdity of it all is how enjoyable and celebratory the whole thing is (I'm still singing the songs in my head). It works almost perfectly on the level of a Shakespearean tragedy; it grants the same sense of assertiveness and fascinated marvel that permeates from the pages of Macbeth or Julius Caesar. When we found a hero in Dr. Horrible, we truly found ourselves. In the end, we're forced to examine and reconcile the relationship we have with our hero selves (our revolutionary aspirations, and our fairy tale romances) and our true place in society (the "not so heroic" place Captain Hammer sang of). We have to recognize Dr. Horrible as an evil fool, but a beautiful, forgotten, and confused hero nonetheless.

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*this whole thing has essentially been me thinking far
too much about the ideas behind this sweet little creation
by Joss Whedon. But, nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed it,
and I hope you support Whedon's efforts here in his extra-
media experimentation (buy DVDs, buy Soundtracks, etc.).
Also, if you have any comments on my unsorted, scatter-
brained ideas (or any theories of your own), let me know.