I may be wrong about this, but the more I think about it, the more I personally believe two things about Dr. Horrible's sing-along blog. One: it's about the manosphere, and two: it's not on purpose. Sarah Z has already made, in my opinion, the definitive video on Dr. Horrible, so I'm gonna keep this brief. What is a superhero? Well, commonly, it's a person who has power they didn't ask for. They got hit by gamma rays, or bitten by a radioactive spider, or experimented on by super scientists. Even the self-made ones are usually driven by something that was beyond their control. Like, Batman chooses to be Batman, but he didn't choose to see his parents get shot when he was a boy. Iron Man chooses to be Iron Man, but he didn't choose to get a chest full of shrapnel. Those are the reasons they became superheroes. And what is a supervillain? Typically, someone who has power, but wants more. Often, they don't have as much power as the hero, and are constantly seeking the energy source or alien mineral or leverage over their loved ones that will finally make them stronger than their chief impediment. So a central distinction between comic heroes and villains (commonly, don't get up my ass about exceptions, it doesn't make you interesting), is having power you didn't want versus wanting power you don't have. Seeking power is usually synonymous with evil, and it's necessary for our empathy with the hero that their power was thrust upon them. Now, what is a bully? Usually just a kid who's big. They didn't ask to be big. At that age, they certainly don't have to work for it. They're just a kid who's bigger than other kids, stronger than other kids, and what is the kid who gets picked on? Usually a kid who's smaller and/or weaker and/or kinder than the bully, to the point that it's easy for the bully to pick on them. Someone who poses a lesser threat. Probably someone who resents the bully's strength because they feel it exerted upon them. Probably someone who thinks the world would be better if they had as much, if not more, power than the bully. Dr. Horrible's big, savvy hook is realizing that the power dynamic between hero and villain tracks with that of the bully and the nerd. Having power you didn't work for, versus envying power you don't have. But the typical points of empathy are reversed, so you can subvert the superhero archetype: by making the bad guy an awkward drama club kid, and the good guy a shitty high school quarterback. That's a good hook! Throw in some catchy songs with clever lyrics and, you've got a cult hit! But, here's the problem: Penny. In both the hero villain story and the jock nerd story, the love interest is just a beacon of ambiguous desirable goodness, whom the men fight over. Penny ain't subverting shit. But the men's relationship to Penny is illustrative. So, Billy falls for Penny before ever talking to her, for- no good reason. He doesn't know if they're compatible or share any interests. He can just see that she's a good person, which she is. She is a beacon of ambiguous desirable goodness. And she falls for Captain Hammer, because she has a near-death experience and a big strapping man is there for her, so Billy befriends her at the exact moment she's no longer on the market and obsesses over defeating his arch-nemesis in order to win her affections, which is a totally dipshit thing to do! Because if he could open his eyes for five seconds, he could see: this relationship is going to last about a month at most, that Penny has genuine feelings for him, and if he could just sit tight, he'd probably get everything he wants and, even if not, she's still a positive addition to his life as a friend, but he's internalized his own abuse. He doesn't want to break up the jock-nerd paradigm, he just wants to be the jock. He has bought into Captain Hammer's narrative that the only thing women want is a big strong alpha, and therefore the only way to be with Penny is to become more powerful than her boyfriend. He thinks he's gonna impress her by taking over the world and handing her her own continent. There is zero evidence that Penny would be into that. She'd clearly be happy with some frozen yogurt and a signature on one of her petitions to help the homeless, which are things he can give her right now! But instead he sabotages the relationship he has through neglect, as he fixates on his plan. Which creates greater distance between them. Which only reinforces the narrative that Hammer is pulling her away. He feels powerless and cannot conceive of any solution to his problems other than gaining power. Certainly not working on his own value as an individual, like being kind, present, integrated in a community, or literally any pro-social behavior that would make him a desirable partner. And he's expanded this resentment to all of society. He can't really articulate why him ruling the world will fix it, or even what's wrong with it in the first place. He's just sad, and arrogant enough to think that whatever makes him no longer unhappy would be the solution to all the world's problems. That him being sad can't just suck, it has to be indicative of a deep moral rot. And, of course, none of his pain is his fault. It's incel logic. And I'd be ready to commend the series for so perfectly encapsulating how nerds turn into reactionaries, except for that same problem: Penny. This is not a criticism of Felicia Day, who has an extremely likable presence and makes everything go down easy, it's just- I look at how the screenwriters treat her, and it doesn't seem that distinct from incel logic. Like, Penny isn't really a character. She's a plot device. I've spent a chunk of this video talking about what's going on in Billy's head, and even Captain Hammer, being a bully who's never been stood up to and who crumbles the first time he feels pain, reveals something about his internal life. But I couldn't give you two sentences on what's going on with Penny under the surface. She appears as a beacon of ambiguous desirable goodness, and near as I can tell that's what she is. She dresses like a Becky, but falls Stacy-like for the first Chad she meets, like a gosling imprinting on a balloon with a drawing of a goose on it. Her songs imply she's been through some shit, but are pointedly vague about what, because, for the purposes of the story being told, why she is who she is doesn't matter. Even though this is a comedy, it's not necessary for her to be funny. Even though this is a musical it's not necessary for her song to sound better than shredded wheat tastes. All she has to be for the story to work is a thing both of these men want. And, right when it seems like she's gonna break out of the stereotype and leave her douche-bag boyfriend, the writers kill her off, and she dies singing Captain Hammer's praises because, I guess clinging to an alpha is all she knows how to do in a crisis. And it's not that I think this is what the screenwriters believe about women, it's just it's what would twist the knife in Billie's back the most, and they're more invested in how he feels about her death, than in how she feels about dying and... yeah, I think that demonstrates exactly the inability to see past the feelings of nerdy sad boys that nerdy sad boys display. And- I think Penny deserved better than that. [Credits song - "A Penny For Your Thoughts", from the movie Waiting for Guffman (1996)] FEMALE SINGER: ♪ I reckon we're in love ♫ FEMALE SINGER: ♪ And married, we'll be ♫ FEMALE SINGER: ♪ And all for a penny ♫ MALE SINGER: ♪ A bright, copper penny ♫ BOTH SINGERS: ♪ The penny that brought you to me ♫
Even his short videos are great and insightful.