Dr Horrible is, Actually, a Bad Guy
Nov. 25th, 2013 10:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mishalakThrough the power of the internet and having geeky friends I was recently inspired to rewatch Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog and because of this I have thoughts. Being that skulls can only contain so much pressure before they explode I am writing this down.
Both Captain Hammer and Dr Horrible were failing to see Penny as a real human being rather than what they wanted in a girl. When two villains collide (and Captain Hammer is a villain, of that I have no doubt, just a villain who mostly follows the rules) in a battle it seems a fairly likely outcome that they would harm people close to them. Dr Horrible is much beloved of geeks because he is cute, has big puppydog eyes, and is a stand in for their travails with jocks. The thing is when the geek picks up a gun and goes to kill the jock he is on course for the moral event horizon. That he killed an unintentional target is also a pretty normal outcome of real world examples of geeks going to get revenge on their tormentors.
The only other way it could have ended with a somewhat plausible(ish) happy ending was for Dr Horrible to surrender and go to jail. Penny was a good person who would not have joined Dr Horrible in attempting to overthrow the world, there was no possibility of Penny 'seeing the evil me, not a joke, not a failure' because though lightened with comedy this play was still about villainy. If the death ray had not exploded or Penny had been luckily missed there would have been a scene of her confronting the man she thought was a good, kind, and thoughtful person. There is no 'off into the sunset' for Billy with the girl. At best she convinces him to surrender and after a stretch in jail maybe he renounces horribleness and they get together at last because she is willing to see the good in him if he reformed. More likely, because he is the kind of geek who always sees himself in the right, he still goes off to be a villain without the girl after being told off by her. He probably says something sexist about the girls always going for the jocks when really it is his own personality and actions that are the problem.
I love Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog. It is a well made production and shows what can be done with a limited budget with good acting/writing, but do not be too much fans of Dr Horrible. He is, after all, trying to join the Evil League of Evil by murdering a person in cold blood. While I will cheerfully sing the songs just as I will sing the Ballad of Sweeney Todd, he is not the good guy. The good guy died tragically.
Both Captain Hammer and Dr Horrible were failing to see Penny as a real human being rather than what they wanted in a girl. When two villains collide (and Captain Hammer is a villain, of that I have no doubt, just a villain who mostly follows the rules) in a battle it seems a fairly likely outcome that they would harm people close to them. Dr Horrible is much beloved of geeks because he is cute, has big puppydog eyes, and is a stand in for their travails with jocks. The thing is when the geek picks up a gun and goes to kill the jock he is on course for the moral event horizon. That he killed an unintentional target is also a pretty normal outcome of real world examples of geeks going to get revenge on their tormentors.
The only other way it could have ended with a somewhat plausible(ish) happy ending was for Dr Horrible to surrender and go to jail. Penny was a good person who would not have joined Dr Horrible in attempting to overthrow the world, there was no possibility of Penny 'seeing the evil me, not a joke, not a failure' because though lightened with comedy this play was still about villainy. If the death ray had not exploded or Penny had been luckily missed there would have been a scene of her confronting the man she thought was a good, kind, and thoughtful person. There is no 'off into the sunset' for Billy with the girl. At best she convinces him to surrender and after a stretch in jail maybe he renounces horribleness and they get together at last because she is willing to see the good in him if he reformed. More likely, because he is the kind of geek who always sees himself in the right, he still goes off to be a villain without the girl after being told off by her. He probably says something sexist about the girls always going for the jocks when really it is his own personality and actions that are the problem.
I love Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog. It is a well made production and shows what can be done with a limited budget with good acting/writing, but do not be too much fans of Dr Horrible. He is, after all, trying to join the Evil League of Evil by murdering a person in cold blood. While I will cheerfully sing the songs just as I will sing the Ballad of Sweeney Todd, he is not the good guy. The good guy died tragically.