Nova Southeastern University NSUWorks CAHSS Faculty Articles Faculty Scholarship Spring 2016 Object Entanglements: From Postmodern Subjectivity to Posthuman Thingness in Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" Juliette Kitchens Nova Southeastern University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/shss_facarticles Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons NSUWorks Citation Kitchens, J. (2016). Object Entanglements: From Postmodern Subjectivity to Posthuman Thingness in Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse". Studies in Popular Culture, 38 (2), 1-22. Retrieved from https://nsuworks.nova.edu/shss_facarticles/797 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at NSUWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in CAHSS Faculty Articles by an authorized administrator of NSUWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDIES IN POPULAR CULTURE 38.2 SPRING 2016 i STUDIES IN POPULAR CULTURE Studies in Popular Culture, a journal of the Popular Culture Association in the South, publishes articles on popular culture however mediated through film, literature, radio, television, music, graphics, print, practices, associations, events—any of the material or conceptual conditions of life. Its contributors from the United States, Australia, Canada, China, England, Finland, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Scotland, Spain, and the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus include distinguished anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, cultural geographers, ethnomusicologists, historians, and scholars in comics, communications, film, games, graphics, literature, philosophy, religion, and television. Direct editorial queries and submissions by email to editor Lynnette Porter, [email protected]; mailing address: Humanities and Communication Department, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 600 South Clyde Morris Boulevard, Daytona Beach, Florida 32114. Studies in Popular Culture accepts submissions on all forms of popular culture (American or international) studied from the perspective of any discipline. Submissions relating strictly to American culture may be sent to the editor of Studies in American Culture, Robert L. Coleman, University of South Alabama, rcoleman@southalabama. edu. Queries are welcome. Manuscript submissions should be sent via email as Microsoft Word attachments (author’s surname in the file name). Submissions typically total 5000 to 7500 words, including notes and bibliography. Manuscripts should be double-spaced, using 12-point Times New Roman font. Please note that the editing process may result in revisions that lengthen the essay. SPC is indexed in the annual MLA International Bibliography, and MLA documentation is required. Authors should secure all necessary copyright permissions before submitting material. SPC uses blind peer review. The editor reserves the right to make stylistic changes on accepted manuscripts. A multidisciplinary journal, SPC gives preference to submissions that demonstrate familiarity with the body of scholarly work on popular culture but avoid the jargon associated with certain single-discipline studies. SPC is published by the Popular Culture Association in the South. To subscribe or obtain individual issues, contact Diane Calhoun-French, Provost, Jefferson Community and Technical College, 109 E. Broadway, Louisville, Kentucky 40202; telephone 502-213-2621; email diane.calhoun- [email protected]. ISSN 0888-5753 STUDIES IN POPULAR CULTURE 38.2 SPRING 2016 PUBLISHED BY THE POPULAR CULTURE ASSOCIATION IN THE SOUTH STUDIES IN POPULAR CULTURE Editor Lynnette Porter, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Book Review Editor Clare Douglass Little, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Associate Editor Dawn Heinecken, University of Louisville Associate Editor Jennifer Wojton, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Editorial Board Linda Badley, Middle Tennessee State University Julie Sloan Brannon, Jacksonville University Robert Holtzclaw, Middle Tennessee State University William Klink, College of Southern Maryland Ananya Mukherjea, CUNY-Staten Island Former editor Rhonda V. Wilcox, Gordon State College Studies in Popular Culture is published by the Popular Culture Association in the South and indexed in the annual MLA International Bibliography. All members of the Association receive Studies in Popular Culture, as do a growing number of libraries. Yearly membership is $40.00 (International: $60.00). Write to Diane Calhoun-French, Provost, Jefferson Community and Technical College, 109 E. Broadway, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, for membership or back issues. ISSN 0888-5753 THE POPULAR CULTURE ASSOCIATION / AMERICAN CULTURE ASSOCIATION IN THE SOUTH EXECUTIVE COUNCIL Sherry Ginn, President Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Diane Calhoun-French, Executive Secretary Jefferson Community and Technical College Chrys Egan, Program Co-Chair, PCAS Member-at-Large Salisbury University Mary Jackson, Program Co-Chair Jefferson Community and Technical College Lynnette Porter, Editor, Studies in Popular Culture Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Robert L. Coleman, Editor, Studies in American Culture University of South Alabama Lynn Koller, ACCAS Member-at-Large Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Dawn Heinecken, PCAS Member-at-Large University of Louisville Robert Holtzclaw, PCAS Member-at-Large Middle Tennessee State University Bill Klink, PCAS Member-at-Large College of Southern Maryland Hugh H. David, Graduate Student/New Professional Member C.S. Brown High School Geoffrey Weiss, Webmaster Hanover College Sara Lewis Dunne, Past President Middle Tennessee State University 2015 Whatley Award In memory of George Whatley, a founder and early president of the Popular Culture Association in the South, the editor and editorial board of Studies in Popular Culture annually recognize the article published in SPC that in their view best represents the scholarly values Professor Whatley sought for the organization and the study of popular culture. The 2015 Whatley Award winner is Beautiful Friendship: Masculinity and Nationalism in Casablanca by Peter Kunze University of Texas at Austin vi From the Editor “The end is where we start from. And every phrase And sentence that is right . where every word is at home, Taking its place to support the others, An easy commerce of the old and the new. .” The word neither diffident nor ostentatious, T. S. Eliot, “Little Gidding” Perhaps the words of T. S. Eliot best summarize this issue, and the ending of one editor’s work on this journal and the beginning of another’s. As former editor Rhonda Wilcox ended her decade-long tenure as editor of Studies in Popular Culture, my role as editor began. This issue combines our work during the transition, with Rhonda guiding some authors and I working with other contributors throughout the editing process leading to publication. Rhonda and I likely agree that we strive to ensure that every word, phrase, and sentence is right, supportive, and “at home” not only on the journal’s pages but within the many disciplines comprising popular culture. With this, my first issue, I also hope that it helps to create that easy commerce between the old and the new, just as its articles reflect our cultural past and present. This issue’s articles cover a wide range of topics, some reflecting bygone eras, with others taking topics from recent headlines. Michael Wentworth illustrates how to “dig the past” through a comparison of Jean Shephard’s works reflecting upon the pop culture artifacts of his youth. Anyone who has identified with Ralphie in A Christmas Story should understand the personal and cultural significance of memorabilia like the smiling Wimpy doll or Flash Gordon zap gun. Michelle Napierski-Prancl takes us forward a few decades to music from 1965 to 1985 and explores the connection between popular baby names given to girls and the pop hits like “Brandy” that may have increased their popularity. Analyzing recent sports news, Chris B. Geyerman discusses the NFL’s “violence against women problem” and provides a rhetorical study of the public language used to discuss the perpetrators and victims of domestic violence. The time periods covered within this issue’s articles are matched by the variety of cultural artifacts being considered in light of specific interpretations of identity. Mark C. Hill evaluates the alternative vii masculine performances in American comics by investigating Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s Y: the Last Man. Asking what it means to be human, Juliet Kitchens explores the nature of hybridity and humanity in Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse. Sarah Gregg Minslow takes a close look at the values embedded in Chik-fil-A’s classic stories series and the social roles for which children are being prepared. Popular culture stretches across time, presenting us with a wealth of artifacts to study and from which to make meaning of our lives. Although individual artifacts—whether a comic book, television series, radio serial-based toy, online headline, song, or fast food restaurant prize—may harken to a specific time and place, they also reflect our humanity and cultural identities. They indicate that, although a style goes out of fashion or a television series is canceled or news is quickly supplanted by the next headline, there is continuity among times, places, and people. The end of one era or phase gives rise to the next hot topic or product in a continuous cycle. Perhaps this is what makes studies in popular culture—and, I hope, Studies in Popular