SPOILER WARNING
Not another post about Neil Patrick Harris!
Not quite kiddies. I'm simply coming back to something I said in an earlier post about Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog;
Once the final episode is published, I'll be able to share my thoughts about the perception of women in the series. The subject is always an important one in all of Whedon's work, since he brought us the fearless and tough Buffy Summers and brought the lesbian relationship of Willow and Tarah to the general American public.
I was all set to give you thorough analysis on the subject, but someone else went ahead and explained it far better than I ever could. So did she and so did she. Basically, I am not the only "angry ugly feminist" to think that Penny's character was undevelopped.
One thing that did struck me and that wasn't mentionned in the other analysis is that Penny is perhaps a symbol for Dr Horrible's conscience. Penny is a good hearted although naive idealist, who, if we step back, we cannont imagine falling in love with someone evil. Of course Captain Hammer is a tool, who does good for his sake and not out of genuine concern. But he still does good, while Dr Horrible aims to do evil. I don't think that even if Penny would have lived longer that she would have fallen for Dr Horrible. Dr Horrible would have to become a better person to be loved by Penny (or alternatively drag her down to his level). In this way, Penny could be Dr Horrible's redemption. She is the symbol of his own conscience. It makes sense then that she would have to be taken out of the story for Dr Horrible to become really evil.
It's an interesting way of seeing Penny, but it still doesn't save her from being yet another really boring female character.
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