An Analysis of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

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Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is a “musical tragicomedy” (Wikipedia) directed by Joss Whedon in 2008 during the Writers Guild of America strike. It was originally released as a web series with three 14 minute episodes. The film centers on Dr. Horrible, a super villain with “a PhD in horribleness” (Whedon) who desires to get into the exclusive Evil League of Evil commanded by Bad Horse and alleviate the “misery of the human condition” (Wikipedia). At the same time he is striving to win the affections of Penny, a girl who is the embodiment of good, as his alter ego Billy as they meet at the Laundromat each week. Rounding out the trio is Captain Hammer; a brawny, self-centered superhero who, to Dr. Horrible’s chagrin, is well-loved in the city of Los Angeles. The three main characters create an incongruous love triangle with the ne’er do wrong Penny at the center. This film is chaotic and ironic as it challenges the common roles taken by superhero and super villain in most classic and modern movies. At the same time, it has an undercurrent of unrequited love reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin films. The conflicting genres that Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog encompasses reflect Dr. Horrible’s own character duality.
Dr. Horrible is first and foremost anarchic. It was written specifically to “circumvent the issues that were being protested during the [Writers Guild of America] strike” (Wikipedia). Due to the nature of the film being produced as an independent, low budget web series, Joss Whedon managed to avoid the issues being addressed during the strike. No major studios were involved in the production of the film, so Whedon and the other writers did not need to worry about the amount of compensation they would receive if they had released the film with a major studio. Dr. Horrible is also anarchic in the sense that it attacks the standard understandings of authority.

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