#priya tsetsang

[malsorie]

my fragmented identity girls both played by dichen lachman <3

[wistfulwatcher]

If there was anything I could do to make it better... Do you have any beer?

[sulietsexual]

"Then we'll fight for ourselves. You don't have to look out for us any more. You've been inside our minds, you know we're just as abnormal and just as ready as you."

Priya Tsetsang Dollhouse [2009 - 2010]

[hyperrbolic-orange]

If I had a nickel for everytime a show confined Dichen Lachman to a weird, secret facility run by a super shady organization that split her personality into different people and subjected her to invasive medical procedures and testing, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened twice.

Also I wish they'd stop doing that to her.

[laufire]

That post about what would happen if your tumblr and discord icons were locked in a room together got me Thinking. Not really about how the two of them would interact; just about the endless contrasts between each narrative.

My tumblr icon is Priya Tsetsang, a character from the divisive and, in my opinion, ahead of its time, show Dollhouse. My discord icon is Batman Return's version of Catwoman; a film and a version I usually see praised in my circles, but that I don't doubt for a moment would be virulently hated if it came out today.

Priya, before the events of the show, is free-spirited, easy-going, artistic, visibly at ease and comfortable with herself and where her life is, explicitly not ~seeking anything better. Batman Return's Selina is coiled tight, timid, constantly walking on eggshells, lonely and miserable in her job yet resigned about it, going through the motions.

There's a rich, entitled man. Priya is being quite aggressively pursued by Nolan, who's obsessed with possessing her, body and mind and soul; after an explicit, definite rejection he uses his resources to strip her of her agency, her memories, her feelings, effectively keeping her captive in order to violate her over and over, in order to feel like he owns her. Selina's boss is Max Shreck, a man who discards her out of nothing more than convenience: she's accidentally found out sensitive information, and he kills her (or attempts to, ymmv) simply to make sure she stays quiet about his shady dealings. Each man aims to rob a woman from her voice, albeit with different aims.

They both die, violently, at the hands of the women they wronged.

For Priya, this is only the beginning of her arc to regain the agency Nolan stole from her. Though I don't believe she regrets Nolan's death for a moment, the violent action itself leaves her profoundly shaken. She even tries to forget it with the same methods used against her before. As the show progresses, even while she's backed into a corner and forced to take action at several moments, she is clearly affected by this and ultimately rejects violence altogether, seeking a calm life. In the end, she's with her son, and tentatively reuniting with the love of her life. Someone who went through similar experiences, as a Doll, although their circumstances are very different. Theirs is a (still grounded) almost fairytale-like story amidst an incredibly bleak and cynical world.

For Selina, killing her victimizer is the culmination of her arc. When he first hurts her, kills her (or "kills" her), it's, in a way, freeing. She takes it as an opportunity to reject her previous life, to metaphorically shed that skin, and sort of don a new one: in leather, and heels, and with a whip. She's now daring, flirty, domineering, aggressively sexual. She embraces the moniker of freak, as well as violence and transgression. She falls for Bruce, deeply, but she rejects the opportunity of a fairytale ending for them in favour of achieving catharsis through revenge. Anything else is unacceptable: she couldn't "live with [herself]" if she made the other choice, in her own words.

I love them both so, so much.

[jelalee]

Am I the only one who's a little.....uncomfortable....with Dichen Lachman playing ANOTHER character whose mind/personality is altered against their will, with an EXTREMELY creepy guy creeping on them?

Like....

She's an INCREDIBLE actress, and she's also very beautiful. So I'm always glad to see her, whenever she pops up.

BUT.

A little <.< >.> to have these two nickles......

[avoyagetoarcturus]

Filling the void of fanart... Dollhouse (2009-10) walked so Westworld could run

[misscrazyfangirl321]

seirra x anthony: no dollhouse au

He falls in love with her before he even lays eyes on her.

There's a showing at a local art gallery, and one of his buddies invites him along (invites, drags... One of those things). He comes because he has nothing better to do, because he's too tired to argue, because he cannot close his eyes without seeing things too horrifying to even wrap his head around and maybe seeing something beautiful will help.

Not likely, but hey, he's always been an optimist.

Most of the art is... It's fine, really. Good, even. Clearly there's a talented group here tonight, and he's lucky to be seeing their works. But there's a dark cloud over him, one he's been carrying since the war, and it's hard to marvel at brushstrokes and color combinations through the fog.

Then, he sees it: a single painting, relatively small, tucked into the corner of the room. It seems almost alive with color and movement, and he makes his way to it without another thought. Birds are scattered across the canvas, giving the illusion of flight, and he can almost feel the wind on his face. The sunlight in the horizon might only be strokes of yellow paint, but they cut straight through to his heart, and he's reaching forward before he realizes.

He's not sure what he expects, but nothing particularly magical happens when his fingers brush the canvas; he half-expects to find himself drawn into the painting like some sort of cheesy movie, for the way his heart is racing.

Racing. Beating. Alive. He's alive, and for the first time since coming home, he feels it. Every bullet that flew past him, every bomb that exploded far too close, everything he lost, and he survived.

Suddenly, he's aware of someone watching him. He looks back warily, instincts bracing him for battle, but he finds only a young woman-stunning, with a smudge of paint on her eyebrow and stains on her hands-looking at him curiously.

The artist, he surmises, and then, belatedly: she probably doesn't want me petting her painting.

"Uh, sorry," he says slowly, withdrawing his hand. "I was just-" He doesn't quite know how to explain, how to say your painting touched me, and I needed to touch it.

Thankfully, she only smiles, waving him off. "Don't worry; I'm just glad someone likes it."

"I'm sure lots of people like it," he protests, gesturing back to it. "It's amazing."

Her smile grows shy, and she lifts a single shoulder. "Lots of people said they liked it." The words are quiet, but he's never heard anyone so clearly. "But you... I could see it."

Ridiculously, he's half-aware of his cheeks growing warm. She's still looking at him, still watching him, and he can't bring himself to look away. "Anthony," he half-blurts, holding out his hand. "I'm Anthony. Tony."

Her eyes dance, and he feels like he's made a complete fool of himself, but when she takes his hand, that seems to matter very little. "Well, Anthony Tony, I'm Priya. You know, I haven't really had a chance to look at the other works here; care to look around with me?"

To spend more time with her? To see those paintings through her eyes? "I'd like that." She still hasn't released him, and he makes no move to pull away. "I'd like that a lot."