Joss Whedons’ “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” as an example of Reconstructivist Art
This internet-only mini-musical signals its reconstructivist leanings through the way it resists being dismissed as mere parody.
- Nod to Artifice: The movie is framed by the conceit that it is a series of video blog entries being posted by an aspiring super-villain, while the use of the phrase “Sing-Along” in the title foreshadows the embrace of the artificiality inherent in any musical –that being the tendency of the characters to burst into fully orchestrated songs in the middle of mundane events.
- Classic Structure: The compressed plot combines a textbook romantic storyline with the superhero genre’s traditional “origin story” narrative.
- Transcontextual and Iconic Elements: The main characters, with the exception of the female lead, are all parodies of standard comic book heroes and villains, the Mad Scientist, the Henchman, the Evil League of Evil, the musclebound Superhero, and so forth.
- Moments of Genuine Emotion or Significance: The movie’s stark ending, although broadly melodramatic and manipulative, still manages to carry the emotional weight of tragedy and the intellectual weight of an honest examination of what success looks like for someone for whom evil is an aspiration, both of which allow the movie to resonate at a deeper level than might seem likely.
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