“Who told you to fight back?”

What Lindsay Said… I’m actually not sure why I like this – or why I own it – except perhaps because I like underdog stories.

I could go spine-by-spine along Lindsay’s DVD shelf and give you at least one reason why she liked each movie enough to buy a copy. Well, each movie except WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE anyway.

It’s not that the film is unlikable – far from it actually – it’s just such. a. bummer.

In case you’ve never seen it, the film is about the life and times of young Dawn Wiener; a 13-year-old with nothing going her way in life. She looks and acts awkwardly, is an afterthought to her own parents, and in a time long before anyone dared to suggest “it gets better” is mercilessly bullied on all sides at school.

The film is a somewhat twisted yarn from director Todd Solondz, mostly because of its plausibility. We know for certain that children everywhere suffer the same amount of emotional abuse daily as Dawn. We also know that, like Dawn, these children are often chided for standing up for themselves. What’s left is for the rest of us to watch helplessly as those who are picked on keep hoisting the self out of the proverbial dunk-tank, and keep getting back up on that perch.

Making me even more squeamish was watching Dawn become sexually aware through the course of the film, but in all of the wrong ways. She tries throwing herself at the skeezy, too-old-for-her Steve. He does her no favors by stringing her along. Along with Steve, Dawn is also enticed by a bully named Brandon – a bully who one day threatens “At 3pm, I’m gonna rape you.” I can only imagine the effect her attachment to him will have going forward. Neither of these boys will shape her life for the positive, and yet here we sit enduring them for 87 minutes.

WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE is insanely good, but it’s also insanely depressing. I left it very much moved by the sad state of Dawn’s life, so much so that I really just wanted to huddle in the corner and cry for a few hours. This leaves me wondering how the bloody hell Lindsay ever. Luke have thought to herself “This is a film I wish to revisit often: I must buy myself a copy”. I’m not throwing stones – heck I own THE PIANIST and SCHINDLER’S LIST, but that’s me. Lindsay goes for the light and happy stuff, so how did this get there?

The most likely possibility is that she bought it blind. Lindsay is known for being curious about a movie but not wanting to spend $6 to rent it or on-demand it. Thus, it’s possible she’d heard good things and grabbed it on sale due to its reputation.

For me, WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE is a killer selection that I’m happy I saw, but never need to sit and watch again. Just having seen it the once, I find myself wondering whatever became of Dawn and all the “Dawns” that exist in the real world. I wonder if she kept fighting back, or if she slipped into early depression. I wonder if she ever found a role model who was able to underline her self-worth, or if she was doomed to endure those horrible parents she was saddled with. More than anything, I wonder if she managed to get out.

She lived a short distance away from New York City. I have to hope that when she turned 18 she cut loose from that dreadful suburb and all of its uselessness. I want to believe that she moved to Manhattan, or Brooklyn, or Queens where oddballs like her are celebrated instead of being ostracized. It’s my unanswered question and my hope…but sadly, I fear, it is my starry-eyed optimism for this story and this girl.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need a hug.

14 Replies to “Sweet Pain: WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE”

  1. Oh Dawn Wiener went to college, became pregnant, gained a lot of weight and committed suicide.

    This movie was so depressing. I can watch The Pianist on repeat and not get as depressed. How is this considered funny? At all?!
    I guess it is because I came to this weird realisation that if I, big ol’ nerdy me, had gone to a school like Dawn’s, I would have been ridiculed too. It was such a disturbing thought. I know it has a lot to do with her house and family too, but I couldn’t shake the feeling. It got me really scared. And god when the guy tells her he’ll rape her, it was so freaky! An uncomfortable and really depressing film to sit through.

    1. I’m not sure it was ever considered funny – if it was someone is going to need to underline that for me.

      I know what you’re saying about thinking “It could have been me”. Kids lose sight of the line an awful lot, and don’t seem to see when teasing turns to torture. I was taken even more aback when I saw her home life.

      The plausibility of most of it is what makes it so unsettling.

  2. This was one of my favorites on your Sweet Pain list this year. I always liked to think that Dawn filled out nicely in high school, ditched the glasses, and spent high school modeling while giving all the people who treated her like crap the finger. I mean, I’ve seen Heather Mattarazzo since this, and I know it isn’t true. But I can dream, right?

  3. I’m amazed that Todd Solondz hasn’t killed himself. All of the selections in his filmography are as dark as this and sometimes worse. A lot of dark rolling in that expanse of his brain.

    1. Maybe making films is his own personal way of going through therapy. Perhaps directing is his outlet to get all of these dark thoughts out of his system and gain comfort when people like us react to how unsettling they are.

  4. I should point out that I did NOT buy this movie blind, as Ryan suggests. Quite the contrary, I had seen it many times (I had it on VHS at one point) and was eager to add the dvd to my collection. This was actually a challenge as for many years dvd copies of WTTD seemed to be sparse (and I had yet to discover the joys of online shopping) so I was overjoyed when I managed to find a copy on dvd.

    1. Thanks for clearing that up.
      You must admit though, that this sort of story is a little bleak for what is primarily the sunny side of our movie collection.

      I can see why you wanted to see it in the first place, but I’ll never understand why you decided to own it.

      (Though I am happy you do since it means I got to watch it)

  5. It’s not really an underdog story…at all. She doesn’t win or overcome anything in the end, which is why it’s so sad and depressing. Todd Solondz sugarcoats nothing. It’s nice to see a filmmaker who’s not afraid to be dark on a disturbing level. I think that if you felt like you wanted to turtle in a corner crying, mission accomplished.

    Ryan, I should lend you happiness. Makes Welcome to the Dollhouse look like an episode of Glee.

    1. HAPPINESS is on the watchlist – I’ll get to it at some point.

      Underdog might not be the right word…perhaps “misfit” was more what Lindsay was going for. That reminds me of something else that shook me about the movie; the way all the other misfits around Dawn wailed on her as well. Early on when you see her interact with the brooding loner girl, or the geek getting picked on, you think to yourself “Maybe this time…”. But as we watch even these outcasts reject her, we how bleak Dawn’s life really is.

      Like you said – mission accomplished.

    1. Interesting comparison. Annie’s sad life in that film was actually what really made me take a shining to it. It’s one thing to unleash brash comedy, it’s another thing to show that it comes from a place of real frustration.

      Do check this film out sometime though!

    2. “It’s one thing to unleash brash comedy, it’s another thing to show that it comes from a place of real frustration.”

      Very true.

      And yeah, I’ll be sure to check Dollhouse out 🙂

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