Dr. Horrible's Blog

There are so many elements I could pick and choose out of this "sing-a-long blog", but some of the main ones were: love, comedy, hate, jealousy, and death. Love: defined in this story as the love triangle between Dr. Horrible, Penny and Captain Hammer. Comedy: How we view Dr. Horrible in the beginning, but we eventually see that his sarcasm hides something much deeper than simple jokes. Hate: Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer hate each other. (They appear to be villains.) Jealousy: Again, the love triangle and the jealousy that Dr. Horrible has for Captain Hammer's popularity, even though he's self-absorbed. And Death: This occurs in the story at the very end when Penny is killed because part of Dr. Horrible's gun breaks off and lodges itself in Penny's torso, leaving her to die. All of these elements are what make it a tragicomedy!

I had heard of this "blog show" before we were introduced to it in class. I had no interest in watching it, but I'm really glad I saw it. At first, the class seemed to get a kick out of the whole idea of an "evil genius" being in love with a chick at a laundry mat. This tragicomedy had me thinking about Beauty and the Beast for some reason. As I watched it I thought of Dr. Horrible as the "Beast" and Penny as "Belle" the Beauty. Here is a man who is a true "beast" on the inside, but on the outside he is just a simple young man falling in love. The tragedy in this, besides Captain Hammer acting like a self-absorbed idiot trying to take Penny from Billy's love grip, is the fact that from the beginning it seems as though Dr. Horrible sets himself up for failure. There are several lines that suggest that he "already is living a nightmare" and at the end of the first act he says a word at the end that suggests that he is unhappy with the result of his heist and that Penny is now further out of love with him than before.

It seems that Dr. Horrible just wants to be taken seriously. He doesn't want to kill anyone to become apart of the evil league, but he doesn't have another way to become part of a group. He says to Penny in the second act, "I want to be an achiever". His idea of achieving is just being recognized and taken seriously in life. He is overlooked too often and just wants everyone to see that he really can be "horrible".

I tried to apply this singing blog to my own life. Penny's song I feel relates to how I feel right now:

Here’s a story of a girl
Who grew up lost and lonely
Thinking love was fairytale
And trouble was made only for me

Even in the darkness
Every color can be found
And every day of rain
Brings water flowing
To things growing in the ground

Grief replaced with pity
For a city barely coping
Dreams are easy to achieve
If hope is all I’m hoping to be

Anytime you’re hurt there’s one
Who has it worse around
And every drop of rain
Will keep you growing
Seeds you’re sowing in the ground

This song gives a person hope, while at the same time realizing that there are definite needs in the world that need to be taken care of, which is Penny's case it was the homeless in that city.

The struggles between Captain Hammer and Dr Horrible really meant little to me. They seemed more like two brothers fighting back and forth over a toy. Neither of them were a threat to the other. Neither Captain Hammer, nor Dr. Horrible were "good" guys. The main issue was that Captain Hammer would get recognition for his actions that never had a good meaning behind them in the first place while "evil" Dr Horrible wouldn't get recognized at all. Simply put, this is not a story of good versus evil, it's about how our own thoughts/actions can cloud the judgment of many and how we can shape others around us whether it be good or bad.