Don't Blame Dawn: REVIEW of 'Welcome to the Dollhouse' (1995)

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Hi, everyone! I have another movie to talk about today called Welcome to the Dollhouse. Conveniently, it’s also free on Tubi, so while I’m not going to spoil it too much, I suggest giving it a watch beforehand. I also want to provide a content warning for mentions of: rape, sexual assault, underage drinking, and pedophilia. The reason I chose this movie for Hysteria was partially that the name and poster sounded and looked cool, but mostly because I think it fits perfectly into the legion of tragic and unconventional female anti-heroes. Also, I hope everyone has a good February! I know the weather has been making everyone feel really down lately, but I am sure better days are upon us. Without further ado, I’m just going to get into the meat and potatoes of today’s episode.

[IMDb]

Welcome to the Dollhouse is a 1995 indie film starring Heather Matarazzo, who plays the film’s lead, Dawn Wiener. Dawn is a 7th grader who is constantly bullied, threatened, and underappreciated by her family and classmates. Notice how I didn’t say 'friends' there? It’s because she has none. It seems as if everything in her life is going askew, and has been since the day she was born, or perhaps the day her sister Missy was born, who overshadows her in every facet of her life, despite only being 8. Dawn seeks attention from the worst places: her older brother’s edgy bandmate, Steve, a pot-smoking 7th grader named Brandon who threatens to rape her, and even the little 6th-grade boy she calls her best friend, whom she constantly puts into situations where he gets bullied as much as she does.

[MUBI]

The easy thing to do would be to blame Dawn. To think that she shouldn’t be talking to older guys, shouldn’t be hanging out with the ones who bully her, shouldn’t treat her little sister poorly, etc., is definitely a way of looking at this movie, but I really beg to differ. Watching the film, I don’t think I could ever tell exactly why she was being bullied, save for the fact that she was always vulnerable. I don’t blame her for doing things she shouldn’t do solely because she doesn’t know what else to do, really. Her life is shaped by how people see her, so if she decides her sister, Missy, is being a snitch and spoiled, I think everybody can understand why she would treat her that way. If she recognizes that the same group of 7th-grade boys keeps picking on her and giving her attention (albeit negative), she’s going to keep talking to them, even if Brandon is a bad influence on her, which he clearly is. Welcome to the Dollhouse feels like an extreme version of what I’m sure a lot of us have experienced in our childhoods. I think that the only way you could grasp this movie entirely is if your life looked, at any point, a little bit like Dawn’s. This statement might ruin the purpose of the film, that victims of bullying aren’t always perfect, but Dawn Wiener is very likable to me, and I think she approaches the world with a vulnerability that most people wouldn’t dare to. 

If you couldn’t tell already, I’m a big fan of this movie, and I recommend you go and watch it if you haven’t already. Again, this movie is FREE on Tubi, so why are you waiting!? I hope you had fun reading this review. I loved writing it. I believe next week is UIC Radio's Week of Love, so stay tuned, because I have something cool planned!

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Until next time,

Mila