Meta: Doctor Who, Feminism and Families
Jul. 25th, 2012 09:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fannishlissThis meta brought to you by Dr. Fannishliss and her dissertation, ie the hobbyhorse I just keep getting back on.
I come at this from a perspective of many years spent as an academic feminist. On the one hand, the idea of defining a woman entirely by her family is one thing feminism has tried to combat. But the other side of that same coin is the idea that any heroic person has to cut off their connections to family in order to fully individuate. So that's what I want to talk about (yes the same old academic feminist problem that has haunted me since 1994!).
I'm very interested in the idea of the Byronic Hero as it applies to the Doctor. (See Atara Stein's awesome book for more about applying this classic Romantic trope to pop culture.)
In many ways the Doctor started out more as a Picaresque hero-- he was a wanderer who moved in and out of exciting stories with his companions. By the time of Three he was more of an Adventure Hero in the classic James Bond/John Steed sense. The sense of friction between the Doctor and his people was first seen in War Games (though the Time Lords were kind of Star Trekky, almost BigHeadedPeople in that ep) and that conflict developed and intensified through Trial of a Time Lord until finally RTD ran with it and had the Doctor responsible for the banishment of the Time Lords behind the Time Lock (as we eventually learned, he did not kill them all, since they are still alive, but locked away).
So by the era of Nine and Ten, we see the Doctor as a fully developed Byronic Hero -- he is, alone of his race (pace Master), cursed with incredible power and responsibility that alienates him from existence, and he seeks some kind nepenthe from that dire fate. We even see him making the terrible mistakes a la Waters of Mars that we'd expect from a Byronic Hero, hubris being the prime characteristic of that type.
Now, admittedly this is my bone to pick, but exactly what that isolated, hubristic type needs more than anything is to interact and form ties with with human beings, especially people who emphasize compassion, love and family above all else. Yes, Rose is 19, but she has heart enough to love and forgive a damaged Time Lord. Yes, Martha walks away, but not before walking the earth to save the world (the Doctor and her family being part of that world she saves)! And of course Donna is a Big Damn Hero.
What I appreciate about the portrayal of the companions' families in New Who is, while they try to limit the scope of the women's dreams (Donna's mum's constant nagging and criticism, Jackie's insistence that Rose be kept "SAFE" above all else) at the same time, those families give the characters a grounding and a sense of what love and commitment really looks like. I respect Martha a great deal for wanting to be there for her family after their ordeal.
Jack's an interesting example because in all his backstories we repeatedly see his loved ones torn away from him. He keeps trying and trying to connect and because of his immortality is doomed to loss after loss -- even in CofE when he is made to choose the fate of the Earth over his own flesh and blood. (horrible!!!) Jack is a study in the tension between healthy human bonds and the Byronic heroism that is demanded of the uniquely empowered/cursed individual.
This recent cover story of Atlantic Monthly should show that this is still a tension that feminism is struggling to contend with. Can women have "it all"???? This is not just a women's issue though. The tension between Life Out in the World and Life in the Home is a false dichotomy that every human being must make sacrifices in order to balance. [That's why I'm so impatient with the idea that "Rose and Ten2 are too involved with the world and adventure to ever have kids" -- okay, so we solve that problem of home vs world by deflecting, deferring, denying? I refuse. There can be life alongside kids, and after kids, BELIEVE IT OR NOT!!! To become a Mother does not automatically kill all other options!!! Feminist storytellers need to tell women's stories, and that includes learning how to tell not kidfic but stories about women who happen to also be mothers, not as the central defining aspect of their life, but nevertheless an aspect of it!!! Yeah, I'm a little triple screamer about this idea. ]
In my personal and feminist opinion, huge kudos to New Who for insisting on telling the stories of how companions negotiate their ties to home while still insisting on the larger universe the Doctor has opened up for them -- and for insisting too that the Doctor is weaker without those humanizing Ties That Bind him to the people who love him the most.
I come at this from a perspective of many years spent as an academic feminist. On the one hand, the idea of defining a woman entirely by her family is one thing feminism has tried to combat. But the other side of that same coin is the idea that any heroic person has to cut off their connections to family in order to fully individuate. So that's what I want to talk about (yes the same old academic feminist problem that has haunted me since 1994!).
I'm very interested in the idea of the Byronic Hero as it applies to the Doctor. (See Atara Stein's awesome book for more about applying this classic Romantic trope to pop culture.)
In many ways the Doctor started out more as a Picaresque hero-- he was a wanderer who moved in and out of exciting stories with his companions. By the time of Three he was more of an Adventure Hero in the classic James Bond/John Steed sense. The sense of friction between the Doctor and his people was first seen in War Games (though the Time Lords were kind of Star Trekky, almost BigHeadedPeople in that ep) and that conflict developed and intensified through Trial of a Time Lord until finally RTD ran with it and had the Doctor responsible for the banishment of the Time Lords behind the Time Lock (as we eventually learned, he did not kill them all, since they are still alive, but locked away).
So by the era of Nine and Ten, we see the Doctor as a fully developed Byronic Hero -- he is, alone of his race (pace Master), cursed with incredible power and responsibility that alienates him from existence, and he seeks some kind nepenthe from that dire fate. We even see him making the terrible mistakes a la Waters of Mars that we'd expect from a Byronic Hero, hubris being the prime characteristic of that type.
Now, admittedly this is my bone to pick, but exactly what that isolated, hubristic type needs more than anything is to interact and form ties with with human beings, especially people who emphasize compassion, love and family above all else. Yes, Rose is 19, but she has heart enough to love and forgive a damaged Time Lord. Yes, Martha walks away, but not before walking the earth to save the world (the Doctor and her family being part of that world she saves)! And of course Donna is a Big Damn Hero.
What I appreciate about the portrayal of the companions' families in New Who is, while they try to limit the scope of the women's dreams (Donna's mum's constant nagging and criticism, Jackie's insistence that Rose be kept "SAFE" above all else) at the same time, those families give the characters a grounding and a sense of what love and commitment really looks like. I respect Martha a great deal for wanting to be there for her family after their ordeal.
Jack's an interesting example because in all his backstories we repeatedly see his loved ones torn away from him. He keeps trying and trying to connect and because of his immortality is doomed to loss after loss -- even in CofE when he is made to choose the fate of the Earth over his own flesh and blood. (horrible!!!) Jack is a study in the tension between healthy human bonds and the Byronic heroism that is demanded of the uniquely empowered/cursed individual.
This recent cover story of Atlantic Monthly should show that this is still a tension that feminism is struggling to contend with. Can women have "it all"???? This is not just a women's issue though. The tension between Life Out in the World and Life in the Home is a false dichotomy that every human being must make sacrifices in order to balance. [That's why I'm so impatient with the idea that "Rose and Ten2 are too involved with the world and adventure to ever have kids" -- okay, so we solve that problem of home vs world by deflecting, deferring, denying? I refuse. There can be life alongside kids, and after kids, BELIEVE IT OR NOT!!! To become a Mother does not automatically kill all other options!!! Feminist storytellers need to tell women's stories, and that includes learning how to tell not kidfic but stories about women who happen to also be mothers, not as the central defining aspect of their life, but nevertheless an aspect of it!!! Yeah, I'm a little triple screamer about this idea. ]
In my personal and feminist opinion, huge kudos to New Who for insisting on telling the stories of how companions negotiate their ties to home while still insisting on the larger universe the Doctor has opened up for them -- and for insisting too that the Doctor is weaker without those humanizing Ties That Bind him to the people who love him the most.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
This is relevant to my interests
Date: 2012-07-25 03:37 pm (UTC)Preach it!
I faced my worst battle with baby blues (I couldn't call what I went through depression in any sense of the term) because I thought my life was over. I sat there holding a squalling infant, aching from nipples to toes, and thinking that I would never go to a party, see a movie, hang out with friends, or be happy ever again. All I could see in that instant was this new life of constant wetness, sliminess, sleeplessness, and frustration. Then, one day, a friend called me on the phone and said something that turned my world around. She said, "Every day will be a little better." And every day was. It took a while, but I eventually saw my old self resurfacing. I didn't change; I grew. My son is so much a part of me that I couldn't imagine my life without him. I am Dominic's mom. And so much more.
Feminist storytellers need to tell women's stories, and that includes learning how to tell not kidfic but stories about women who happen to also be mothers, not as the central defining aspect of their life, but nevertheless an aspect of it!!! Yeah, I'm a little triple screamer about this idea.
I think this is why I like
Re: This is relevant to my interests
Date: 2012-07-25 05:36 pm (UTC)But now he is 12, and starting to develop his own life, and soon, he will be out of the house more than he is in it.
So I have to have my own story!
I mean, think of how few mainstream movies fail the Bechdel test... there need to be more stories about women in general, and stories that examine all different paths a woman's life might take ... not just the experience of young love, or the young family, but exciting stories of single women, or of mature love, or adventure when in one's fifties! contemplate that, youth culture!!!
It's weird to me that in SF there are so few mothers who are also heroes. Primarily one thinks of Sarah Conner. The case of Amy Pond is so bizarre as to be freaky.... but I guess the point is to try to determine how different stories can be. :)
no subject
Date: 2012-07-25 04:11 pm (UTC)One thing I don't like about the Doctor as Byronic hero, is that it's been done to death. The alien who is "the last of his kind" is so old a cliche that it's moldy. The Doctor, to me, was actually a more original character when he did have his old "dysfunctional" race back there in the background, occasionally causing him problems, and being a source of not only of context but conflict, drama.
While the Time Lords were around, the Doctor did, in his way, have a family, he had a world, he had a culture, he had a background. As much as he may have rebelled against them, they were at least there to be rebelled against. They were something both to run from (because of the boring, stifling life they represented) and also to be proud of.
I think the difference to me, between the Companions having boring stifling families and the Doctor having a boring stifling race, was that a boring human family is just boring. But a boring extremly old and high tech civilization that has mastered time travel and has the unique lifecycle (centuries old, many bodies, regeneration, etc.) created a much more fascinating idea of what his "home life" might have been like, no matter how boring it was to him, it was fascinating to us.
Just another boring stifling human mum, is just another boring stifling human mum. It's nothing new, in fact it's so old and hackneyed and cliched that it can actually be painful to watch. In a show that has so much potential for creating new and interesting things, it became really disappointing that they decided to harp on old, boring, familiar relationships and character types.
What that has to do with Byronic heroism and families, is that by cutting the Doctor off, they left him adrift. But it was a different kind of adrift to what he chose when the Time Lords still existed, but he chose to run from them.
The Doctor was always a person who made his own family. He made up a family from the friends he made along the way, developing ties and relationships with them, and loving them as fiercely as he would any family member. Perhaps moreso, because you can't choose your relatives.
My point being, there never used to be a need for him to graft himself onto some human's extended family. He had his own family, thank you very much, he didn't need the dysfunctional family problems of a bunch of humans on top of that.
But that did not stop him, or the show, from having a very "family" atmosphere. The Doctor and his Companions formed a "family" of their own, and they loved, and protected each other as fiercely as any family, and they bickered and teased and disagreed as much as any family as well. It was a cohesive, dependent unit, of interrelation, but it was no just the same old boring "nuclear family" that gets touted so much as the ultimate expression of family in the media.
Part 2 of my reply (it was too long)
Date: 2012-07-25 04:13 pm (UTC)There was always plenty of love, stability, dedication, and unity in the relationships between the Doctor and his Companions. They formed the family. The "family" aspect of the show was not something that happened on the side for the Companions and basically, by their very nature, excluded the Doctor.
For all that Rose had Jackie and Mickey, and included the Doctor in their lives. They were still "her" family. They weren't there for him, they were there for her. (And the same goes for Amy and Rory, and even Donna and her family, Wilf possibly excluded.) Contrast that to the Classic example where each Companion had a direct and individual relationship with the Doctor and with each other (if there was more than one).
In a way, New Who has made the Doctor the stepchild in the "families" that they keep creating. He's still the outsider, rather than being the focus that everyone else revolves around. Instead of being the "father" or "uncle" or "older brother" type, he's become someone who is the person in the picture who isn't in the middle, but is sort of standing off to one side, smiling uncomfortably.
That is one of the reasons I dislike the inclusion of the Companions families so much in the show. It seems to be doing exactly the opposite of what it's trying to do. It's supposedly showing the Doctor being included in the human families. But all it's really showing is that they are the family, and he, while welcome, always remains the outsider, the outcast.
That in itself is not a bad thing. There's lots of dramatic potential in that. But it sort of rips the heart out of what the Doctor/Companion dynamic was all about. It becomes a war between the Companion choosing the Doctor or their family.
Instead of it being a matter of the Doctor becoming a sort of magical family himself, as the travel the universe in their "trip of a lifetime."
As for the whole "can women have it all, a family and the world out there." When it comes to Doctor Who, I tend to view the Companion's time with the Doctor as a sort of "rite of passage" or "journey to adulthood."
I don't really see it as the Companion choosing between her family and the Doctor. Rather, just that there is a point in every person's life, usually while they are young adults, where they "leave the nest" and learn to fly on their own.
It's not a matter of rejecting their family, or going off and getting married and forming a new one, but it's that time in between, when people go out on their own, and see what they are really capable of. When they learn who they are. And learn what their capabilities are and what difference they want to make in life.
Then, as stronger wiser adults they go back home, reconnect with their families (who, often, probably don't even know they've been gone) and go on to build their own lives, and their own new families.
That is sort of short-circuited though, when the show keeps insisting that the Companions have to keep up their family life, while they are traveling with the Doctor. They aren't allowed any time to just be themselves, by themselves. And suddenly the option of simply returning a few hours after they left and just picking up their life again, is gone.
Re: Part 3 (still too long)
Date: 2012-07-25 04:13 pm (UTC)And by taking away the Time Lords, and all of the Doctor's cultural background and home world, they leave the character adrift with no purpose, no momentum. He's no longer out in the universe as a way of rebelling against his people's lack of imagination and limitations. He's just, cut adrift. No forward momentum, nothing pushing him from behind. Nothing to prove, or dodge, or protest against, fight against, or even hold as an example or a hero of his own (especially considering that his childhood "hero" of Rassilon was the one who forced him to destroy the Time Lords because of his insane plan to "ascend.")
As for, can women have it all? To me, in Classic Who, they did. There was never any indication that the women there were abandoning their families, or that they were "giving up" the thought of marrying and forming their own.
It was simply that, at that point in their lives, it was "their" time. Time to not be the daughter, time to not be the wife or mother, but simply to be "them." (And that goes for the male Companions too.)
As for someone being a mother and traveling with the Doctor, I don't think that would work simply for practical reasons. Although I did think the Sarah Jane Adventures did a good job of showing how a Companion could still fight the good fight and maintain that "out there" style of life, while also being a mother.
(Likewise, the idea that a father would abandon his kids to travel with the Doctor just sounds irresponsible. On the other hand, the show did start out with the Doctor bringing his granddaughter along. She fought the Daleks and explored the universe right alongside him. So, it's not impossible.)
But, yeah, strangely enough, I thought the Classic series handled the idea of family and women living the lives of women, yet still being heroes, and of the idea of a hero, who did not have to be Byronically "tragic" much better. By not relying on traditional types of relationships and family structure, or even traditional depictions of women or their roles in life.
Re: Part 3 (still too long)
Date: 2012-07-25 05:48 pm (UTC)Moffat seems to be engaged in a kind of rabbit hole world. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the whole last two years were some altverse inside that crack. I'm just waiting to wake up.
I wouldn't be sorry if the Doctor went back to a Picaresque or Adventure Hero.... I think Eleven is far more of a Picaresque than we've had in a long time... the "romance" with River is shallow and bizarre imho... so we'll see what the next series brings.
Anyway I don't judge between the Old Who vs New as one is better or worse... I think they are very different creatures, just as 1982 is a very different time from 2012, with different ideas about what adventure is and what heroes need in their stories.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-25 10:14 pm (UTC)ALL OF THIS.
(I also quickly saw your Moffat comment to beta who and I agree. I would not be surprised... :/ )
no subject
Date: 2012-07-26 12:33 am (UTC)I love your icon!
no subject
Date: 2012-07-26 12:46 am (UTC)