dweomeroflight (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dweomeroflight) wrote2010-06-04 10:57 am
dweomeroflight) wrote2010-06-04 10:57 am
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On Fandom
Ok first off, I've defriended the Doctor Who comm because I am so sick and tired of the Amy whinging that is going on along with the Moffat is a sexist writer and I want RTD back bullshit.
So first off I am going to state here, on my lj, my biases. I believe that if anything Moffat is feminist when he writes Dr Who, and that is obvious regardless of his personal views in interviews which may come across as sexist. I have already gone on at great length about how Amy and River are both feminist characters and I am not going through it all again.
One thing that I really feel the need to point out though, is the double standard that is going on here because RTD wrote some very sexist endings for all three of his companions. Before I start I want to make some things clear;
1. I loved Rose to bits mainly because I loved the way Billie acted to bits
2. Martha is my favourite companion other than Amy
3. I don't love or hate Donna
4. I enjoyed many RTD episodes of new who and this is not an RTD bash.
Thoughts on sexism in the RTD era under cut link for spoilers to all four season finales and the Christmas specials
1. Ok so first off let's look at Rose.
I liked Rose and I thought she was a cool character all the way up until the fourth season when she was left with a human tenth Doctor in a parrallel universe. I don't care what anyone says: that was some badass sexist writing going on there (or at least thats how I read it). The implication for me with this ending is that Rose is superficial and loves The Doctor's outer self and not the essence of what he really is because a human Doctor is not The Doctor that she fell in love with; a human Doctor can never ever be the alien Doctor that she fell in love with. There is also the fact that Rose could be read as the chaste princess Mary Sue of the story but I can really be bothered to go there right now.
2. Martha
I liked Martha. She was a feminist companion but two things ruined her for me in the end:
a) her unrequited love for The Doctor
b) the fact that she is paired off with Mickey in the end of The End of Time makes zero sense. In fact, for an independant companion, Martha got pretty clingy. I would also argue that Martha and Mickey as a couple smacks of racism to me as well. Oh I get it... the two black characters would of course fall in love cough. No RTD: that is not how life works. I would also describe the resolution of Martha's storyline as lazy writing.
3. Donna
Donne was cool too. She started off as un unfufilled rather lost woman, and her growth throughout season four was great (except for the implication that the only way she could better herself was through the alpha male help of The Doctor which again screams sexist to me) but then RTD made her regress back to her shrewish caricature at the start of season four and to make matters worse had her married off to a safe, secure man and to make matters worse writing the story so that The Doctor is the one who secures her happiness (by giving her the lottery ticket to ensure that her life is filled of capitalist glee I suppose). In fact out of all the companions I'd argue that Donna's ending was the most sexist.
That's not to say that RTD as a person is sexist, but rather that his writing comes across in Dr Who as sexist. Personally, I rather get the impression that he just ran out of ideas and ran with stereotypes which placed him in the realm of sexism, but that's just my opinion.
What do my flist think? Is there an argument that RTD is just as sexist if not more so than Moffat? Are they both the same? Are they both just as bad as any other television script writer? What are your opinions on this?
Onwards to Spooks.
Ok. I think that I now love Ruth Evershed more than I even love Riversong or Alex Drake. River and Alex are who I wish I'd be when I'm in my 30's, but Ruth is who I am, or at least who I'm heading towards. In fact, I would argue that Ruth is one of the most realistic female characters I have seen on TV ever.
Note: I would also like to add that whichever author from deepgenre who claimed that if you turned down the sound on a tv program you could tell it was just actors acting and responding to cues, you are so wrong and are clearly not watching the correct programs. Nicola Walker, I really cannot express how much I love you, but you act so realistically that I feel like Ruth is a real person, sound or no sound. To demonstrate however, how wrong that authors sentiment was, I would also like to add that I watched a Martha Jones episode of Dr Who with the sound off and the acting was still realistic. Clearly this author needs to watch herself some BBC.
Anyway back to Spooks. Last time I blogged at the end of season four, the amount of people who had left the show in whatever heartbreaking way and were main characters had gone up to 7. Yeah, well I'm onto episode three of season five, and that number has gone up to 8. The person who left was a great character too. I liked him alot. Now I know why there were so many anguished imdb fans talking about him :(
ZOMG THE NOT SO INNER FAN IN ME NEARLLY DIED OF FANNISH GOODNESS YESTERDAY. Ahem. Ruth and Harry went on a date.
Harry: If I were to go on a holiday, I'd go to Paris.
Ruth: No New York! Where's your sense of Atlanticism?
Harry: Where's your sense of romanticism? (stares at Ruth intently)
Also when he asked her out, Nicola Walker's expressions were priceless. I repeat: I love her muchly.
Screecaps:
Harry: would you like to have dinner one night?
Ruth: I'm, I'm sorry?
Harry: Dinner?
oh my that expression :)
and that one...
That sequence of expressions is priceless. Anyway so is this (after she says yes)
Ok, sorry for the screencap spam but my squee is great right now :P I love Ruth and Nicola Walker!
So first off I am going to state here, on my lj, my biases. I believe that if anything Moffat is feminist when he writes Dr Who, and that is obvious regardless of his personal views in interviews which may come across as sexist. I have already gone on at great length about how Amy and River are both feminist characters and I am not going through it all again.
One thing that I really feel the need to point out though, is the double standard that is going on here because RTD wrote some very sexist endings for all three of his companions. Before I start I want to make some things clear;
1. I loved Rose to bits mainly because I loved the way Billie acted to bits
2. Martha is my favourite companion other than Amy
3. I don't love or hate Donna
4. I enjoyed many RTD episodes of new who and this is not an RTD bash.
Thoughts on sexism in the RTD era under cut link for spoilers to all four season finales and the Christmas specials
1. Ok so first off let's look at Rose.
I liked Rose and I thought she was a cool character all the way up until the fourth season when she was left with a human tenth Doctor in a parrallel universe. I don't care what anyone says: that was some badass sexist writing going on there (or at least thats how I read it). The implication for me with this ending is that Rose is superficial and loves The Doctor's outer self and not the essence of what he really is because a human Doctor is not The Doctor that she fell in love with; a human Doctor can never ever be the alien Doctor that she fell in love with. There is also the fact that Rose could be read as the chaste princess Mary Sue of the story but I can really be bothered to go there right now.
2. Martha
I liked Martha. She was a feminist companion but two things ruined her for me in the end:
a) her unrequited love for The Doctor
b) the fact that she is paired off with Mickey in the end of The End of Time makes zero sense. In fact, for an independant companion, Martha got pretty clingy. I would also argue that Martha and Mickey as a couple smacks of racism to me as well. Oh I get it... the two black characters would of course fall in love cough. No RTD: that is not how life works. I would also describe the resolution of Martha's storyline as lazy writing.
3. Donna
Donne was cool too. She started off as un unfufilled rather lost woman, and her growth throughout season four was great (except for the implication that the only way she could better herself was through the alpha male help of The Doctor which again screams sexist to me) but then RTD made her regress back to her shrewish caricature at the start of season four and to make matters worse had her married off to a safe, secure man and to make matters worse writing the story so that The Doctor is the one who secures her happiness (by giving her the lottery ticket to ensure that her life is filled of capitalist glee I suppose). In fact out of all the companions I'd argue that Donna's ending was the most sexist.
That's not to say that RTD as a person is sexist, but rather that his writing comes across in Dr Who as sexist. Personally, I rather get the impression that he just ran out of ideas and ran with stereotypes which placed him in the realm of sexism, but that's just my opinion.
What do my flist think? Is there an argument that RTD is just as sexist if not more so than Moffat? Are they both the same? Are they both just as bad as any other television script writer? What are your opinions on this?
Onwards to Spooks.
Ok. I think that I now love Ruth Evershed more than I even love Riversong or Alex Drake. River and Alex are who I wish I'd be when I'm in my 30's, but Ruth is who I am, or at least who I'm heading towards. In fact, I would argue that Ruth is one of the most realistic female characters I have seen on TV ever.
Note: I would also like to add that whichever author from deepgenre who claimed that if you turned down the sound on a tv program you could tell it was just actors acting and responding to cues, you are so wrong and are clearly not watching the correct programs. Nicola Walker, I really cannot express how much I love you, but you act so realistically that I feel like Ruth is a real person, sound or no sound. To demonstrate however, how wrong that authors sentiment was, I would also like to add that I watched a Martha Jones episode of Dr Who with the sound off and the acting was still realistic. Clearly this author needs to watch herself some BBC.
Anyway back to Spooks. Last time I blogged at the end of season four, the amount of people who had left the show in whatever heartbreaking way and were main characters had gone up to 7. Yeah, well I'm onto episode three of season five, and that number has gone up to 8. The person who left was a great character too. I liked him alot. Now I know why there were so many anguished imdb fans talking about him :(
ZOMG THE NOT SO INNER FAN IN ME NEARLLY DIED OF FANNISH GOODNESS YESTERDAY. Ahem. Ruth and Harry went on a date.
Harry: If I were to go on a holiday, I'd go to Paris.
Ruth: No New York! Where's your sense of Atlanticism?
Harry: Where's your sense of romanticism? (stares at Ruth intently)
Also when he asked her out, Nicola Walker's expressions were priceless. I repeat: I love her muchly.
Screecaps:
Harry: would you like to have dinner one night?
Ruth: I'm, I'm sorry?
Harry: Dinner?
oh my that expression :)
and that one...
That sequence of expressions is priceless. Anyway so is this (after she says yes)
Ok, sorry for the screencap spam but my squee is great right now :P I love Ruth and Nicola Walker!
no subject
I haven't watched this season of Dr Who enough to comment, but I don't... Like how people have to deconstruct things so much sometimes. I just want to enjoy it without analysing the undertones. -shrugs-
no subject
no subject
And like I said, I've watched 2 eps of this season so I don't know much about River Song apart from in the Library of Silence. But it's good she's a good feminist character.
no subject
Ruth
Re: Ruth