And what time do you call this?
Oct. 4th, 2011 11:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wildestrangerSpoilery spoilers below!
Merlin, 'The Darkest Hour'. 4.01
So they have basically gone with plot what plot, la la la la, ooh look at the pretty! The story seems to consist of whatever they thought of first in order to put characters in situations that will display their assets to advantage. Like, say, Percival carrying random children. And Percival, I must say, was the most delightful character so far, because lol giant arms. HE CANNOT BE CONTAINED BY SHIRTS. HIS COSTUME IS JUST HIS ARMS.
I am also amused that the people writing this have clearly abandoned any thoughts of coherency or characterisation, and just went for the objectification of Arthur's body parts. I have given up and trying to make sense of this because it makes me too angry, and just watch it for the (probably unintended) lols. Because what else is there?
Doctor Who, 'The Wedding of River Song', 6.13.
There were many things I enjoyed about this episode. Amy and River meeting up for a bottle of wine. London with Romans and mammoths and downloads. Amy being a fabulous secret agent with an office in a train (I want one too!). Many small things, clever lines, references - did anyone else think the Doctor was playing Indiana Jones? But the overarching plot was dull and disappointing - someone wants to kill the Doctor, they almost kill the Doctor, then they don't, yawn. What was interesting about this particular story arc, and I mean that in the most disturbing way possible, was the consistent gendering of agency and heroism. Consider this last episode; River Song decides that the scenario which requires her to kill the Doctor is not acceptable, and rewrites the universe according to a better idea. Instead of narrating this as a sign of how magnificent River is, we are told that her plan a)is destroying the universe and b) is embarrassing to the Doctor. We have also been told that she has fallen in love with the Doctor after one meeting, despite being brainwashed since childhood into killing him, and that this one meeting is enough to convince her to give up all her regenerations. Now this love is making her rewrite the universe, except not in a good way. Rather, all her efforts, in the not-killing of the Doctor, in sending out a distress beacon to the world, in corralling the Silence and their minions, all of this is wrong because her initial premise is flawed, and the Doctor must die.
Except, of course, he doesn't. But for him to save himself is quite another thing than to be saved by a woman.
Moreover, we are constantly being told that this is a gendered world - that characters act in a certain way because of their gender. Or rather, that women act in a certain way because that's what women do, and that they should be judged not as people, but as women. River Song goes into archaeology because she wants a good man; her focus in regeneration is her dress size; her first thought post-regeneration is to weigh herself. Instead of being a recurring character who comes in to mock/flirt with the Doctor, with a mysterious past and/or future with Doctor, we are explicitly told that she was made for the Doctor, that all her life choices were made because of him, that she will give up her life/lives for him, and that even though he tells her she is embarrassing him, that he doesn't want to marry her, that she cannot save him and all her plans are foolish and ineffective, she will still marry him because that's what all women want, right? All her potential must be contained and shown to be subordinate to the Doctor, because we can't just have awesome women running around competing with the Doctor.
Note also the following points:
- When Winston Churchill asks the Doctor for the cause of all this wrongness, he replies "A woman". The source of all wrongs.
- Churchill asks if this woman is attractive, and is told that she is "hell on high heels". They share a lecherous manly chuckle.
- The Doctor tells River she has embarrassed him with all this. This is pretty much a deliberate attempt to shame her for trying to save him, for refusing her part in his murder, and for having feelings all over the place where everyone can see them. Now, I generally disapprove of people having feelings, especially in public, but when the show has explicitly given her all these feelings (presumably because that's what women do, and the writers would have been confused if asked to provide other motives for female characters), for it to then try to shame her for having them is despicable. At this point, I wanted to claw his face off.
So at the end of the episode I am angry with the Doctor and frankly think River Song deserves better. On the other hand, this provides much materials for my article on the problematics of gender in Doctor Who.
Merlin, 'The Darkest Hour'. 4.01
So they have basically gone with plot what plot, la la la la, ooh look at the pretty! The story seems to consist of whatever they thought of first in order to put characters in situations that will display their assets to advantage. Like, say, Percival carrying random children. And Percival, I must say, was the most delightful character so far, because lol giant arms. HE CANNOT BE CONTAINED BY SHIRTS. HIS COSTUME IS JUST HIS ARMS.
I am also amused that the people writing this have clearly abandoned any thoughts of coherency or characterisation, and just went for the objectification of Arthur's body parts. I have given up and trying to make sense of this because it makes me too angry, and just watch it for the (probably unintended) lols. Because what else is there?
Doctor Who, 'The Wedding of River Song', 6.13.
There were many things I enjoyed about this episode. Amy and River meeting up for a bottle of wine. London with Romans and mammoths and downloads. Amy being a fabulous secret agent with an office in a train (I want one too!). Many small things, clever lines, references - did anyone else think the Doctor was playing Indiana Jones? But the overarching plot was dull and disappointing - someone wants to kill the Doctor, they almost kill the Doctor, then they don't, yawn. What was interesting about this particular story arc, and I mean that in the most disturbing way possible, was the consistent gendering of agency and heroism. Consider this last episode; River Song decides that the scenario which requires her to kill the Doctor is not acceptable, and rewrites the universe according to a better idea. Instead of narrating this as a sign of how magnificent River is, we are told that her plan a)is destroying the universe and b) is embarrassing to the Doctor. We have also been told that she has fallen in love with the Doctor after one meeting, despite being brainwashed since childhood into killing him, and that this one meeting is enough to convince her to give up all her regenerations. Now this love is making her rewrite the universe, except not in a good way. Rather, all her efforts, in the not-killing of the Doctor, in sending out a distress beacon to the world, in corralling the Silence and their minions, all of this is wrong because her initial premise is flawed, and the Doctor must die.
Except, of course, he doesn't. But for him to save himself is quite another thing than to be saved by a woman.
Moreover, we are constantly being told that this is a gendered world - that characters act in a certain way because of their gender. Or rather, that women act in a certain way because that's what women do, and that they should be judged not as people, but as women. River Song goes into archaeology because she wants a good man; her focus in regeneration is her dress size; her first thought post-regeneration is to weigh herself. Instead of being a recurring character who comes in to mock/flirt with the Doctor, with a mysterious past and/or future with Doctor, we are explicitly told that she was made for the Doctor, that all her life choices were made because of him, that she will give up her life/lives for him, and that even though he tells her she is embarrassing him, that he doesn't want to marry her, that she cannot save him and all her plans are foolish and ineffective, she will still marry him because that's what all women want, right? All her potential must be contained and shown to be subordinate to the Doctor, because we can't just have awesome women running around competing with the Doctor.
Note also the following points:
- When Winston Churchill asks the Doctor for the cause of all this wrongness, he replies "A woman". The source of all wrongs.
- Churchill asks if this woman is attractive, and is told that she is "hell on high heels". They share a lecherous manly chuckle.
- The Doctor tells River she has embarrassed him with all this. This is pretty much a deliberate attempt to shame her for trying to save him, for refusing her part in his murder, and for having feelings all over the place where everyone can see them. Now, I generally disapprove of people having feelings, especially in public, but when the show has explicitly given her all these feelings (presumably because that's what women do, and the writers would have been confused if asked to provide other motives for female characters), for it to then try to shame her for having them is despicable. At this point, I wanted to claw his face off.
So at the end of the episode I am angry with the Doctor and frankly think River Song deserves better. On the other hand, this provides much materials for my article on the problematics of gender in Doctor Who.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 12:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 01:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-04 06:42 pm (UTC)For me, it wasn't about the Doctor insulting River. It was about the Doctor discovering that he had to trust her, that he couldn't use her because she was taking control of her own destiny, she was standing up for herself and showing that she was his equal - I don't want to marry you! I don't want to kill you! She borked up all of time because she didn't want to kill the man she loved, but the important part of that sentence isn't "the man she loved" but rather "she didn't want to."
As for the the Doctor being cranky and insulting, he had his plan. From his perspective, River was interfering. But that's because he wasn't looking at it from her perspective. He thought she was being selfish, but the reality was that HE was being selfish and stupid and self-involved and "everyone I love gets hurt" in all his manpainy ways. His plan was to survive and skulk away in his loneliness. And River said, shut up you arse and listen!
River is part timelord. Even the Amy who was there in the alt-bubble drew pictures and remembered things that happened after the shooting on the beach. I don't think it was the young "hadn't had adventures with the Doctor" River in the astronaut suit who was in the time bubble. The time bubble was all time happening at once, and like I said, she's part time lord. I might be wrong on that part, but that was the impression I got.
Plus, this Doctor was the 200 years older one. He'd already had most of his adventures with River - Jim the Fish, etc. So yes, I think he really does love her. I didn't take his "I don't want to marry you!" quip as honesty. He was cranky - like he was in Time of Angels with Amy where she calls him Mr Grumpypants.
River refused to back down and do what the Doctor wanted her to do. I just can't see that as a bad thing.