change! more change!

[rivendellrose]

BBC releases information on the new upcoming companion.



But I could have sworn people had been saying she'd be older. I realize now, of course, that this must have been only rumor-mongering, but... I guess we're back to 19 yr olds? With a Doctor who's only 26. Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. But she's Scottish, and I'm looking forward to that! And... she really is awfully pretty!

I was doing pretty well, honestly, apart from surprise, until I hit this line:

"A generation of little girls will want to be her. And a generation of little boys will want them to be her too," [Moffat] added.

All right, Mr Moffat. I've defended you against every imprecation of sexism until now. I've always said that I don't see it in your work, and that I definitely think you've done better with female characters in Doctor Who than our dear buddy Mr Davies. But... you had to go and say that, didn't you? Just go on, then. Remind me that this show, at its root, is still the show where the boys can want to grow up to be the Doctor, but all us girls can hope for is to be a companion.

Edited to add: I should say - on an individual level, I'm not complaining about any of the companions. As individuals, hell, even as a group, I love them. Romana and Martha and Sarah Jane and Liz Shaw and Jo Grant and Ace and Donna... I mean, come on! They're totally worth loving and looking up to. What I'm complaining about here is the built-in power dynamic - the feeling that, no matter that we don't use the word anymore, even the best of the girls is still just an assistant to the man, who is obviously the one running the show. Literally.

So here's my challenge to Moffat - I want him to change my mind about that.

Comments

[beam-oflight.livejournal.com]

She is pretty, and at least she isn't from London. But yet again a young modernday woman, come on Doctor Who is the show that's not meant to follow the general formula, but they just keep doing the same things, how about an alien, someone from the past, the future, just shake it up a bit! And yes there is an uncomfortable power dynamic developing along side teh whole mesiah complex thing they had going on. That quote is not on, and why can't boys want to be her, the companion, too while we're at it. Except jack all teh male companions have been one-dimensional and ridiculed, Mickey, Adam, I'm looking at you. I really hope they try something different next series.

[icebluenothing.livejournal.com]

It's a tough call. I don't honestly believe that Moffat is sexist -- but clearly, a fair amount of his sense of humor revolves around appearing to be sexist, it seems.

(Completely random side note -- my view of the sexism of the Doctor/companion dynamic is inherently skewed because my first Doctor was Barbara Benedetti.)

[darthparadox.livejournal.com]

Canonically, is there any reason the Doctor couldn't reincarnate as a female?

[babel.livejournal.com]

... Eugh, that quote is stomach-turning.

[vega-ofthe-lyre.livejournal.com]

I am... okay with the casting, hoping she does it in her own accent, disappointed that they didn't do anything more original with it, appalled at that statement of Moffat's. But I'm trying very hard to hold off on judging until I see what he does with the show; I'm cautiously optimistic, but more worried than I was a few months ago.

[cirakaite.livejournal.com]

Eurghh. I was really hoping that they'd break the mould a little bit more - having picked another white, youngish (well - young) doctor, maybe be a little more creative and experimental with a companion? A man, or an older woman, or someone a bit more wacky, from a different time/place in history . . . There's so much to choose from, even in terms of historic Earth.

(and if it had to be a young white woman, why not Sally Sparrow & her husband? -g- They're interesting, and work well with each other already, without needing the Doctor as Mentor and Messiah.)

[platoapproved.livejournal.com]

I hope they let her actually be Scottish, everything else aside.

I remain cautiously, staunchly optimistic. As for the quote, you've no idea what the question Moffat was asked was. It could have been something really inane about her being a role model for kids etc. Taken out of context, I am not going to use it to judge him.

[snakewhissperer.livejournal.com]

honestly? I'm going to wait how this plays out before I say anything.

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

I don't understand how people can claim that Moffat is not sexist when he said things like ''Women are needy... are only out chasing for husbands... the white middle-class male is in a constant state of apology'' and ''No woman would watch Doctor Who if we included too much technobabble'' (I'm paraphrasing, of course) and I heard that he's also put Classic Who companions into the Useless Screamer category.

[hoshinekoyasha.livejournal.com]

Moffet says stuff he knows will upset fans, I think he likes the publicity it gives. I dislike him for this because I never know when he's joking or being serious. D: