Doctor Who You Calling Sexist: Martha Jones

Martha Jones

 

This is a continuation of my series exploring sexism in Doctor Who. I want to know why some people hate on Martha Jones and whether it has anything to do with gender or sexism. 

Why people love her:

She’s capable, and a fantastic problem-solver

She’s intelligent, hard-working, and independent

She cares for her family

Why people hate her:

Her unrequited love

She’s jealous, whiny, useless, and has no personality (apparently)

Her high-pitched screamy reactions

Her clothes and hair

What I think about her:

Her unrequited love: When you talk about Martha, you have to talk about the unrequited love thing. I kind of hate that this has become the most important thing about Martha, but you really can’t have a discussion of this sort without bringing it up. Either you hate her for it, or you love her in spite of it. I suppose there are a few who actually like that element, but those are rare. And even those people feel the need to speak up in defense of it, since most everyone else hates it. It’s unfortunate that it overshadows everything else about Martha. It’s especially unfortunate because I think that Martha was actually a very good companion. I will readily admit that after watching Martha’s season the first time over, I wasn’t a fan. I don’t think I ever hated her, but I did think it was a waste of good Tennant-time. All I remembered was the unrequited love. After having just re-watched season three, however, I realized that I love Martha and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

I now realize that my reaction towards Martha was really tied in with the Doctor’s reaction. There’s some really weird audience logic here that I don’t think the writers planned for. When we were introduced to the dynamic between the two characters, we went through a logical evaluation of the change that went something like this: “The Doctor doesn’t care for Martha. The Doctor is right. Therefore I don’t care for Martha.” I think the writers were hoping for something more like this: “The Doctor doesn’t care for Martha. I do care for Martha. Therefore the Doctor is wrong.” At least I like to think that’s what they wanted because that is much more interesting to explore than adding a boring companion and keeping the Doctor exactly the same, which I feel is the alternative.

What makes this season so great is that the Doctor didn’t stay the same. He went through lots of little changes, mostly internal and not all for the better. The weird consequence of this was that he kind of ignored Martha sometimes. He became very reserved and self-absorbed; sometimes when he was talking, it was like Martha wasn’t even there. Which was boring to me at the time because his reactions to both Rose and Donna were much more animated and fun. Now that I know the Doctor a little better and have seen his complex character arc, I find this part of the show one of the most interesting. It’s a time of depression for the Doctor, where he is listless and unresponsive and really has to force himself into carrying on and interacting with the world. This is an important part of his development and is one of the long roads that leads him to where he is at the end of the Tennant era, circa Waters of Mars. 

So, it’s not Martha’s fault. It’s not that Martha is a bad person, or even a poorly written character. It’s just that her character’s story and relationship to the audience was sacrificed for the Doctor’s. It’s really unfair to Martha that she was sidelined in this way. Which to me makes it that much more beautiful that she is able to break away at the end of her season and leave that hurtful relationship. She wasn’t appreciated by the Doctor and she wasn’t appreciated by us. 

Similarly, her unrequited love was the biggest part of her character because it was the most important thing for the Doctor to go through. I think it was a big factor in adding to his ego and eventually in his realizing that he isn’t human and that there are consequences to his actions that he can’t just ignore the way he ignored Martha. I found a few great comments about Martha that I’d like to include here:

“. . . I felt that parts of Martha’s character were undermined in order to further the love triangle. For example, remember that moment when the Doctor tells Jack that Rose is still alive in another universe, and Martha gets all jealous about it? As far as the audience knows, this is the first time Martha finds out what actually happened to Rose. There’s no moment of comprehension, no moment of sympathy for the Doctor or for Jack, who has just found out that his friend isn’t dead after all. There isn’t even a moment of solidarity or loss, which would be natural considering Martha’s cousin Adeola died in the same battle. Instead, there’s just a moment of petty jealousy to reinforce the idea that Martha and Rose are competing for the Doctor’s affection. Yet it felt very out of character for Martha.”

See more at http://whovianfeminism.tumblr.com/post/61545428003/confession-time-i-used-to-hate-martha-jones-used

I think that the writers also gave Martha this story-line because they thought this was an important thing to address for the audience. Since our only template at this point for human relationships with the Doctor was a romantic one, the writers needed to broaden the template, and they chose to do it slowly. The unrequited love arc was like a transition to a different type of relationship and a greater understanding of the Doctor. In this way, Martha became a sort of place-holder between Rose and Donna. Unfortunately, I think that many audience members see her only as a placeholder and don’t read into the meaty insight Martha’s story gives us. In case that’s you (as it was me), here are some thoughts from someone who did read into it:

“. . . people very fundamentally misunderstand why Martha starts the season "in love" with the Doctor. People think this has to do with an attempt to retread Rose's storyline, and stop there. That's not at all what Martha's storyline is. Rose's is a terrible tragedy. An average girl falls in love with someone who is very much not human, who falls in love with her, and she gives up her entire existence to be with him and then, due to the simple fact that he is the Doctor, she loses everything. Don't kid yourself about Rose getting what she wants with the metacrisis Doctor. He is mortal, he looks like 10, and he has his memories, but much of what Rose falls in love with is the fact that she can travel all of space and time with someone who isn't human. Metacrisis 10 is none of those things. Her story is one of fundamentally misunderstanding what the Doctor is, giving everything she has to give to be with him, and not getting any of it. Her father still dies. She loses her boyfriend. She barely gets her mom, and she's sealed in an alternate universe. Hers is a cautionary tale

Martha's story, on the other hand, is one of showing how experience with the Doctor can enrich your life. Martha is the only modern companion who has no "magical moment." She is not Bad Wolf, she is not Doctor Donna, she's not the impossible girl, she doesn't re-originate the universe with a thought. She is smart, capable, and successful before the Doctor ever gets to her, and, also unlike every other modern companion, she chooses to leave him, and in so choosing, gets everything she wants. She achieves success, she finds love, and she gets to help the Doctor (or at least further his mission of protecting the earth from outside threats) for the rest of her life.

Unfortunately, a lot of people get stuck on the "She loves Ten and she isn't Rose" and ignore the very powerful message of the rest of Martha's story. The Doctor is, and has always been, a madman with a box. He is not human. He loves humanity, but he does not understand what it means to be human. Martha sees this, and she decides to take what she has learned from him to be a better person. Every other modern companion doesn't understand this and tries to choose to travel the universe with him forever. And every other companion, so far, loses everything they have. They might find other happiness and other lives, but they never get what they really want, which, very fundamentally, is to be with the Doctor forever.
Martha is a great companion and, you're right, she gets a lot of hate because her story lacks the romanticism and tragedy of other stories. More's the pity.”
See more at https://www.reddit.com/r/doctorwho/comments/1t21d2/just_finished_season_3_why_do_people_hate_martha/

So, moving on to her personality (or lack thereof): I happen to think that Martha does have personality. But even if I didn’t, I would understand why. It makes sense that she would be the least developed because she only got one season, compared to other companions who got multiple seasons. Looking at it that way, I think it’s actually kind of surprising that Martha has as much personality as she does. Here are some more thoughts that aren’t mine:

“Another interesting thing about 42 is the fact that it is the only televised story where Martha is a full time solo companion. Before you ask what sort of drugs I have been taking, look at it logically. Up until this point she was only a guest on the TARDIS. In the immediate next episode the Doctor has made himself human so the Doctor-companion dynamic is compromised due to the absence of the Doctor. Then in the following episode both her and the Doctor are taken out of the bulk of the narrative in the hugely successful Blink. The series then concludes with a three-part story and the re-addition of Jack to the team. My point is that Martha’s time in the TARDIS was short lived anyway given she only had one series, but it was shorter than most would think. In retrospect she was probably the companion who spent the least time with the Doctor, particularly as the narrative always seemed to separate the two, (as per Gridlock, Evolution of the Daleks, 42, and Human Nature/The Family of Blood.) Perhaps it would not be too much of a stretch to suggest that the reason for this was that Martha was his intellectual and emotional equal and didn’t need as much attention as his previous companion.”

See more at http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/why-i-love-martha-jones-72440.htm

While this is an interesting observation, I would like to point out that according to the infographic I talked about in this post, Martha does have a higher average speaking time per episode than Rose. However it is true that a lot of her time is spent without the Doctor. On the one hand, I like this because it gives her the opportunity to show how capable, independent, and intelligent she is. If I had to give Martha one label, it would be problem-solver. I noticed how often she comes up with solutions on her own in this season, and it’s almost every episode. I don’t agree with people who say Martha was useless, because she just wasn’t. I think she saved the Doctor more times than Rose did, and she also supported him financially and was able to do lots of things without being told exactly what to do. The episode most cited by naysayers is Human Nature, where the Doctor has lost his memories and Martha complains that she doesn’t know what to do. First of all, this is a two-part episode, and Martha takes charge and succeeds in bringing the Doctor back in the second part. So I think her uncertainty was more for dramatic effect than anything. Second of all, I think that every companion has a moment (actually multiple) like this. For Rose it’s the Christmas episode, and for Donna it happens in The Poison Sky, where she’s trapped onboard a Sontaran ship without him. So it’s not a flaw in Martha’s character, but rather something that the writers just like to write about a lot.

Even though I think of Martha as a capable and skilled person, she does have some problematic lines that undermine her autonomy and ability. For instance, she says, “you got me this job” talking about her job with UNIT. I don’t know why the writers chose to include lines like this. I think that this is at odds with her actions, which show her to be very capable. While it may be true that UNIT valued her (at least at first) principally for her time with the Doctor, it is not true that the Doctor got her the job. She herself developed and presented the skills and attributes that got her the job, of which her relationship with the Doctor was one (and really, she was the one who put in effort to develop the relationship with him and not the other way around). I personally think that the writers should have paid more attention to the consequences of those types of lines and either not put them in, or explored them more. It would be fine if Martha had some sort of complex about being skilled and qualified, but she didn’t. So don’t make us have one either. Maybe this had an impact on viewers’ perceptions of her effectiveness and added to the Martha-hate.

I’ve talked a bit about her jealousy above, so I’ll just talk about it briefly here. I think the love-triangle thing was dealt with really sloppily by the writers. Either they weren’t concerned with the fact that it would make her look bad in front of the audience, or they thought that she would be redeemed in the audience’s eyes at the end of her season with her dramatic change. Either way, I think it could have been done better. As for her “whining,” I reject this objection. I think her (small amount of) whining was justified. We have all gone through unrequited love and I bet you none of us was as graceful as she was. Furthermore, the Doctor really did not treat her very well. He didn’t want her and he wasn’t afraid to show it. It’s not even just that he wasn’t interested in her romantically, he actually sometimes acted like he didn’t want her in any capacity—he wanted to be alone. And to top it off, then he turned around and complained about her to Donna—talk about whining!

Her voice: I haven’t heard this criticism much, but I mention it here because it’s something I’m very sensitive to. I’ve been made fun of for my voice a lot. Specifically that it’s high-pitched and gets louder and more high-pitched the more emotional I am. I have very little control over this, and believe me I try not to do it. Maybe it really is annoying. Like objectively annoying and not culturally annoying. I don’t know. But anyway, enough about me, because Martha does it too. Sometimes when something crazy happens her reaction is loud and high-pitched. Sometimes I think it makes it funny, but sometimes apparently it’s the most annoying thing in the world. This part of Martha’s personality probably isn’t written in the script. It’s probably not chosen by the director either; my intuition is that it’s an actor thing. And I don’t think it’s wrong for Freema to have chosen to portray her that way. Maybe it wasn’t even a conscious choice and we are actually seeing the way that Freema reacts to things in real life, which is fine because a lot of female people do react that way. Actually, I’m pretty convinced that male people also do this with their voices. I think it’s just a natural thing that voices do. The issue I have with this is that for some reason, it’s not okay when Martha does it. And this goes for a lot of people, almost exclusively women, including myself. I’m just tired of people saying it’s not okay that our voices do what they naturally do because they reside in a higher register. This is not a good reason to hate a person.

Her hair and clothes: This one I saw a little more often. Mostly I think it’s actually more of a consequence of Martha-hate than it is a reason to hate her even though that’s how people use it. Again, I personally don’t think it’s a good reason to hate someone and I don’t really know how to discuss this. Though there is one thing I want to address: I saw some people saying that they hated Martha because she dressed like a slut. I hope these people are just internet trolls. First of all, she didn’t. She was fully clothed at all times, which is more than you can say about the Doctor. Second of all, she should be free to express her sexuality and her sense of fashion however she wants. There are better ways to critique a character than trying to slut-shame her to diminish her credibility and value.

Conclusion

I really like Martha, and it makes me sad to think she is under-appreciated. I wish that the writers had given her arc and development more attention instead of prioritizing the Doctor over her. I think the writing could have been better, and in this particular way it was decidedly not feminist. I do concede that the Doctor is the main character and as such may be "more important." One, there's an easy way to make this feminist: let the Doctor be a woman. And two, we see plenty of shows where secondary characters are given fair character development, so why not in this one? I just think that Martha gets a bad rap, from both the writers and especially the audience. I think it's particularly interesting that she gets much more criticism than the Doctor did in that season.

Anyway, I don’t claim to know everything (or really anything) about why people love/hate Martha. This is just my thoughts after re-watching her season a second time. And I know this has been kind of a defense of Martha, because I do like her a lot. So feel free to tell me in the comments what you think!

And in case you’re interested, here is a link to my discussions of the other companions.

Doctor Who You Calling Sexist: Rose Tyler

Rose Tyler

What people love about her:

Her compassion, youthful perspective, and bravery

Her romance with the Doctor

What people hate about her:

Her romance with the Doctor

She’s selfish, jealous, whiny, mean, and a “whore”

She didn’t deserve to be the Doctor’s favorite

Her face

What I think about her:

Her romance: I’m going to say, first off, that I quite liked this romance. This is because I felt it was more of a deep respect and emotional need for each other than an immature lust or teenage obsession. It was really almost platonic for the majority of what we saw of the two of them actually together and didn’t read like your average romance thrown in to keep viewer interest. I thought this was an interesting dynamic and it didn’t bother me that they went in that direction because I felt it was earned. That being said, some people obviously disagree with me. I’m not really sure why this is, but I guess it’s okay.

Her personality: I don’t quite get this either. I don’t love or hate her personality, I just really appreciate that she actually has one. I’m really glad that with the reboot they chose to make the show about the companion just as much as about the Doctor. I think the first season does that more than any other, because it’s really framed as if from Rose’s perspective, and the Doctor is still kind of an enigma. I really like this because I think she’s easier to relate to, and it makes the show, for me at least, more emotionally worthwhile and less about the superficial coolness of alien adventures.

So about her personality specifically: selfish, jealous, etc. Some of this I think is down to poor writing, and some of it is down to viewer preference. Take, for example, selfishness. This is one thing that just goes to show that people will see whatever they want to see. People who hate Rose tend to say she’s selfish and people who love Rose tend to say she’s selfless. I guess in a way she is both. She’s absolutely willing to risk her own life to save others, and we saw this in nearly every episode. At the same time, she sometimes wasn’t very concerned with others’ feelings and tended to prioritize her own agenda over that of others. But guess who else does this: The Doctor. I wish the writing had brought out this comparison in a more pronounced way. It actually makes sense that Rose starts doing this more and more as she spends time with him. What doesn’t make sense is that people totally rag on her for it while at the same time giving the Doctor a free pass. I’ve been doing some research on peoples’ perceptions on different genders doing the same things, and how female characters are very often viewed more negatively than male characters when doing the exact same things. These things are usually contradicting or disregarding a traditionally feminine trait, which means that the female character is automatically judged for not being “a good woman.” (Nevermind whether she’s being a good leader or a good hero.) So for example, when Rose stops being considerate of other peoples’ feelings and starts to let her relationships slide, she gets punished for it by the viewers because women are supposed to care a lot about what others think and always pander to other people to maintain likability. We don’t have this limiting paradigm for male characters, and so we don’t hold them to it. This is a vast oversimplification of the phenomenon, but based on my research, I think it stands in this instance and many others when it comes to criticism of companions.

Then there’s how Rose treats Jackie and Mickey. Again, I think these are very interesting relationships. People say Rose is selfish because she chose the Doctor over her family. Disregarding the fact that every companion ever has basically done this, I find this kind of a lame thing to hate Rose over. I’m sure I would have made the same choice in her position. And this is actually a really interesting idea. I think it explores how kids like Rose grow up and go out and explore and get an education and then feel torn between what they know now and how much they’ve grown and what they want to do and their uneducated and not understanding parents. I get that Rose didn’t know how to navigate this perfectly, but isn’t that the point? That we get to explore this and feel sad that we want her to have both worlds and understand that she can’t? I mean, I’m probably reading too much into it, but I just don’t hate Rose for this.

A lot of people get upset over Rose’s relationship with Mickey. And it was an unhealthy and sad relationship. But it’s not the relationship they hate, it’s Rose (note: not Mickey). I don’t mind that the writers wrote this relationship; again, I think it is interesting and I think it worked as a story point to add tension and humor. However, I wouldn’t say they did a fantastic job writing it, which adds to why it is hard for some people to get into. It felt like the same things were getting re-hashed over and over, and some of it was under-developed. But overall, I think it did end up going somewhere and resolving nicely. Here’s what I liked about this relationship: it was pretty realistic. At least, it rang true to me. It was complicated and messy and it wasn’t anywhere near the “true love” standard we hold for relationships. It was really quite dysfunctional in a lot of ways and reminded me of some relationships I had in high school. It’s just a personal pet-peeve of mine when people hate on things like this because I think it is some of the most true to what real people would do. Anyway, it’s interesting to me that people hate on Rose and not Mickey. After having just watched seasons one and two again, I’ve come to the conclusion that Mickey was just as dysfunctional in the relationship as Rose. Rose may have been the catalyst in changing the dynamic by leaving with the Doctor, but that doesn’t make her wrong. In fact, I think that was absolutely the right thing to do. She and Mickey were never going to work. I mean, I thought it was pretty clear from the first episode that Rose wasn’t super happy in the relationship, but that they had been that way for so long that she didn’t know if she wanted to get out of it. (I seriously remember thinking this the very first episode, so it probably isn’t confirmation bias) And soon she found out that she did want something more. She had literally known Mickey since she was a baby. Even once she got smart about the relationship there was no way for her to just erase him. It’s natural to want to stay close to someone when you have a relationship like that. Mickey did the same thing. He whined passive-aggressively and continued trying to shove himself into her life when she had been pretty clear that she wasn’t into it. I don’t really know why we are more sympathetic towards him than her.

Some people have complained that Rose “cheated” on Mickey with Jack and Adam, and this is why they hate her. First of all, I don’t really buy this. I think it was pretty clear that Rose and Mickey were on a “break.” Furthermore, If Rose cheated on Mickey, then Mickey also cheated on Rose because he admitted right after Rose met Jack that he had been seeing someone else for a good chunk of time. And he’d been actually dating her while Rose had really just been flirting. So why don’t we hate him? There’s also the issue that Rose flirted with Mickey and Adam and Jack and the Doctor in the first season and that makes her far too loose to be liked. Again, I think this is silly. In fact, it’s another pet peeve of mine. I think that most people flirt far more than they’re willing to admit. And, I think that’s a part of Rose’s character that is really realistic and nothing to punish her for. She had this incredible opportunity to completely change her life, and part of figuring out who she should be now naturally involved testing out her sexuality and relationships to other people.

That being said, I think there are a few legitimate things to dislike about the character. One is her jealousy. While I think this is something you would expect them to explore in the show, I think that the writers dealt with it really indelicately. I was sad that Sarah Jane had to be subjected to such abuse. Because that was only really half of one episode, Rose had to go from a high level of vitriol to a high level of comradery really fast and it just wasn’t earned or explored or interesting. I think it also was pretty tropy, though I was thankful that the writers did let her get over it quickly. I can’t think of any other instance where Rose’s jealousy bothered me in the show, but this really sticks out in my head.

Another thing I thought was weird was the moment where Mickey asks to come aboard the TARDIS and Rose gets this really huffy, juvenile look on her face. While I think that it maybe does make sense that she wouldn’t be super pleased, I thought this was dealt with really poorly too. It was never addressed, and though I think Rose got used to the idea quickly once she got over her initial reaction, this was never explicit and left us with that distinct negative feeling towards Rose. Because it really was kind of a bratty reaction, which I think would have been fine (and again, realistic) if only the writers would have dealt with that tension more explicitly.

And the last thing I dislike about Rose was the whining over the Doctor’s regeneration in the first Christmas special. It just dragged on and was turned into a bit of a tantrum, which resulted in Rose not doing anything for an entire episode. Again, I think the writers were trying to use her to help us transition from one Doctor to another. I think they underestimated our ability to transition on our own. After all, who could not be pleased by David Tennant? It’s also just not a positive attribute ever, whether it’s realistic or not. I’m sad that they wrote her whiny because to me that episode was the beginning of a lot of people writing her off as a useless and stupid teenage girl (in a very pejorative sense, which is just an unfortunate reality).

What Rose does and doesn’t deserve: Apparently some people are just mad that of all of time and space, the Doctor chose Rose Tyler. I think this argument has some classist undertones (among other things) to be honest. I’ve heard people say that the Doctor should end up with someone more impressive and accomplished—an astrophysicist or something—and that a “shop girl” just isn’t good enough for the Doctor. I think these people are totally missing the point of what the writers were trying to say about the Doctor with this relationship (whether that’s down to their poor perception and unwillingness to go with where the writers were taking them or the writers’ poor communication and failure to convince people). The point was that he fell in love with someone who was ordinary but innocent. At least that’s what I got. I also think it was a weird way to set up the show to have the Doctor have this great love in the first two seasons and then have to measure every other companion up to her instead of building up to a love interest. I think the writers misjudged the audience here—we’re not really used to this type of set-up and I think some people resented it (which turned into Rose-hate). I think people generally got annoyed with the romance after-the-fact, when we had to see every other companion compared to her by the Doctor.

There’s also some tension, though, between whether Rose is his “true love” or not. I don’t think she really even is, because I personally don’t think there is such thing as true love. She was just what he needed and wanted at that time and that’s okay. Some people point out that in the 50^th anniversary, the Moment took her form and that must mean that she is the Doctor’s favorite. However, I actually disagree with this too (shocker!) The Moment took the form of Bad Wolf, not Rose Tyler. This is because Bad Wolf literally knew everything about time and space, and there was no one the Doctor was more likely to trust than someone like that. Of course, it’s also important that he cared for Rose Tyler, but that doesn’t mean she was his one and only love. So there’s still hope for whomever you want the Doctor to fall in love with, and there’s no need to be angry.

And finally, the complaint about Billie Piper’s face. This is probably actually the one I’ve heard most often, (besides maybe the b-word) which is pretty disturbing to me. This is obviously viewer preference and has nothing to do with the writing. First of all, it shouldn’t matter what her face looks like, because she shouldn’t be there to be physically attractive to viewers. If the point of her character was to be attractive, I would get it, but it’s not. It’s to be a realistic person. I mean, no one cares that Mickey isn’t attractive. The specific thing about Billie’s face that people don’t like is her teeth and that she does this weird thing that I can’t explain where she juts her bottom jaw out. I guess I can’t stop people from being annoyed at her appearance, so whatever. However, I will say one thing. Have you noticed that Captain Jack also does this really weird thing with his mouth? Well lots of people have, only none of them say that they hate him over it. Coincidentally, very few of them seem to think he is too flirty, either.

All the other things I can think of to hate about Rose I put down to poor character development. I thought that the first season was very good as far as writing for Rose was concerned. She was capable and curious and she was interesting because she brought something to the table. There were some really great moments with Jackie and with Harriet Jones. And Rose stands up to the Doctor, changes him into a better person, and saves the day. I think that this is the Rose we love. But the second season is really quite different. They immediately took away Rose’s victory. She couldn’t even remember that she had done something so amazing and saved the Doctor, and had known literally everything and been all-powerful for a few moments. She goes about the entire next episode complaining, saying that she’s useless without the Doctor, and crying over his regeneration. It just came out of the blue and didn’t make sense because she had been really capable in the earlier season; there was no transition to this feeling of inadequacy, and no transition out of it (when she shows up in later seasons she is more capable, but we don’t get to see the transition). It’s the next episode where she’s jealous of Sarah Jane. And then, she’s selfishly rude to Mickey and doesn’t want him to come along in the Tardis. Both of these come out of nowhere, which is part of why they were so shocking to us. And she never gets to save the day again. Not this season, anyway. This is the Rose that we hate. To me, her character development felt relatively disjointed, unexplained, and all over the place. I doubt this was purposeful, which could show a lack of attention to her character development in the second season. I think it’s irresponsible to treat your main female character this way when your development for your male character is much more stable and positive. It’s also a real shame.

The first season had 5 different writers with RTD writing 8 of the 13 episodes. The second season had 7 different writers with RTD writing 6 of 14 episodes. I thought maybe this might have had an effect, with the different writers pulling Rose in different directions. I’m not sure if it did. And then again, maybe I’m the only one confused by Rose’s changes in the second season. I just noticed that she was much less endearing and much more annoying in the second season.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts. I’m still not sure what to think about why so many people hate Rose. What do you think?

Doctor Who You Calling Sexist: Companions

In this post, I’m going to talk about each of the official companions of New Who. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m really interested in what makes us love and/or hate them, and whether it has anything to do with gender or sexism. In this post, I will be moving out of the realm of semi-empirical “science” and into the ether of opinion. Which is why I really want to hear what you guys think! So feel free to sound off in the comments.

I was originally just going to write a short blurb about each, but I got a little carried away. In light of how long the post would be if I left it all as one, I’m simply going to link to a separate discussion of each companion below.

Each post will probably be in the same format. I’m going to mention why people love/hate each companion according to the internet; this comes from a general sense I got from talking to people and from scanning google. Feel free to do the same, as I don’t want to have to go through and link each reason. Then I’ll talk about what I think about all this. I’ll try to look critically and not just defend, although I make no promises. There might be some ranting.

So, without further ado, here are the links:

Rose Tyler

Martha Jones
Donna Noble 
Amy Pond

On this page I also have some general thoughts about things all the companions have in common.

The Companions are less intelligent than the Doctor

This is something that I think sort of makes sense. It’s not surprising that the Doctor knows more about physics and aliens than a London shop girl or an English teacher because he travels through space and time in a relative dimension machine that he owns and maintains himself. Also he was born on a more advanced planet and is hundreds of years older than everyone else. So when he travels around with earthlings it makes sense that they tend to come off as really thick next to him. Then add this to how the writers use this dynamic: sometimes the companion’s relative stupidity makes them the butt of the joke. The writers also tend to use the companion as a sort of audience-surrogate—to ask all the questions so that the audience can have all the answers. They also use the companions to move the plot or cause, which often includes making mistakes and not knowing what to do. So I’d say it wasn’t sexism that caused the writers to write female characters that seem a little stupid to the audience. The sexist feel that comes from the girl always being less intelligent than the boy, following him around and doing as he tells her is just a byproduct of the Doctor/companion dynamic.

But that doesn’t make it not sexist. Just because they didn’t mean it to be sexist doesn’t mean it’s not adding to hurtful stereotypes about all the things men are better at then women. That being said, I think the show has done a bit to mitigate or alleviate this effect. The companions are almost always more emotionally in-tune than the Doctor, (though this is still playing into stereotypes) which means that every now and then they get to teach him something about humanity. The exception to this is Amy, who isn’t really very good at connecting with people; however she still gets to show the Doctor humany things as she is still a human being. And there is one female character that doesn’t often come off as stupid. River is in the rare position of sometimes knowing more than the Doctor, which is really cool to see (not just because she’s a woman, but just in general too!) Another thing that should help take the pressure off the women is Mickey and Rory, who both end up being the butts of the jokes more often than not when they’re around. However, I think that that has kind of had an opposite effect in that then the female characters that interact with them get nailed for treating them like they’re stupid; instead of seeming less stupid, they just seem more mean. And, somehow people still tend to rail on female companions they don’t like by calling them stupid even though I think they’re all quite clever and equally great people.

The Companions are obsessed with the Doctor

This is another thing that kind of makes sense. I mean, the viewers are all obsessed with the Doctor too. It fits right in with my companions-are-audience-surrogates theory. I see a few problems with this trend in the show though. First, it feeds into the obsessive girlfriend trope. And this is just annoying. Not because obsessive people are annoying (I try to avoid judgments like that), but because it rarely gets the in-depth treatment we need to see as audience members. Again, I think that the writers have tried to explore this. But not enough. It’s been there in every companion’s story and tends to make them seem silly. The biggest example of obsession is in Amy’s storyline. I’d say actually, it’s a bit tragic and wasn’t really fair to Amy. If you think about it, you can see that it really turned Amy’s life upside down and that damage was never addressed satisfactorily. The Doctor never apologized and then he just moved on instead of taking responsibility. He went on to do a similar thing with Clara, and so that unhealthy obsession thing never gets dealt with. That’s not really a healthy thing for girls to aspire to in their relationships, or boys for that matter, either. It’s also not necessary. If you’re going to introduce something like that, you should deal with it a little more delicately.

Anyway, just some ideas. Comment below if you agree/disagree.