salvage of a lifetime
Apr. 29th, 2013 07:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sebastienneHas anyone got any recs for blogs that deal with race in Doctor Who?
My google-fu is all broken this morning, and I really want to read some analyses of Saturday's episode from that perspective.
OMG WOW. Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS actually managed to deliver on that incredible title. As usual, I had to circumlegate a few bits of Moffat-sexism, but in general it was a really cracking adventure. (See what I did there? Ho yes. There's a LOT in this that harks back to season 5 and I will be VERY interested to see how this pans out.)
I was interested to note that it was an episode of Who where the characters of colour outnumbered the white characters. I'd want to do some more reading up to be sure, but could that be a first? It seems pretty likely.
It's also notable that we started out with two Black men (and an android) and ended up with three Black men. It had got to the point with Moffat's Who that the appearance of a character of colour - particularly a Black man - was a goddamn plot spoiler, so certain was that character's death. So the fact that we ended up with more Black men than we started with (although, yes, they were all killed before the reset button) struck me as an intentional acknowledgement, maybe even the beginning of penance. But I don't know how much that is tempered by the characters being "brutes" and "savages", not understanding the complex technology... or how much that is tempered by there being enough Black characters to show the differences between individuals.
I saw "he's not really an android" coming a mile off, but still thought it very well executed. There are some really interesting parallels there with the Doctor's relationship with the TARDIS - taking a sentient, living being and placing them firmly in the "object I use" category. (Here, have an awesome analysis of this relationship that I found while searching for discussions of race. Which then sent my mind in the direction of, "telling someone they are an object and turning them into a slave" being presented as something that Black people do to each other which has both some historical subtlety and potentially huge problems.)
I mean, yes. I'm aware that we live in a world which is incredibly screwed up about race. I'm aware that I'm potentially contributing to that by spouting off in my own uninformed (& privileged) way rather than continuing to try to find other people's posts. If anyone reading this feels they might want to correct me or call me out, I will engage with that with humility; but also I know that it is nobody else's job to educate me.
My google-fu is all broken this morning, and I really want to read some analyses of Saturday's episode from that perspective.
OMG WOW. Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS actually managed to deliver on that incredible title. As usual, I had to circumlegate a few bits of Moffat-sexism, but in general it was a really cracking adventure. (See what I did there? Ho yes. There's a LOT in this that harks back to season 5 and I will be VERY interested to see how this pans out.)
I was interested to note that it was an episode of Who where the characters of colour outnumbered the white characters. I'd want to do some more reading up to be sure, but could that be a first? It seems pretty likely.
It's also notable that we started out with two Black men (and an android) and ended up with three Black men. It had got to the point with Moffat's Who that the appearance of a character of colour - particularly a Black man - was a goddamn plot spoiler, so certain was that character's death. So the fact that we ended up with more Black men than we started with (although, yes, they were all killed before the reset button) struck me as an intentional acknowledgement, maybe even the beginning of penance. But I don't know how much that is tempered by the characters being "brutes" and "savages", not understanding the complex technology... or how much that is tempered by there being enough Black characters to show the differences between individuals.
I saw "he's not really an android" coming a mile off, but still thought it very well executed. There are some really interesting parallels there with the Doctor's relationship with the TARDIS - taking a sentient, living being and placing them firmly in the "object I use" category. (Here, have an awesome analysis of this relationship that I found while searching for discussions of race. Which then sent my mind in the direction of, "telling someone they are an object and turning them into a slave" being presented as something that Black people do to each other which has both some historical subtlety and potentially huge problems.)
I mean, yes. I'm aware that we live in a world which is incredibly screwed up about race. I'm aware that I'm potentially contributing to that by spouting off in my own uninformed (& privileged) way rather than continuing to try to find other people's posts. If anyone reading this feels they might want to correct me or call me out, I will engage with that with humility; but also I know that it is nobody else's job to educate me.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-05-01 11:20 pm (UTC)That said, I loved the look at the TARDIS and I loved the sense of wonder about her.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-02 06:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-29 12:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-04 06:30 pm (UTC)e: I have forgotten how to do links in LJ, apparently.