Doctor Who: The Rings of Check Your Privilege

[lizbee]

I have to go out, so my actual episode reaction will be up in a few hours, but in the meantime, I had to react to some stuff I've seen.  Mostly on Tumblr, yeah, but what can you do?



1.  If you think that losing a mother at an early age is unrealistic and bad writing, I've got some sad news for you. 

1a.  If you think Dead Mother Angst is a bit cliche, yeah, it is, but it's not something DW has ever explored much before.

2.  I'd really like to see the cut of the episode where Clara's dad was fleshed out with lots of personality beyond Being Clara's Dad.  Because apparently that ... happened?

3.  If a five foot two woman standing beside a five foot eleven man is the most misogynist thing you've ever seen, then (a) I envy you, and (b) again, alas, it is something that happens in real life with depressing regularity.  Well, to me.  It happens to me.

3a.  If you think the only acceptable treatment of short women is to pretend they're tall, I ... I don't really know what to do with that.  But I feel bad for you, I guess.

4.  Clara reminds the Doctor of Victorian!Clara and Oswin.  Not Amy.  Certainly not Rose Tyler, who isn't even dead.  THIS ISN'T COMPLICATED, GUYS.  IT'S AIMED AT EIGHT YEAR OLDS.

I was going to say that Doctor Who fandom is the only one that complains when the show is too clever, but then I remembered Avatar fandom complaining that LoK had too much showing and not enough telling.

Comments

[drakyndra]

3. If a five foot two woman standing beside a five foot eleven man is the most misogynist thing you've ever seen, then (a) I envy you, and (b) again, alas, it is something that happens in real life with depressing regularity. Well, to me. It happens to me.

3a. If you think the only acceptable treatment of short women is to pretend they're tall, I ... I don't really know what to do with that. But I feel bad for you, I guess.

...What is this I don't even

ETA: Oh, and apparently Clara's Dad has an actual name! (Dave) But you need to look at the credits to find it.

[eve11]

Well, to me. It happens to me.

Me too! Quite a lot. The coworkers I work with the most are all over 6ft.

Clara's dad did talk to the Doctor for several notebook pages in the last episode, mostly about the government. He seems a bit of a romantic, with the idea of the leaf.

I can't believe the Doctor didn't have anything useful in his pockets besides the sonic.

[sabra_n]

I can't believe the Doctor didn't have anything useful in his pockets besides the sonic.

Yeah, that felt like the Doctor testing Clara somehow - maybe a simulacrum can't have real sentimental objects?- or maybe teaching her the true first lesson of traveling with him: The Doctor is a bastard.

[eve11]

Or, "doesn't matter what it is, the Doctor never has local currency." He's such a cheap date! All of (free) time and space... ;D

[neadods]

I shall have to tell a long-married couple I know that apparently their marriage is a monument to misogyny solely due to their respective heights.

I'm also going to have to tell another friend that her mother's early demise was unrealistic.

[nonelvis]

3 & 3a: ... what. Does this make me a secret misogynist for marrying a man fourteen inches taller than I am? Have I let the sisterhood down? PLEASE, TUMBLR, SHARE YOUR BOUNDLESS WISDOM ON THIS TOPIC WITH ME.

4. *headdesk*

(Not that I'm surprised by the reaction, but still.)

[nostalgia]

Rose isn't dead? I thought she was, from the way fandom talked about her.

[cyprinella]

I often grump at my husband for being tall for no reason. Now I know it's just his misogyny growing.

[amphigorym_2011]

Wait. People are considering it misogynistic that 11's taller than Clara? They ARE aware that Matt Smith has always been 5'11", right. And that he was also taller than Amy and Rory. I've got a niece who's 5'11" and her husband is 6'2"-I suppose they'd consider that misogynist as well? And she's the tallest woman in my family-the rest of us average anywhere from 5'2" to 5'5".

Ah Tumblr. What won't you bitch about?

[copracat]

1. If you think that losing a mother at an early age is unrealistic and bad writing, I've got some sad news for you.

How very fucking lucky to not know that people die at every age. And yes, I would like you to imagine the bitterest sarcasm in the delivery of that sentence.

[lyssie]

O.o o.O

Oh, fandom. Never change. (yes, dead mothers are a staple and grand tradition of SF/F, but we haven't had one on Who before. And I prefer it to the constant family soap opera nonsense of other eras)

As for height, I'm not sure what to tell people. Karen G. was taaaalll. Jenna L C is not. She's my roommate's height. And they can't just constantly put her on boxes, sheesh.

[lyssie]

Ace keeps showing up and stealing all his currency.

[wolfy_writing]

My dad is over a foot taller than my mom. I was unaware that it was misogyny for them to be around each other.

[violetisblue]

"If a five foot two woman standing beside a five foot eleven man is the most misogynist thing you've ever seen..."

Damn, this means that for feminism's sake I need to make sure I'm never in the same room with my father or all but one of my male co-workers ever again. Time to go start writing the explanatory e-mails.

[amphigorym_2011]

So how do we correct this inequality? Either Matt has to spend all his time on his knees, or any woman shorter than him is required to wear super high heels. Or possibly walk on stilts.

[deird1]

Stuck in another universe - but not dead, technically.

[wolfy_writing]

I suspect they'll demand going back to the good old days when a lack of misogyny meant that the 5'5" Billie Piper was the exact same height as the 6'1" David Tennant.

[radiantbaby]

I'm 5'2" and my husband is 6'. Now I'm on the lookout for the creeping misogyny that's going to define us. Or not.

Oh, fandom. Why does this sadly remind me of when parts of fandom stated that Martha didn't 'look right' standing next to Tennant in the S3 promo photos because she was black?

[danel4d]

He actually wears the glasses a few times, which surely count since he nicked them off Amy.

[danel4d]

4. Clara reminds the Doctor of Victorian!Clara and Oswin. Not Amy. Certainly not Rose Tyler, who isn't even dead. THIS ISN'T COMPLICATED, GUYS. IT'S AIMED AT EIGHT YEAR OLDS.

I'm not sure that it's not also a little nod to the Rose and Martha situation though, at least on a meta-level. Clara gets to say the things that Martha should've had a chance to say, not realising that the truth is actually weirder than she knows.

[jesuswasbatman]

Yeah, I really thought that dialogue was a meta-message about how they are not going to fuck up the Doctor's relationship with the second companion as badly as RTD did.

[silverhare]

*snorts*

[kerravonsen]

Clara gets to say the things that Martha should've had a chance to say
Yes.

[fahrbotdrusilla]

LOL, that's a thing? I thought the last one was obvious!

[fahrbotdrusilla]

Yeah that's true, but it wasn't "you remind me of Amy" it was "you remind me of... you sort of shush I know you're not her"

[marymac]

She's about 17/18? I think? Both my mum's parents were gone by then. I should tell her she's an unrealistic badly written cliche. Then run away. Very fast.

Height is misogynist? Sooo, there's a national conspiracy to make the average English male height 5'10" and female height 5'3" just to keep women down, or something?

[frayadjacent]

Yes, in a Watsonian sense the Doctor was obviously referring to the other Claras. But in a Doylist sense I did take it as a reference to what Martha went through and perhaps as a reassurance to viewers that Clara was not going to be his Amy-rebound. And of course it also established that this Clara is not the same character as, or at least not identical to, the previous ones. But why would someone have a problem with any of that?

[sabotabby]

It's probably good that I don't participate in Tumblr discussions, isn't it?

I thought it was refreshing that Clara's dad got no real personality outside of being Clara's dad. Normally that's reserved for fictional mothers.

Anyway, I quite liked this one.

[ladymercury_10]

Yes, this!

[prof_pangaea]

however, you may stand next to me ALL THE TIME. as a 5'2" tall man, it is scientifically proven that it is impossible for me to be sexist.

the prof_, there for all your non-misongynist standing next to you needs!

[violetisblue]

Thank God for small, shrimpy, EXTREMELY FEMINIST mercies. ;-D

[tenlittlebullets]

I mean, they do look kinda funny standing next to each other, but that's because Freema is flawlessly, just-stepped-out-of-a-skin-cream-commercial beautiful and Tennant's got a wonky face. *g* Different styles of hot. Sounds like some people are butthurt that there's a whole season where Ten isn't the prettiest princess on the screen.

[radiantbaby]

Very true, Freema is just absolutely stunning! (In fact, she's the only reason I watched 'The Carrie Diaries' -- she's just so pretty to look at)