I am no real fan of Dr Who – I don’t watch it and my kids have only just watched their first episode, so I have not been forced to see it out of family duty. It is a flagship show for the BBC, and has been since its own regeneration (starting with Christopher Eccleston). With Peter Capaldi’s tenure now over, the 13th Time Lord will be selected. For the last few incarnations of this sci-fi protagonist, there was talk, predominantly social media buzz, about whether this fictional TV character might be a woman.
Well, it’s happened.
And, really, who gives a shit? Well, apparently some people do.
The Daily Star reported about the “backlash” in their article: “BBC faces backlash as new Doctor Who announced as a woman: ‘Politically correct rubbish'”:
But while many celebrated the news, Twitter was awash with countless angry viewers.
“WHO is that woman? What total rubbish. I shall never watch it again. #jodiewhittaker #travesty,” one fan fumed.
“RIP Doctor Who 1963-2017, will be sadly missed,” a second added.
A third continued: “#Doctor13 politically correct bulls***.”
A fourth wrote: “Doctor Who its becoming a farce now.”
Meanwhile, others claimed they will never watch the show again.
“Thats the last series of #doctorwho confirmed. What a load of s***,” one gutted fan tweeted.
“Incredibly disappointed. RIP #DoctorWho,” another said.
“After 53 years of loving the show, Christmas 2017 will be my last episode.”
“RIP Doctor Who 1963-2017. Was good while it lasted,” an angry fan raged.
“The Doctor never has and never will be a woman #DoctorWho13”
Oh dear. What a bunch of pricks. Get over it.
There have been plenty of comebacks on Twitter, for example:
Got a problem with Jodie Whittaker playing a NON-BINARY ALIEN after over half a century of men playing the role?
This is amazing. A role that has no boundaries and can be played by literally anyone. JUST THINK OF THAT. Incredible.
#DoctorWho13My two daughters are dancing around the living room at this news. This stuff matters. Can’t wait!
#DoctorWho13The real frustration here is that she’s STILL. Not. Ginger.
#DoctorWho13*Enters mind of someone who objects to woman taking role of Doctor Who* “Wow, it’s so much smaller on the inside”
#DoctorWho13
And so on.
Let’s remind people that the Good Doctor is a fictional character whose rights is owned by the BBC and their writers. It’s their money and they can write about whomsoever they want in whatever way they want. If people don’t like the choice, then the viewership will drop and they can react in whatever way they want. This is really a great thing insofar as it breaks down barriers that still exist. Strong female characters are necessary to see for children.
Let’s remember that the Time Lord is an alien and there is only the precedence of what the writers have already decided of him. There is no prescription here. They can do what they want.
Andm mincidentally, the choice is great – Jodie Whittaker was superb in both series of Broadchurch.
This is all very similar to the idea that James Bond might eventually be someone black – Idris Elba is often touted. This equally sends certain twitter users apoplectic.
Again, losers. This also pertains to a fictional character. The original author is now long-dead and wiki states of Bond’s conceptual evolution:
Fleming based his fictional creation on a number of individuals he came across during his time in the Naval Intelligence Division during World War II, admitting that Bond “was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types I met during the war”.[2] Among those types were his brother, Peter, who had been involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war.[3] Aside from Fleming’s brother, a number of others also provided some aspects of Bond’s make up, including Conrad O’Brien-ffrench, Patrick Dalzel-Job and Bill “Biffy” Dunderdale.[2]
But again, even though we can almost certainly surmise that there were no black officers or colleagues of Fleming during the war (though not definitely), and though Fleming may not have ever considered a black person in that role, who cares? I mean, really, who cares? This isn’t an attempt at a historically accurate portrayal of Henry VIII where a black king would be historically inaccurate. This is a fictional hero type battling Britain’s enemies. There’s nothing to say they can’t be black.
And this isn’t PC gone mad. The point is that we shouldn’t care about whether these characters are portrayed by a woman or someone of an ethnic minority. We need to be in a place where we barely notice these things, because demanding a fictional character with no warranted sense of ought, to demand this person ought to be white and male… is nonsense.
Get over it, naysayers.