On the significance of Clara's birthdate - meta and speculation

[ibishtar]

[Spoilers for up to and including The Snowmen (click to open)]
"Nothing is truly forgotten. And if it can be remembered, it can be brought back."
-The Doctor, The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang
"Remember me, for we shall meet again"
-Clara's tombstone, The Snowmen
"We are all stories, in the end."
-River Song, The Pandorica Opens/ The Big BangClara Oswin Oswald's tombstone says that she was born November 23rd 1866

Comments

[fannishliss]

Very interesting indeed. I love the idea that Clara could be a meta speculation about the show itself.

I've always had a feeling that Moffat's universe isn't quite real...that is, the universe since the Doctor saw the Crack in reality. what if Clara is a part or symptom of that unreality?

[ibishtar]

That is an interesting idea! The Universe has been re-written so many times in the last few series, one can almost picture a writer continually crumpling and throwing away pages from the story being written and adding new ones. Would tie in with the idea that once something is written down it becomes real (Angels Take Manhattan), everything being stories in the end, and has further parallels with The Neverending Story, which seemed like an inspiration for the S5 finale. Clara can be one of those characters in search of an author, or something, the same character constantly showing up in different kinds of stories.

[fannishliss]

There is a series of children books that this reminds me of, by Roderick Townley: The Great Good Thing (2001), Into the Labyrinth (2002) and the Constellation of Sylvie (2006). The main point of view character, Sylvie, is literally a character in a book, and when the book is opened she must act out the story, but when the book is closed, she can relax and roam about in her own world. Clara resembles that model, in that she reappears/remakes herself as a character in different eras, different stories.

I'm reminded of that striking image from the opening of s5 when the gigantic eye peers down at Our Heroes. It's so reminiscent of when a reader opens the book Sylvie is a character in.

[ibishtar]

What a fascinating idea! I love that kind of stuff, so I'm going to keep that book series in mind, cheers!

[light_frost]

I haven't got any speculation or theories, but I think it's really interesting that Clara is a representation of Doctor Who. It fits very well with the other bits of meta (especially the recurring question of "Doctor who?" and the Doctor's true name). So, I don't know how it all fits together, but I really like that it somehow does.

[ibishtar]

I like it too! It's a pretty exciting thing to think about, even if it ends up being background colour and not overtly part of the plot.

[light_frost]

Right! It definitely adds an interesting bit of symbolism which is nice to muse over, I think.

[stars_inthe_sky]

But a third, 21st century version will be the one that finally sticks and travels with the Doctor.

Do we know that for sure? Based on the "coming soon" trailer, there's a chance she could continue being the same person while still being Rory's record for Most Deaths of A Single Character*...

*Obviously, Jack Harkness has been disqualified from the running.

[ibishtar]

No, I don't know for sure, it's just how I think it will go. In narrative terms, now that the Doctor knows about Clara's mystery there's no need for the third version of her glimpsed at the end of The Snowmen to die in her first episode as well. In fact, I think that would be crass. So I think Clara #3 will be the one we get to know.

[ibishtar]

That is interesting, because it bugged me that the Universe thinking the Doctor is dead somehow came to mean that the Doctor's records have been erased everywhere. That does not make sense in the slightest. I suppose the idea is that the Doctor somehow managed to erase his records, like with the computer virus that could delete all mentions of him on the Internet (Series One, World War Three). But the Silence being responsible for the Doctor's erasure along with his death (adding insult to injury!) is another possibility, although it would be strange for the Doctor not to think something is fishy if he didn't do it himself.

[middlegirl]

I did a quick Google image search and found that the tombstone does say the 24th.

I don't know if the writers were intenting to go so meta with Clara's character, but even if not, it's really sweet that they made her birthday November 23.

[ibishtar]

I made a typo! Her deathdate is indeed December 24th rather than the 14th. Yeah, there's a chance that I'm looking too deeply into this and Clara's birthdate is just a sweet little tribute rather than a piece of some masterplan, but I reckon Steven Moffat has spent much longer thinking these things over than I have and so there's a good chance it is all intentional.

[ibishtar]

Yes, it should say December 24th instead of 14th, I made a typo. Fixing it now, thanks!