Auntie Beeb's programming-related thoughts, part 1.
I'm a week behind on Doctor Who, but I can safely say that "Daleks in Manhattan" (ZOMG! Spoilahs in teh title! There's Daleks! In Manhattan!) made me want to smack Uncle Rusty soundly with a giant trout for his team's mishandling of 1930s-era racial politics.
The utterly dreadful Tennessee and New York accents from Frank and Tallulah aside, I thought that this latest bout of "let's not notice Martha is black and also wearing leather and jeans" was even more ridiculous than in "The Shakespeare Code." The fact that no one blinked twice at her, that Solomon was so well-dressed and in a position of power in Hooverville... it just had me snorting (much like a pig slave) and tossed me right out of the story.
Sure, I love Martha and how she and Frank took to each other, how at ease SHE is in the setting, with her clinical mind. But other people should *not* be so easy with her! And I don't know if that's a British mishandling of American dynamics (just like the atrocious accents)... or a general thing about Sci-Fi, where color doesn't matter. Especially when the Dalek supremacy over humans is the overlying arc. Ergo, petty racial squabbles *between* the humans don't matter as much when they're all bait.
The happy-happy la-dee-da aspect of all the black and white characters being fine with each other definitely was a bit odd... just like in Robin Hood. It's just something that gets glossed over. And I think it's okay for something like RH, which is quite obviously a silly send-up in some ways... but when you make all the effort to take the Doctor to 1930s New York and you do the research for things like when the Chrysler building and Empire were built and the fact that looking north from Empire *would* show you Chrysler and the East River... but you skimp on the view *people* have of each other, I think it's maddening.
On the bright side? Freema's still totally hot, Ryan Carnes as a guest star...? Hi. Larious. And I still heart the Doctor's Chucks.
I still have "Evolution of the Daleks" (ZOMG! There's Daleks! And they're evolving!) and tonight's Robin Hood to go. And I need to make dinner. *Sigh*.
The utterly dreadful Tennessee and New York accents from Frank and Tallulah aside, I thought that this latest bout of "let's not notice Martha is black and also wearing leather and jeans" was even more ridiculous than in "The Shakespeare Code." The fact that no one blinked twice at her, that Solomon was so well-dressed and in a position of power in Hooverville... it just had me snorting (much like a pig slave) and tossed me right out of the story.
Sure, I love Martha and how she and Frank took to each other, how at ease SHE is in the setting, with her clinical mind. But other people should *not* be so easy with her! And I don't know if that's a British mishandling of American dynamics (just like the atrocious accents)... or a general thing about Sci-Fi, where color doesn't matter. Especially when the Dalek supremacy over humans is the overlying arc. Ergo, petty racial squabbles *between* the humans don't matter as much when they're all bait.
The happy-happy la-dee-da aspect of all the black and white characters being fine with each other definitely was a bit odd... just like in Robin Hood. It's just something that gets glossed over. And I think it's okay for something like RH, which is quite obviously a silly send-up in some ways... but when you make all the effort to take the Doctor to 1930s New York and you do the research for things like when the Chrysler building and Empire were built and the fact that looking north from Empire *would* show you Chrysler and the East River... but you skimp on the view *people* have of each other, I think it's maddening.
On the bright side? Freema's still totally hot, Ryan Carnes as a guest star...? Hi. Larious. And I still heart the Doctor's Chucks.
I still have "Evolution of the Daleks" (ZOMG! There's Daleks! And they're evolving!) and tonight's Robin Hood to go. And I need to make dinner. *Sigh*.