I'm torn, actually. On the one hand, I see your point; it's the Doctor against/above humanity in general (and I still hate that, I hate the Lonely God thing, and I loved Donna for not fawning over him all the time). On the other, RTD did choose to create all female companions (with the exception of Jack, obviously, though I forget now that he's mired in Torchwood and various other issues), and they do fit into a tradition of problematic female characterizations in science fiction.
I think it's probably a combination, but I'm angry regardless. Robbing Donna of her agency wasn't just cruel, it was totally unnecessary. Donna deserved to make a choice, and even had she made that one, the total memory loss thing struck me as really contrived. Doctor Who (new series, anyway . . . must watch some old at some point) suffers from what you might call Human in the Refrigerator syndrome . . . constantly sacrificing "ordinary" people so that the Doctor can have his tragic rained-on angsty moments. It irritates the hell out of me, and this one just got me in particular because Donna as a character seemed to be bucking the "Doctor > humanity" trend.
I think it's probably a combination, but I'm angry regardless. Robbing Donna of her agency wasn't just cruel, it was totally unnecessary. Donna deserved to make a choice, and even had she made that one, the total memory loss thing struck me as really contrived. Doctor Who (new series, anyway . . . must watch some old at some point) suffers from what you might call Human in the Refrigerator syndrome . . . constantly sacrificing "ordinary" people so that the Doctor can have his tragic rained-on angsty moments. It irritates the hell out of me, and this one just got me in particular because Donna as a character seemed to be bucking the "Doctor > humanity" trend.
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