DW S4 COC survey 3: ALL characters, ALL stories to date
OK. All supporting characters, Doctor Who S1-4, including The Next Doctor:
Total supporting characters: 285 + 115 = 400
Total number of characters who perish: 110 + 38 = 148
Total mortality rate: 148/400 = 37%
Characters of Colour who survive: 32 + 20 = 52
Characters of Colour who perish: 18 + 12 = 30
Total number of COC: 50 + 32 = 82
COC mortality rate: 30/82 = 36.6%
White characters who survive: 143 + 58 = 201
White characters who perish: 92 + 26 = 118
Total number of White characters: 235 + 84 = 319
White mortality rate: 118/319 = 37%
If I've got my sums right, then there's no basis for the belief that Doctor Who preferentially kills off characters of colour.
Yet that belief persists among anti-racist fans. Why? I have a theory. There are fewer COC in the show than White characters, so we tend to notice and remember them. And if they die, we're reminded at once of the cliche. This creates the impression that COC are preferentially killed off. For example, we remember the Hostess and Lisa, but not Cathica or Detective Swanson.
I'm not sure in my own mind what the show should do about this, if anything. If the general audience - millions of viewers - also have the impression that COC are unfairly bumped off, then the proportion of COC deaths ought to be reduced, surely an easy thing for Cardiff to accomplish. But does the general viewer have that impression? Does fandom as a whole? Fans pride ourselves on our detailed knowledge of the show: if we've got the wrong picture, are we the ones who should be changing our perspective?
As I've said many times, a tally like this is not a litmus test for racism. It addresses only a couple of specific matters: what proportion of the cast, and the corpses, isn't White. There are complicated, qualitative issues of representation that maths can't tell us anything about.
Total supporting characters: 285 + 115 = 400
Total number of characters who perish: 110 + 38 = 148
Total mortality rate: 148/400 = 37%
Characters of Colour who survive: 32 + 20 = 52
Characters of Colour who perish: 18 + 12 = 30
Total number of COC: 50 + 32 = 82
COC mortality rate: 30/82 = 36.6%
White characters who survive: 143 + 58 = 201
White characters who perish: 92 + 26 = 118
Total number of White characters: 235 + 84 = 319
White mortality rate: 118/319 = 37%
If I've got my sums right, then there's no basis for the belief that Doctor Who preferentially kills off characters of colour.
Yet that belief persists among anti-racist fans. Why? I have a theory. There are fewer COC in the show than White characters, so we tend to notice and remember them. And if they die, we're reminded at once of the cliche. This creates the impression that COC are preferentially killed off. For example, we remember the Hostess and Lisa, but not Cathica or Detective Swanson.
I'm not sure in my own mind what the show should do about this, if anything. If the general audience - millions of viewers - also have the impression that COC are unfairly bumped off, then the proportion of COC deaths ought to be reduced, surely an easy thing for Cardiff to accomplish. But does the general viewer have that impression? Does fandom as a whole? Fans pride ourselves on our detailed knowledge of the show: if we've got the wrong picture, are we the ones who should be changing our perspective?
As I've said many times, a tally like this is not a litmus test for racism. It addresses only a couple of specific matters: what proportion of the cast, and the corpses, isn't White. There are complicated, qualitative issues of representation that maths can't tell us anything about.