Comments | choc_fic: Lessons on Black Women in Sci-fi: Nyota Uhura and the Disappointment of Martha Jones

bcbgrl33 in choc_fic

Lessons on Black Women in Sci-fi: Nyota Uhura and the Disappointment of Martha Jones

Mar 06, 2010 06:21

~x-posted to various communities of color~

I don’t know how many of you out there are Doctor Who fans but I see huge and disheartening parallels between Martha Jones and Uhura in regards to fandom reactions. If you don’t know the mess that was Martha Jones, you’re about to be educated.

( Thoughts from a Enthralled and Disappointed Black Girl )

doctor who, star trek

Comments 9

lilacsigil March 6 2010, 12:59:37 UTC

I'm an old school Who fan, the kind who doesn't ship the Doctor and companions, with the possible exception of non-human Companions. And I loved Martha.

The "fall in love" plot irritated the hell out of me (just as it did with Rose) - I did indeed see it as boring, petty and annoying and my absolute least favourite thing about Martha's storyline, just as stupid as the show's Doctor/Rose shipping. I think you absolutely right about the Doctor/Rose fans considering Martha "unworthy", though personally I don't like either relationship. I liked Rose for her bravery and kindness, I loved Martha for her intelligence and heroism.

Uhura and Spock is an entirely different relationship to me - one of equals - and, as a non-shipper in Doctor Who, is entirely unrelated to the Doctor/Martha relationship, except in that fans dislike both for some of the same reasons.

yinkawills March 6 2010, 13:18:17 UTC

Um ( ... )

foxrafer March 8 2010, 17:48:34 UTC

I though Martha was short changed because they were pushing the she-loves-the-Doctor thing. It would have been preferable I think if she'd remained a lively, independent colleague, not a lovesick one.
I agree 100% with this. She was so much more than just someone who was mooning over the Doctor and I wish they hadn't made that such a big part of her story.

lucylooo March 6 2010, 14:24:55 UTC

Yeah, I didn't get this from fandom at all. I suppose it might be a conceit of where you go - I tend to only watch/read/comment on pro-Martha comms (but not exclusively and not just because it's Martha, who is awesome, but because I don't like bashing of any character who doesn't thoroughly deserve it), but I'm also a member of some large DW/TW comms which are definitely very fannish and I've managed to nicely gloss past the Ten/Rose shippers. They can have their OTP, it doesn't bother me, and if someone doesn't get how magnificent Martha is, that is absolutely their loss. But, I know that I personally witnessed far, far harsher "bashing" of Donna than I ever did of Martha. I think it definitely depends on your own personal feelings towards the various companions how you feel about/react to fandom and TPTB.

pandarus March 6 2010, 15:47:44 UTC

Thus fandom became infatuated with this pairing, bashing anyone who was not for Ten/Rose....yeah, actually? Not so much. Oh, yeah - there were and are heaps of frantically obsessive 'shippers among the New Who fans, and they have a vocal online presence, but the show was on TV pretty much nonstop from 1963 to 1989, during which time we had a grand total THREE television channels to choose from; which results in a situation where pretty much every human being in Great Britain older than their twenties grew up watching this show. And NOT 'shipping the Doctor ( ... )

pandarus March 6 2010, 15:48:17 UTC

Martha was middle class, well educated, competent, kick-ass and responsible. I do wish they'd given her the kind of dynamic with The Doctor that they gave Donna - possibly it wouldn't have worked, because there was always going to be a poisonous fannish backlash towards any female companion brought in after Rose's departure, so presenting her as somewhat pitiable, with the whole hopeless unrequited crush, was one strategy for disarming critics. I don't think it did much for Martha's dignity, and I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it - I hated the Doctor's woobieish pining for Rose rather more, actually ( ... )

lady_ganesh March 13 2010, 16:50:54 UTC

I don't think it did much for Martha's dignity, and I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it - I hated the Doctor's woobieish pining for Rose rather more, actually.

My favorite moment was when Jack said something about her being a blond, and Martha wend "OOOOOH, BLONDE OF COURSE." Because the Doctor/Rose thing felt like such a damn cliche-- and of course she was blond.

And I think, unfortunately, you can't escape the racial implications of it-- any more than you can take the racism out of our society. Even with the best of intentions, the Unfortunate Implications creep in.

bcbgrl33 March 6 2010, 19:08:44 UTC

Thank you all for commenting. I agree that everyone has a right to their OTP (for me its Spock/Uhura and Ten/Martha). I am not bashing that. There are indeed many Rose/Ten shippers who appreciate Martha for the person that she is and her strengths as a character. This is for all those in fandom in general who have a very loud and vocal aversion towards this seemingly innocuous pairing of a Black woman with a white lead (which you may not have seen but it happened and it threatened to derail the show).

These reaction posts more eloquently describe the Marthagate that happened more in depth than I could

"Martha, Mickey, and the Message that doesn't belong on Who" "Martha Mickey and the Message that doesn't belong on Who"

With more comprehensive links to Doctor Who Marthagate!
Comprehensive linksWith that being said, I respectfully disagree that this had nothing to do with her race. If you follow fandoms with any strong black female character (spock uhura, Ten martha, Gwen and Arthur, Selena and Jim) there is a loud more vocal ( ... )