A Grand Unified Theory of Doctor Who.
Hi, I've been lurking around this community for a week or so and have finally decided to take the plunge and join. I'm meant to be revising at present, which is probably why I have a long and involved Grand Unified Theory of Doctor Who and the procrastination time to post it.
I think Gallifrey was the British Empire. Or, perhaps, the British Empire as it appeared to those growing up in the sixties, remote in time, highly developed, full of highly intelligent, old and wise beings whose sense of superiority marched straight past the borders of arrogance. Resistant to change, reluctant to get involved, high-handed and immensely powerful.
The Time Lords make excellent Empire-builders. Wearers of silly clothes and sillier hats. Followers of traditions both bizarre and arcane. Regarding themselves as supreme beings and condescending to take an interest in the rest of the universe from motives frequently benign, but ultimately tactless, crass and inclined to make things worse through their misunderstandings.
The Doctor corresponds to the current generation, moving out and away from Empire, aware of the injustices and hypocrisies it fosters and intent on learning as much as he can about the species his home planet would write off as inferior. He has many of the same traits - he is, after all, from the same country - the arrogance, the tendency to think he has a right to interfere wherever he likes, the utter self-confidence. His growth carries him further away from the old Empire, even to working against it, but still the presence of Gallifrey is a reassuring touchstone, a moral marker either to follow or rebel against.
Naturally, when Doctor Who was recreated, Gallifrey had to go. If the Doctor is present-day Britain, then his position reflects ours: we know the last generation of the Empire has gone. It was destroyed in conflict long before it peeled away from our consciousness. Which brings us neatly to the next point:
The Daleks represent the ideology of a narrow racist supremacy. Or, more bluntly, in historical terms: the Nazis. This has been pointed out by so many people that it hardly needs to be said. What is more interesting is to consider what the other great enemies of the Doctor, the Cybermen, represent. They desire perfection, absorb everything they can and push on towards an ideal future when all will be equally powerful and identical, when all individuality will have been voluntarily or involuntarily sacrificed to a greater cause - in other words, the Soviet form of communism.
In between these threatening ideologies is the Doctor. He carries no weapons and his only authority is based on an effortless assumption of superiority. He feels responsible for fixing the problems of the universe, even without the back-up and resources that used to be there. He feels the lack of an organised authority at the boundaries of times and places, where terrible things can creep into the gaps and a single mistake can lead to disaster. He is old, and knows it. So is his transportation.
The TARDIS = the British railways. Think about it. Always threatening to break down, frequently landing you somewhere other than the intended destination, prone to sudden changes of schedule, needing to be hit with a mallet occasionally to get it going, being operated by one man instead of the required four, falling to pieces because of it's age and often shut down for repair work... anything I missed?
Every time I turn this over in my mind to tell someone, I think of new parallels that work and other nifty implications, so I think I might be on to something. Of course I'm suggesting that the building of these parallels has been largely a subconscious process, so it isn't likely to tally perfectly.
Thoughts? Should I really just get back to reading Beowulf?
I think Gallifrey was the British Empire. Or, perhaps, the British Empire as it appeared to those growing up in the sixties, remote in time, highly developed, full of highly intelligent, old and wise beings whose sense of superiority marched straight past the borders of arrogance. Resistant to change, reluctant to get involved, high-handed and immensely powerful.
The Time Lords make excellent Empire-builders. Wearers of silly clothes and sillier hats. Followers of traditions both bizarre and arcane. Regarding themselves as supreme beings and condescending to take an interest in the rest of the universe from motives frequently benign, but ultimately tactless, crass and inclined to make things worse through their misunderstandings.
The Doctor corresponds to the current generation, moving out and away from Empire, aware of the injustices and hypocrisies it fosters and intent on learning as much as he can about the species his home planet would write off as inferior. He has many of the same traits - he is, after all, from the same country - the arrogance, the tendency to think he has a right to interfere wherever he likes, the utter self-confidence. His growth carries him further away from the old Empire, even to working against it, but still the presence of Gallifrey is a reassuring touchstone, a moral marker either to follow or rebel against.
Naturally, when Doctor Who was recreated, Gallifrey had to go. If the Doctor is present-day Britain, then his position reflects ours: we know the last generation of the Empire has gone. It was destroyed in conflict long before it peeled away from our consciousness. Which brings us neatly to the next point:
The Daleks represent the ideology of a narrow racist supremacy. Or, more bluntly, in historical terms: the Nazis. This has been pointed out by so many people that it hardly needs to be said. What is more interesting is to consider what the other great enemies of the Doctor, the Cybermen, represent. They desire perfection, absorb everything they can and push on towards an ideal future when all will be equally powerful and identical, when all individuality will have been voluntarily or involuntarily sacrificed to a greater cause - in other words, the Soviet form of communism.
In between these threatening ideologies is the Doctor. He carries no weapons and his only authority is based on an effortless assumption of superiority. He feels responsible for fixing the problems of the universe, even without the back-up and resources that used to be there. He feels the lack of an organised authority at the boundaries of times and places, where terrible things can creep into the gaps and a single mistake can lead to disaster. He is old, and knows it. So is his transportation.
The TARDIS = the British railways. Think about it. Always threatening to break down, frequently landing you somewhere other than the intended destination, prone to sudden changes of schedule, needing to be hit with a mallet occasionally to get it going, being operated by one man instead of the required four, falling to pieces because of it's age and often shut down for repair work... anything I missed?
Every time I turn this over in my mind to tell someone, I think of new parallels that work and other nifty implications, so I think I might be on to something. Of course I'm suggesting that the building of these parallels has been largely a subconscious process, so it isn't likely to tally perfectly.
Thoughts? Should I really just get back to reading Beowulf?