Does the Beeb have a quota for casting? Solomon was coloured but no one made a big deal of it in his shanty town. At that point in time and space colour was not the primary issue POVERTY was.If your are starving do you have the time and the enrgy to work up a hate about someone just because he's black? It would have been great though if one of the newer residents did make an issue and the others slapped him down because although Solomon was "coloured" he was their leader. Thye could have made a point considering the Dalek's tramsmutation plans of pointing out that colour of skin does not make you less human.
At that point in time and space colour was not the primary issue POVERTY was.If your are starving do you have the time and the enrgy to work up a hate about someone just because he's black?
Except, of course, that that's not true. Poverty, historically, brought out more tensions, because the competition for jobs (and the resentment of competition, especially cheaper competition) was greater, the traditional monetary divisions between white and black crumbled and that led to resentment, and race and segregation was such a fundamental part of the culture that it wasn't going to disappear simply because people were more poor. 1930 was only about sixty years after the end of slavery - this is a barely post-slavery culture. It's not about hate, it's about simple and total acceptance of segregation and social inferiority, because it's never been any different. Desegregation wasn't for another 25 years.
More than 30 in the deep South; New York was probably pretty desegregated rather before that. (My grandmother went to a racially integrated grade school in the early 1920s - but the class pictures were segregated by race, with the pictures of all the white kids grouped together in the top rows of the page, and the pictures of all the black kids in the bottom rows, so race was still an issue, even if the kids were being educated together. It was so ingrained that no one questioned things like separating students' pictures by race, even if they thought they were progressive with regards to race and doing the right thing for educating kids together. And that's why race would never be a non-issue, because even if they thought they were being forward-thinking on race, it was simply too ingrained in the culture.)
GOOD points all. When I watch the show I never actually manage to articulate these things in my mind, I just experience a vague unhappiness that I can't properly define ie. hearing Ten tell Martha that 1599 wasn't that different from our time. I appreciated the humour involved in that spiel, but the reference to black people didn't sit well and you've just grasped exactly why. It wasn't just that it didn't seem an accurate account of history, it's that it was the ONLY version of the history presented, and this effects people TODAY.
The Doc even seems to poo-poo Martha's claim of racism existing in the period, which really is just the wrong impression to give. At least in The King's Demons the Doc and Tegan had a bit of an actual discussion of King John and the different sides to his character, instead of presenting the Doc's opinion as the correct one.
Anyway, I won't rant anymore myself. Thanks for bringing these things to my attention :)
So, yeah, we're effectively getting a message that black people should just ignore things because they're moaning about nothing, and should shut up and not make such a big deal of race--look, the Doctor doesn't see any problems, so this proves racism doesn't exist!
I've been immersing myself in the Elizabethan period lately, and I respectfully disagree. Not that racism didn't exist - it certainly did - but that in different periods, different sorts of people are defined as the "out" group - and they're always the most threatening ones. In 1599, to be black in England didn't threaten anyone, and the kinds of comments made would be stupid ones made of ignorance. There was no institutionalized racism, no "Jim Crow" laws. On the other hand, if the Doctor had showed up with a Hispanic companion, forget it.
It is an interesting question, however, and I agree with Grouse's original point - trying to make the past politically correct is dumbass. But hey, y'know what I'd like to see is for the Doctor to go back to one of the more xenophobic Chinese dynasties and have him completely ignored or hassled because HE has the wrong skin color.
My main problem with Martha in 1599 wasn't her race so much, but her trousers. If women still got shit for wearing trousers in the 60's, Martha certainly would've got some abuse hurled at her for wearing her own clothes. Actually, fuckloads of women were dressing in male clothing at the time (the pamphlets against it were quite amusing), so that wouldn't have been nearly as glaring.
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It would have been great though if one of the newer residents did make an issue and the others slapped him down because although Solomon was "coloured" he was their leader.
Thye could have made a point considering the Dalek's tramsmutation plans of pointing out that colour of skin does not make you less human.
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Except, of course, that that's not true. Poverty, historically, brought out more tensions, because the competition for jobs (and the resentment of competition, especially cheaper competition) was greater, the traditional monetary divisions between white and black crumbled and that led to resentment, and race and segregation was such a fundamental part of the culture that it wasn't going to disappear simply because people were more poor. 1930 was only about sixty years after the end of slavery - this is a barely post-slavery culture. It's not about hate, it's about simple and total acceptance of segregation and social inferiority, because it's never been any different. Desegregation wasn't for another 25 years.
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The Doc even seems to poo-poo Martha's claim of racism existing in the period, which really is just the wrong impression to give. At least in The King's Demons the Doc and Tegan had a bit of an actual discussion of King John and the different sides to his character, instead of presenting the Doc's opinion as the correct one.
Anyway, I won't rant anymore myself. Thanks for bringing these things to my attention :)
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Christ.
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It is an interesting question, however, and I agree with Grouse's original point - trying to make the past politically correct is dumbass. But hey, y'know what I'd like to see is for the Doctor to go back to one of the more xenophobic Chinese dynasties and have him completely ignored or hassled because HE has the wrong skin color.
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