Edited! Response to Bgbgrl33 The Woman of Color should and Can travel to the Past
Original discussion found here. http://bcbgrl33.livejournal.com/6367.html
Yalegirl03 wrote: Re: Grrrr The Woman of Color in Space
I forgot Rosita was a prostitute! I was too distracted by her horrid wig. I didn't like how at the end of the special the would be Doctor decides to employ Rosita as a nanny for his son. I thought that was another race fail.
The writers cheat their audience, by failing to research the era and not expanding their characterization of Martha beyond her unrequited love, and force feeding the audience the notion that even if the Doctor was HUMAN or his personality was assumed by another man (Lake) a proper white man would not find a Dark complexioned woman desirable or a suitable as a companion. We are reminded of the old adage of "Shine my shoes and buy my records".
In this instance: Martha can clean the Doctor's toilet and pay his rent, but can a woman of color become a companion who is given the respect, care, and protection the Doctor has given all of his companions in the past, male and female? Not with RTD's precious Tenth Incarnation.
There are also some disturbing misogynistic overtones in Torchwood and Doctor Who. Jack shoots Susie repeatedly in her breasts; Jack pours “BBQ sauce” over Lisa and feeds her to their pet dinosaur. Rosita is a prostitute.
However, I object to the notion that it is any more dangerous for a woman or man of color to travel into time and with a white companion, than it is for a white woman or man to travel with him. Sorry, this is Bullshit.
The Doctor, in order to appear as a respectable Edwardian gentleman, demotes Martha from companion to servant; however his actions as Martha's guide and teacher, are insupportable. I don't care if Martha came up with the idea; he should have, out of decency, refused to allow it.
Lets put this in perspective -- okay ditch the romance angle. The Doctor serves a guide and teacher to all of his companions and Martha is a particularly apt pupil.
A teacher in the real world invites a promising student to a science convention. On the way he decides that you know, "You're a black female, I'm a white teacher; this doesn't look quite Kosher." He's paying for the airline tickets and the stay, and she, naively trusting him, has just enough money for meals and maybe one night, but no way home. When they arrive at the hotel, the student has to work as a server and maid at the hotel to pay for of their stay. She misses all the lectures and does not get to meet any of the scientist except to say "cream or sugar". She is hassled by male guest and put down by the racist supervisor. Meanwhile the Teacher enjoys all the amenities of the hotel, mingles with the attendees, speaks at the convention, he romances the racist supervisor.
Yes, the Edwardians would question why a white male is traveling alone with a young black woman, but since when has the Doctor not had a ready answer for rude questions?
White men in 1913 had nieces and nephews whose mothers or fathers were people of color. They had daughters and sons of color because they married people of color. White people adopted black people even at the turn of the 20th century. The Doctor's friend, Dickens by the way, objected to this practice. At first a supporter of the Abolitionist cause, in his concern about the plight of poor white British he felt the incoming crop of newly freed British persons of African descent from the West Indies were an unfair burden on proper English society.
In the 1850s,-- the decade we meet Rosita,-- pubic speaker and later physician, Sarah Remond traveled to England, Scotland, and Ireland to speak for the Abolitionist cause and the right for women in all countries to seek education and the vote. In Pre-Civil War United States this woman successfully brought suit against a theatre for discrimination and damages --they threw her down the stairs when she was sitting in her "Paid" seat--and won. She braved the oceans and a host of foreign countries alone (and with her brother) to speak of unpopular matters. What better woman to face off against Miss Mercy Hartigan than a true champion of human rights? And what better partner for the Doctor than someone with Miss Remond’s qualities: her passion for change and her joy in challenging barriers and antiquated conventions?
At the same time Martha is in her maid's outfit, Brit's Walter Tull the footballer, is wowing audiences with his skill and gentlemanly manners and response to racism. Battersea elects a man of color as mayor. American Ida B. Wells visits England, Scotland, and Ireland gathering support to stop the lynching and Jim Crow laws in the US.
Freema talks of the young women who looked up to Martha. Why not give Martha a broader vision of the POC who struggled against adversity and intolerance, and discrimination so that Martha Jones could enjoy the opportunity to attend university on her own merits?
Perhaps, this is a “POC” thing or a black thing‘; honoring the ancestor’s struggle.
The Doctor forces Martha into servitude. I don't think the "Doctor" would have done anything of the sort, but that is another discussion. In the Novel, Bernice, the Doctor's companion becomes John Smith’s 'niece'. She befriends a Suffragette. Martha could befriend someone like Miss Wells, who would encourage the young English chambermaid to strike out on her own. Of course Martha could not do leave the Doctor. Or Jenny, rather than a fellow servant, could have been Tim's mother, visiting and appalled at the other boys' treatment of the young serving woman.
Maybe we Yanks are a little enamored of these 'life lessons" plots when it comes to young people's programming.
And, realistically, no, it was not very likely that Walter Tull showed up at a little place like Farringham, but how likely is it that Rose would meet Dickens and is knighted by Queen Victoria?
Doctor Who is fiction. Make it happen, because Martha and her young fans deserve to see her treated like a lady by a handsome young man of color who is about to become the first Black officer in the British military -- he opened the door for Martha's grandfather to join the servce.
On the Martha Jones My Space Blog, Martha speaks about her grandfathers service in a war, comparing it to the Doctor's fight in the Time War. She gives her grandfather's service as the reason she is willing to become a maid while the Doctor hides from a confrontation with the Family.
Trust me, as one who marched, and sat outside in the college Dean's office to campaign for Black Studies or history text that incorperated all of American life, and whose male relatives fought in our wars -- Martha going back to scrub floors on her knees is not what we expected in the way of a thank you. Allowing young British POC to think no one who looked like them ever aspired or accomplished any thing worthwhile in the planet's past is criminal.
Yalegirl03 wrote: Re: Grrrr The Woman of Color in Space
I forgot Rosita was a prostitute! I was too distracted by her horrid wig. I didn't like how at the end of the special the would be Doctor decides to employ Rosita as a nanny for his son. I thought that was another race fail.
The writers cheat their audience, by failing to research the era and not expanding their characterization of Martha beyond her unrequited love, and force feeding the audience the notion that even if the Doctor was HUMAN or his personality was assumed by another man (Lake) a proper white man would not find a Dark complexioned woman desirable or a suitable as a companion. We are reminded of the old adage of "Shine my shoes and buy my records".
In this instance: Martha can clean the Doctor's toilet and pay his rent, but can a woman of color become a companion who is given the respect, care, and protection the Doctor has given all of his companions in the past, male and female? Not with RTD's precious Tenth Incarnation.
There are also some disturbing misogynistic overtones in Torchwood and Doctor Who. Jack shoots Susie repeatedly in her breasts; Jack pours “BBQ sauce” over Lisa and feeds her to their pet dinosaur. Rosita is a prostitute.
However, I object to the notion that it is any more dangerous for a woman or man of color to travel into time and with a white companion, than it is for a white woman or man to travel with him. Sorry, this is Bullshit.
The Doctor, in order to appear as a respectable Edwardian gentleman, demotes Martha from companion to servant; however his actions as Martha's guide and teacher, are insupportable. I don't care if Martha came up with the idea; he should have, out of decency, refused to allow it.
Lets put this in perspective -- okay ditch the romance angle. The Doctor serves a guide and teacher to all of his companions and Martha is a particularly apt pupil.
A teacher in the real world invites a promising student to a science convention. On the way he decides that you know, "You're a black female, I'm a white teacher; this doesn't look quite Kosher." He's paying for the airline tickets and the stay, and she, naively trusting him, has just enough money for meals and maybe one night, but no way home. When they arrive at the hotel, the student has to work as a server and maid at the hotel to pay for of their stay. She misses all the lectures and does not get to meet any of the scientist except to say "cream or sugar". She is hassled by male guest and put down by the racist supervisor. Meanwhile the Teacher enjoys all the amenities of the hotel, mingles with the attendees, speaks at the convention, he romances the racist supervisor.
Yes, the Edwardians would question why a white male is traveling alone with a young black woman, but since when has the Doctor not had a ready answer for rude questions?
White men in 1913 had nieces and nephews whose mothers or fathers were people of color. They had daughters and sons of color because they married people of color. White people adopted black people even at the turn of the 20th century. The Doctor's friend, Dickens by the way, objected to this practice. At first a supporter of the Abolitionist cause, in his concern about the plight of poor white British he felt the incoming crop of newly freed British persons of African descent from the West Indies were an unfair burden on proper English society.
In the 1850s,-- the decade we meet Rosita,-- pubic speaker and later physician, Sarah Remond traveled to England, Scotland, and Ireland to speak for the Abolitionist cause and the right for women in all countries to seek education and the vote. In Pre-Civil War United States this woman successfully brought suit against a theatre for discrimination and damages --they threw her down the stairs when she was sitting in her "Paid" seat--and won. She braved the oceans and a host of foreign countries alone (and with her brother) to speak of unpopular matters. What better woman to face off against Miss Mercy Hartigan than a true champion of human rights? And what better partner for the Doctor than someone with Miss Remond’s qualities: her passion for change and her joy in challenging barriers and antiquated conventions?
At the same time Martha is in her maid's outfit, Brit's Walter Tull the footballer, is wowing audiences with his skill and gentlemanly manners and response to racism. Battersea elects a man of color as mayor. American Ida B. Wells visits England, Scotland, and Ireland gathering support to stop the lynching and Jim Crow laws in the US.
Freema talks of the young women who looked up to Martha. Why not give Martha a broader vision of the POC who struggled against adversity and intolerance, and discrimination so that Martha Jones could enjoy the opportunity to attend university on her own merits?
Perhaps, this is a “POC” thing or a black thing‘; honoring the ancestor’s struggle.
The Doctor forces Martha into servitude. I don't think the "Doctor" would have done anything of the sort, but that is another discussion. In the Novel, Bernice, the Doctor's companion becomes John Smith’s 'niece'. She befriends a Suffragette. Martha could befriend someone like Miss Wells, who would encourage the young English chambermaid to strike out on her own. Of course Martha could not do leave the Doctor. Or Jenny, rather than a fellow servant, could have been Tim's mother, visiting and appalled at the other boys' treatment of the young serving woman.
Maybe we Yanks are a little enamored of these 'life lessons" plots when it comes to young people's programming.
And, realistically, no, it was not very likely that Walter Tull showed up at a little place like Farringham, but how likely is it that Rose would meet Dickens and is knighted by Queen Victoria?
Doctor Who is fiction. Make it happen, because Martha and her young fans deserve to see her treated like a lady by a handsome young man of color who is about to become the first Black officer in the British military -- he opened the door for Martha's grandfather to join the servce.
On the Martha Jones My Space Blog, Martha speaks about her grandfathers service in a war, comparing it to the Doctor's fight in the Time War. She gives her grandfather's service as the reason she is willing to become a maid while the Doctor hides from a confrontation with the Family.
Trust me, as one who marched, and sat outside in the college Dean's office to campaign for Black Studies or history text that incorperated all of American life, and whose male relatives fought in our wars -- Martha going back to scrub floors on her knees is not what we expected in the way of a thank you. Allowing young British POC to think no one who looked like them ever aspired or accomplished any thing worthwhile in the planet's past is criminal.