13 Days of Doctor Who: The Doctor as an Anti-hero
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Welcome to the 13 Days of Doctor Who, a blog tour counting down the days until both Santa and the Doctor make their annual Christmas appearances! I’m so psyched to take part in this Whovian celebration. Be sure to check Clara Kensie’s tumblr blog tomorrow for the next stop in the tour–and the bottom of this post for not one, but two Doctor Who giveaways!
And now for the pseudo-Academic Whovian wankery!
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I did quite a bit of complaining this past season about the sexism of Moffat’s Who. Although certain characters were eventually redeemed for me, I remained unmoved particularly by Amy Pond’s story arc, which saw every small movement of growth retconned out of existence in favor of reiteration of the primacy of her marriage, appearance, and sexuality. Amy is shown as a wife first and an individual second; when she finally does get a career, it’s one capitalizes on her looks (and not, say, the hints of tremendous artistic ability that we’ve seen). Even her individuation from the Doctor is marked by her being called by her “married name.”
Nowhere did this seem more clear to me than in “The Girl Who Waited,” in which the Doctor and Rory choose to wipe an older, more independent Amy out of existence in favor of a young Amy more dependent on the two of them. If you sympathize with Older!Amy at all, their actions look monstrous, not heroic–though I thought it clear that we’re meant to sympathize, instead, with the Doctor when he lies to Older!Amy, locks her out of the TARDIS, and essentially kills her. Certainly, the rest of the viewing audience seemed to understand the episode in this way, that the Doctor was just making a difficult, but necessary choice, sacrificing one woman so that the other could continue in her young, married life.
But maybe we’re all reading this episode wrong.
What if the Doctor’s actions weren’t meant to be heroic, in the traditional, morally upstanding sense? What if the characters’ actions aren’t some show of latent sexism on the part of the writers, but rather an astute display of our hero’s very flawed personality? What if Older!Amy’s pronouncements about the Doctor are, rather than the realizations of a broken woman, meant to be right?
“The Woman Who Waited” isn’t the first episode of Who to view the Doctor’s actions or persona as less than heroic. In fact, there’s solid grounding to read the Doctor as an anti-hero, rather than a straight hero, going way back to the Hartnell days.
In the very very first episode of Doctor Who, “An Unearthly Child,” we don’t meet the Doctor himself until the thirteen minute mark. The narrative instead focuses on his granddaughter’s human teachers, Barbara and Ian, as they investigate Susan, their troubled but brilliant student who seems to have a unique understanding of both science and history. The reason for this narrative focus becomes clear when we at long last meet the Doctor. This is not the attractive young rogue we later come to now. The Doctor isn’t even particularly grandfatherly. He is, instead, an old man with a gnarly temper. He hurls insults. He grapples with Ian. He blames his granddaughter for even wanting to intend school, chastising her in front of her teachers. And then, rather then giving in to her impassioned pleas to let her teachers go, he kidnaps Barbara and Ian to keep his secrets safe.
These aren’t the actions of a purely self-sacrificing hero, someone who eschews guns and violence, someone whose story has been described as “the triumph of intellect and understanding over brute force and cynicism.” And this dark Doctor wasn’t seen only in the Hartnell years. In fact, the Sixth Doctor, played by Colin Baker, was widely disdained largely for traits he shared with the First Doctor (well, that and his ridiculous outfit): he was smug, insulting, temperamental, full of himself . . . and terrifyingly violent.
Audiences didn’t react so well to this new Doctor, who referred to his previous, mild-mannered incarnation as having a sort of “feckless charm”–so perhaps it’s surprising to see hints of his darkness in his new regenerations. But each Doctor since the ninth has shown a bit of darkness, his actions suggesting that he’s not the bastion of goodness and light that he purports to be.
In the case of the ninth Doctor, his emotional reactions often seem out-of-proportion to the “crimes” committed by those he punishes. In “Dalek,” he taunts the lone surviving member of the dalek race to commit suicide:
(To this, the dalek appropriately replies, “You would make a good dalek.”)
Just one episode later, one of the Doctor’s traveling companions feels the heat of the Doctor’s wrath. Sure, Adam Mitchell’s betrayal to the Doctor is clear, but Adam apologizes and begs for his forgiveness. In return, the Doctor dumps him at home with an infospike embedded in his head.
The lesson of the ninth Doctor seems clear: don’t piss off the Doctor. He’s a lonely god, but also a vengeful god, one who does not hesitate to punish those who wrong him, even if they ask him for mercy.
This pattern remains through his tenth incarnation. When Harriet Jones (prime minister) destroys a Sycorax ship, he gets so angry with her that he destroys her career–a career that was meant to bring about a Golden Age of Earth. Later, somewhat hypocritically, he destroys the Racnoss species–and gets so wrapped up in the act that his companion has to call him off.
Ten’s initial dark acts are all like this–perhaps disproportionate, but still made under a certain veil of righteousness. The Doctor is dark, but not altogether wrong. That might not the case by the end of his run.
For example, we now know that the end of the Time Lords was brought about by the Doctor himself, when he learned that his people planned to destroy all of time and space so that they could shed their corporeal bodies and essentially become gods. Yet what does the Doctor himself decide when removed from the Time Lord’s strictures?
(This godlike, willful bending of the laws of time eventually leads to one woman’s suicide!)
And so perhaps we can view the eleventh Doctor’s actions through this sort of lens as well; rather than a hero, whose goodness always prevails, the Doctor is, instead, a violent, self-satisfied, temperamental anti-hero. He expects obedience from his companions (“We’re his friends,” says River Song, “we do as we’re told”) and his enemies. Yet this faith that he demands from them makes them vulnerable–he’s lost Adric and Rose and Donna and so many others. He doesn’t want us to like him; he doesn’t even like himself. In this light, we can view his speech to Amy in the appropriately titled “God Complex” not as a noble act of heroism but instead as a rare show of honesty:
What if, likewise, we viewed the Doctor’s actions in “The Girl Who Waited” not as noble, but rather as the selfish actions of a man who can’t stand to face his own darkness? Older!Amy is dangerous not because she’s old, or because her existence means that she’ll miss growing old with Rory. Instead, she must be stopped because she does not like the Doctor. And he won’t–can’t–stand for it. It’s the love and adoration of his human friends that convinces the Doctor, over and over again, that he’s in the right.
Even if he’s not so sure of it himself.
***
Now for the contests!
Since this is part of the #13DoDW tour, every comment here will be entered to win a series 6 boxset. Here are the official guidelines:
To enter the grand prize giveaway, please leave a comment with your name and email address. You may enter once at every stop on the blog tour for a total of thirteen chances. The Grand Prize giveaway is limited to the US and Canada, due to regional restrictions on the DVD. Individual contest will close at the discretion of the author, but the Grand Prize contest will accept entries on any site until midnight CST on December 24th. We will post the winner on December 25th, and notify the winner via email.
But, since I love you guys (and Who) so much, every comment will also be entered to win an official eleventh Doctor sonic screwdriver–or is it a probe?–fresh from the fields of amazon. I’ll be doing my drawing on the 25th as well, with entrants also limited to North America due to amazon restrictions (I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!).
Best of luck to you, and have a very Who holiday season!
Phoebe
Phoebe is a 20-something writer who lives in New York State with her husband and cat. She is a dork, not a geek or a nerd.
Her debut novel, Starglass, will be released from Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers in Summer 2013.
54 comments
I agree with you about… actually just about everything you’ve said here about the Doctor, and elsewhere about Amy Pond and River Song. I’d love to see them explore the Doctor as anti-hero.
Thanks so much, Anju!
I’d prefer 10s sonic screwdriver, but I’ll take 11s. Or the box set. Whatever.
Love your writing and analysis of the Doctor! Really wish there was more classic episodes on streaming netflix. Such a travisity.
Bryce
bboltjes at gmail dot com
I'm really hoping for that series 6 box set
i love doctor who!
Great analysis! One of the reasons I've had a hard time warming up to the Eleventh Doctor is his incredible arrogance. Nine's pain got my sympathy, and Ten's charm won me over, until closer to the end of his life and "The Waters of Mars." I was hoping that after his regeneration he'd come back less power-mad, but Eleven is still so wrapped up in his own power and cleverness and superiority. Amy's worship of him, I suppose, really feeds that aspect of his personality. One of the reasons I loved Donna was that she didn't take any BS from him and reminded him that sometimes humans do things (e.g., compassion) better.
Totally with you on the Donna love.
Very interesting analysis. One of the things I've always liked about the doctor is the fact that he is not perfect, nor does he pretend to be. He admits his faults, admits his mistakes, but continues to stand behind them because he determines that they're necessary. And sometimes he's right.
Regardless of his reason in choosing the younger Amy, I feel he made the right choice. She lived a lonely life that she wasn't meant to live. He had the ability to undo it and spare her that pain. So, he did. I can't imagine choosing the alternative.
I don't think we can ever know if he made the right choice, as we only saw the one outcome. The older version of Amy spent the whole episode reiterating that she didn't want to be wiped from the face of time, that she wanted to live. Rory, when faced with a similar choice, chose a similar pain. So there's that.
Name: Heather R. Holsclaw. Email: hrholsclaw (at) gmail (dot) com.
I could win wife of the year if I give the husband that screwdriver!
Very thorough assessment. I really enjoy the tension between the Doctor's essential loneliness, his desperate need for companionship, and his guilt over always losing his commpanions. It makes him as much a tragic figure as an anti-hero to me.
Definitely–I certainly think there's space for that reading, too!
Great analysis. I think it's hard to wrap our minds around how completely alien he is, no matter how human he can appear.
Good job! This is how I've always felt about the Doctor, though you should mention how he crushes Ace's faith rather cruelly in Curse of Fenric (7th Doctor). On the other hand, I disagree about the Doctor being a "God". This was really implied and mentioned in the tenth Doctor's era.
I still haven't seen much of 7, but I know I need to. I LOVE the interaction between he and Ace!
I like this analysis of the Doctor–I think you're spot-on and I'm hoping that Moffat continues to explore this in the coming series. I think we disagree a bit on Amy–I'm a big Amy fan and I actually like that Amy has had to grapple with the choice–Doctor or Rory, with all that each one entails. I mean, marriage does often involve a degree of sacrifice or compromise, and it can be (and historically has been) a raw deal for a woman–but it doesn't have to be. It can be a team, with equal partners who both get to make demands and having needs sometimes. Amy needs someone she can count on–Rory–after a childhood full of disappearing people. And for Rory's part, I think wishing your fiance or wife or whoever would stop popping off into mortal peril with a man she worships is a legitimate spousal desire, and I think they've been working though that. Amy genuinely cares about Rory. I think his love for her, and his kindness, is often discounted because she's this gorgeous ginger action-figure heroine all of a sudden, and he's still a normal old real person. But if, in fact, Amy winds up getting to live out a long full life…the kind man who loves her deeply is the better bet than the erratic, well and truly broken spectacular space travel. There is, to my mind, nothing un-feminist about that.
Plus, I just think Amy's fabulous and fun. So that's a thing too
Oh, it's not that I dislike Amy–more that I dislike the choices made for her by the writers, if that makes sense, as stated in small and subtle ways. The overriding arc is fine, and feminist (nothing wrong with choosing love or a family!), but the smaller motions seem to suggest that her only available options are male-centric, rather than made around her own traits as an individual, which frustrates me.
Anyway, thanks.
Ah, ok, that makes sense–I can definitely see that argument. I'm intrigued and anxious to see what will happen with this lot, especially after Moffat's recent comment about Amy and Rory.
As you point out, that dark aspect of the Doctor has always been there. In Evil of the Daleks, Jamie is convinced the Second Doctor is in league with the bad guys, and the Doctor lets him believe it for a while. The Third Doctor's arrogance and quest for knowledge was his downfall. The Fourth often treated his companions harshly. The Fifth went against his pacifistic ideals and shot the cyber leader with his own gun–in the TARDIS (see Earthshock)! Also, while he lamented "there should have been another way" after killing the Silurians and Sea Devils in Warriors of the Deep–he didn't refrain from this course in favor of "another way." The Doctor is flawed–or better, a *real* character. He doesn't always get it right, and his actions are not always altruistic. And this is why we keep watching.
A thought-provoking article, Phoebe.
cds-at-colindsmith.com
Thanks, Colin. And now I have a great list of more classic eps to watch.
I love, love love, that you went in deeper to the doctors action and what they could have meant and given us both sides of the story!! I really appreciate that!! Such a great post!! Hav e a fantastic Christmas!!
Dark Eccleston is the best!
I think this is an interesting post. As much as I love DW, I had a conversation earlier today about this exact thing. It's funny because "The Girl Who Waited" is one of my top 3 episodes from season 6 ("The Doctor's Wife" and "Night Terrors" are my other two.) I like it so much because I'm not a huge Amy fan–until this episode. Until we see her stand up for herself a bit. Honestly, Rory carries her for me (when he's not around I can't stand her) and I think that's because she's so much like The Doctor. There's a reason he has companions to keep him grounded–and I think it's exactly what you're saying in your post. The other reason I liked this episode is because we see The Doctor be flawed, horrible, selfish in his decisions with older amy and real amy. I think he's his own worst enemy sometimes.
I've never really seen Amy as anti-feminist. I guess I don't really have a filter for those things. I've always seen Amy as this challenge for the Doctor because she IS so much like him–even from childhood–and sometimes it's like he's dealing with himself and he doesn't always know how to do that. But maybe that's just me.
Sorry, had to skip to the end since I'm a bit behind and haven't seen "The Girl Who Waited" yet! But I'll be sure to go back once I've caught up.
And yay, a sonic!
smcdanielc [at] gmail [dot] com
this was such a great analysis! I loved it. Also, I saw that sonic screwdriver and I have been DROOLING over it ever since. thanks so much for joining in on this blog hop; I am enjoying myself SO MUCH!
sonshinemusic at gmail dot com
When I think "anti-hero" I think John Gardner's Grendel. For me, the Doctor has certainly done awful things, but the good far outweighs it. I view an antihero as very self-serving, a bad guy you root for because the good guys are just as terrible, and the Doctor just isn't that to me. I agree with the vengeful God-type aura he takes on that you pointed out, but those instances seem to be far more fleeting than his general will to do true good. Excellent analysis, I loved reading it!
I guess it's a matter of degree. For example, the Doctor seems about as bad as Batman, one of the classic anti-heroes. We're meant to see them as just because we know what their motivations are, but I wonder if we'd feel the same way about the Doctor if we were viewing the narrative through the lens of his enemies.
The trouble I have with Dr. Who is the fact they change every year. I understand why but I still become loyal to the actor. I really liked the ninth doctor, Christopher, and just couldn't get into his replacement. It lost me then. But I started watching Torchwood: Miracle Day where one of the characters has a history with the doctor. It's an interesting tie-in.
I agree with everything that you're saying here. And I think that's part of why I dig Eleventy so much. He really is that twisted.
Eleventy! Hee.
What I wouldn't give for the sonic screwdriver! Perhaps more clever than I can handle….
"In the case of the ninth Doctor, his emotional reactions often seem out-of-proportion to the “crimes” committed by those he punishes."
Remember, 9 was a lone survivor of the Time War, the horrors of which we've never really seen. I rather think of 9 as a PTSD suffering Doctor. Also, I really want to give him a hug.
Batman is also a PTSD sufferer–in fact, if you ask TV tropes, the dark and tragic past is one of the marks of an anti-hero!
I want to give him a hug, too. Even if he is scary.
Great post. I loved older Amy. Also, can't remember the name of the episode, but the one where Amy finds out she has now become the Doctor's mother-in-law? My eyes are still rolling. Could they minimize and domesticate her any further? Are there now going to be nagging mother-in-law jokes? Jeez louise.
<3
What a great take on the dark side of the Doctor. He wants to the be healer. Like all of us, he is sometimes wildly successful in his goals, and other times has a mixed result. You illustrate how the Doctor shows himself to be reactive when emotional, feeling that HIS "rules" have been violated, just as we so often show our baser selves despite all intentions otherwise.
Thank you, snowyknits!
I love this analysis! Very thought-provoking and interesting. Thanks, and thanks for the giveaway!
Thank you, Krispy!
I have loved reading this so much and I'm glad I put it off until now, until my own post was drafted and my headspace was clear for it.
I have been upset with the vanishing of Older!Amy for a long time. I'm curious what you made of the Dream Lord from "Amy's Choice," who was also a dink. I like that the Doctor isn't a one-dimensional good guy–those get old really quickly–but when he's flat-out horrid it often feels like it's done for narrative effect to me, as though the story was prancing along too easily and it's time for a twist. The reflexive smiting of Harriet Jones, We Know Who She Is, gave me real pause, and not just because I was still attached to Nine at the time.
(And I love that Harriet was there at crisis time with her subwave network, that she died in the service of him and the planet anyway, even after he ruined her career. She could have made a phenomenally fun and terrible bad guy.)
Awesome, awesome post!
PS: It's a probe
You know our Who views don't always match up, but here I think we totally agree. The Dr is an anti-hero and has been for a long time. One of the final Tennant episodes (Waters of Mars I think it's called) shows that he's become too arrogant, too determined to fix things that perhaps shouldn't be fixed and requires human intervention (in this case a woman's suicide – stay classy guys) to set things truely right. And in a way Tennant's Dr regeneration is punishment for all the ways he's messed up over the last few series – a necessary reboot to stop the Dr from reaching the height of his powers and controlling everything (because you so know he could). And with that in mind every regen can be seen as a necessary reincarnation, an attempt by some greater universal power to set the Dr back on track again and hope that this time. maybe this time he can get it right. Of course he never will because that would mean the end of the franchise.
The thing is Moffat and all can't commit to that vision of him as an anti-hero, or maybe they just can't bring it off successfully all the time. One example: their attempt to get RS to allude to just how dangerous a man he is (the 'all your enemies come ranged against you, the most dangerous man in the universe' speech during 'A Good Man Goes to War') is undercut so hard by the fact that he's now off on one of the justest crusades ever (saving a tiny child) and we're kind of directed to forget that if it weren't for the Dr this whole war might never have happened (I don't buy that angle anyway, but still that's obviously the creators line so it would be nice if they'd commit please). I feel like they go half way – enough to make the Dr a miserable emo character, as he once again tears himself away from friends for their own good, but not far enough to really convince the viewer that his actions are so arrogant that maybe he should be locked in a box somewhere.They're happy to make him arrogant in isolated moments which are them never tied back into the wider plot/often never spoken of with the appropriate levels of horror again, but I mean, he always saves the day 'properly' at the most important time (in the over arching good vs evil plot) right?
And then the reboot happens when everything seems to be getting too far out of hand, so the creators get to start in on fun episodes again, which means the viewer can temporarily forget all the darker elements of the Dr. Personally I feel like the nature of the franchise (constant regens) does it harm, but what are you gonna do? Compare Who with Torchwood, where we're all forced to keep remembering just how hard and arrogant Captain Jack can be, how his actions harm – it's just a more sustained character portrait that builds on and on, until you're constantly looking squint eyed at this guy you once thought was a hero pure and true.
Fantastic comment, Jodie. <3
I actually think that the fact that the writers get a clean slate is part of what allows them to do this–and it's really quite a heist. Present a character who does horrible things, has a pattern of doing horrible things, and yet they frame that character as a hero over and over again. I appreciate the artistry of that even if I don't think it's often framed for maximum effect. But it creates moments of fridge brilliance. You think back over an episode and realize that your hero has actually been a bit of a shit all along.
I think that's one of the strengths of what was done with Six. The viewers were confronted with his awful arrogance from the very beginning. And yet this arrogance is not fundamentally different from who the Doctor always is, only it's not wrapped up in a layer of charm. People hated it–and yet, as the Doctor himself told us, "I'm the Doctor–whether you like it or not"!
Once again, I have to say that I'm loving this bloghop! This is an excellent analysis of the Doctor, and one that has always been in the back of my mind, as his flaws have shone through more and more for as long as I've been watching.
We know that the Doctor can be vengeful and vindictive, vain, and vulnerable when it comes to love (yay for alliteration!), which are all human traits. If he's a god, he's more like the ancient Greek gods who dealt in pettiness just as much if not more than humans. He's constantly amazed and intrigued by humans, but he wants to keep them around him for his own gain, simply to be there to acknowledge his greatness if nothing else.
He's definitely not all good and shining light. I don't know if I would go so far as to label him an anti-hero because, above all and despite everything, he does strive for the greater good, but he definitely has a self-serving side that is very apparent at times.
Oh, and my email is alyhat(at)gmail(.)com, just in case! – Alyssa
Nice analysis of the Doctor! It's a lot easier to see the good side of him, than the darker side.
Definitely one of the best, most thought out blogs that I've encountered in this 13 Days of Doctor Who series, although I didn't necessarily agree with all of it. I disliked your portrayal of Amy, but maybe that's because I don't have as much of a problem with Amy wanting a married life with Rory and becoming an advert model. Is she my favorite companion? No, I prefer Donna much more, but she was a good companion for 11.
I agree with Celeste's case that the 9th Doctor did suffer a major case of PTSD; and, perhaps 10 and 11 have suffered from it as well.
Thanks, Rebecca.
Honestly, I'm okay with these things being Amy's choice. My problem is, more, that we're rarely given the sense that she's the one making these choices. Take, for example, being called by her married name. She *never* expresses a preference for this–Rory does. And then, later, she's not the one who decides to go from being called Amelia Pond to Amy Williams. The Doctor is the one who calls the shots there. There are little echoes of the same sort of structure throughout her tenure.
Thanks for sharing the clip–I'd never seen it!
great read! Thanks! : D
Regeneration with new writers, brilliant!
E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N. while retaining some of the basics.
Great post. I feel the doctor "allowed" the death of older Pond because she was his MISTAKE. He took Pond on an adventure, and then failed to help her, and she was stranded. By erasing her, he erased his mistake, as if it never happened. Like Rose with her father, it's the kind of thing that shouldn't work, that shouldn't be allowed, but for some reason it is made okay.
The doctor has been written by dozens of authors, all trying to shape and reproduce a sort of central "doctorness". So by doing a cross-generational analysis, we aren't analyzing one authorial intent or (of course) a real person… we are analyzing what each of these authors grabbed on to for one or more plot arches. Power corrupts, and people are crappy sometimes, and the doctor is sometimes dark. Each of them chose to continue this theme. You didn't say much about Tom Baker… but sometimes 4 was a real badass.