Doctor Who and Race

Lindy Orthia

Description

Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction television series in the world and is regularly watched by millions of people across the globe. While its scores of fans adore the show with cult-like devotion, the fan-contributors to this book argue that there is an uncharted dimension to Doctor Who. Bringing together diverse perspectives on race and its representation in Doctor Who, this anthology offers new understandings of the cultural significance of race in the programme – how the show’s representations of racial diversity, colonialism, nationalism and racism affect our daily lives and change the way we relate to each other.

An accessible introduction to critical race theory, postcolonial studies and other race-related academic fields, the 23 contributors deftly combine examples of the popular cultural icon and personal reflections to provide an analysis that is at once approachable but also filled with the intellectual rigour of academic critique.

Introduction 

PART I: The Doctor, his companions and race

Chapter 1: The white Doctor – Fire Fly

Chapter 2: Too brown for a fair praise: The depiction of racial prejudice as cultural heritage in Doctor Who – Iona Yeager

Chapter 3: Conscious colour-blindness, unconscious racism in Doctor Who companions – Linnea Dodson

Chapter 4: Doctor Who, cricket and race: The Peter Davison years – Amit Gupta

Chapter 5: Humanity as a white metaphor – Quiana Howard and Robert Smith?

Chapter 6: “You can’t just change what I look like without consulting me!”: The shifting racial identity of the Doctor – Mike Hernandez

PART II: Diversity and representation in casting and characterization 

Chapter 7: No room for old-fashioned cats: Davies era Who and interracial romance – Emily Asher-Perrin

Chapter 8: When white boys write black: Race and class in the Davies and Moff at eras – Rosanne Welch

Chapter 9: Baby steps: A modest solution to Asian under-representation in Doctor Who – Stephanie Guerdan

Chapter 10: That was then, this is now: How my perceptions have changed – George Ivanoff

Chapter 11: “One of us is yellow”: Doctor Fu Manchu and The Talons of Weng-Chiang – Kate Orman

PART III: Colonialism, imperialism, slavery and the diaspora 

Chapter 12: Inventing America: The Aztecs in context – Leslie McMurtry

Chapter 13: The Ood as a slave race: Colonial continuity in the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire – Erica Foss

Chapter 14: Doctor Who and the critique of western imperialism – John Vohlidka

Chapter 15: Through coloured eyes: An alternative viewing of postcolonial transition – Vanessa de Kauwe

PART IV: Xenophobia, nationalism and national identities 

Chapter 16: The allegory of allegory: Race, racism and the summer of 2011 – Alec Charles

Chapter 17: Doctor Who and the racial state: Fighting National Socialism across time and space – Richard Scully

Chapter 18: Religion, racism and the Church of England in Doctor Who – Marcus K. Harmes

Chapter 19: The Doctor is in (the Antipodes): Doctor Who short fiction and Australian national identity – Catriona Mills

PART V: Race and science

Chapter 20: “They hate each other’s chromosomes”: Eugenics and the shifting racial identity of the Daleks – Kristine Larsen

Chapter 21: Mapping the boundaries of race in The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood – Rachel Morgain

Chapter 22: Savages, science, stagism, and the naturalized ascendancy of the Not-We in Doctor Who – Lindy A. Orthia

Conclusion

Sujets

• Popular Culture
• Sociologie, société et politique
• General officer
• Television
• General
• Cultural Studies

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 20 juin 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783201242
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published in the UK in 2013 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2013 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2013 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.
Cover designer: Holly Rose
Copy-editor: Emma Rhys
Production manager: Jelena Stanovnik
Typesetting: Contentra Technologies
ISBN: 978-1-78320-036-8
ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78320-124-2
ePub ISBN: 978-1-78320-123-5
Printed and bound by Hobbs, UK
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART I: The Doctor, his companions and race
Chapter 1: The white Doctor
Fire Fly
Chapter 2: Too brown for a fair praise: The depiction of racial prejudice as cultural heritage in Doctor Who
Iona Yeager
Chapter 3: Conscious colour-blindness, unconscious racism in Doctor Who companions
Linnea Dodson
Chapter 4: Doctor Who , cricket and race: The Peter Davison years
Amit Gupta
Chapter 5: Humanity as a white metaphor
Quiana Howard and Robert Smith?
Chapter 6: “You can’t just change what I look like without consulting me!”: The shifting racial identity of the Doctor
Mike Hernandez
PART II: Diversity and representation in casting and characterization
Chapter 7: No room for old-fashioned cats: Davies era Who and interracial romance
Emily Asher-Perrin
Chapter 8: When white boys write black: Race and class in the Davies and Moffat eras
Rosanne Welch
Chapter 9: Baby steps: A modest solution to Asian under-representation in Doctor Who
Stephanie Guerdan
Chapter 10: That was then, this is now: How my perceptions have changed
George Ivanoff
Chapter 11: “One of us is yellow”: Doctor Fu Manchu and The Talons of Weng-Chiang
Kate Orman
PART III: Colonialism, imperialism, slavery and the diaspora
Chapter 12: Inventing America: The Aztecs in context
Leslie McMurtry
Chapter 13: The Ood as a slave race: Colonial continuity in the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire
Erica Foss
Chapter 14: Doctor Who and the critique of western imperialism
John Vohlidka
Chapter 15: Through coloured eyes: An alternative viewing of postcolonial transition
Vanessa de Kauwe
PART IV: Xenophobia, nationalism and national identities
Chapter 16: The allegory of allegory: Race, racism and the summer of 2011
Alec Charles
Chapter 17: Doctor Who and the racial state: Fighting National Socialism across time and space
Richard Scully
Chapter 18: Religion, racism and the Church of England in Doctor Who
Marcus K. Harmes
Chapter 19: The Doctor is in (the Antipodes): Doctor Who short fiction and Australian national identity
Catriona Mills
PART V: Race and science
Chapter 20: “They hate each other’s chromosomes”: Eugenics and the shifting racial identity of the Daleks
Kristine Larsen
Chapter 21: Mapping the boundaries of race in The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood
Rachel Morgain
Chapter 22: Savages, science, stagism, and the naturalized ascendancy of the Not-We in Doctor Who
Lindy A. Orthia
Conclusion
About the contributors
Index
Acknowledgements
I thank Iona Yeager for e-mail discussions about race and Doctor Who that were the primary inspiration for this book; John Preston and Robert Monkman, whose correspondence provided further motivation; and Rachel Morgain and Vanessa de Kauwe, for invaluable discussions about the book at every stage.
I extend sincere thanks to the Australian National University Publication Subsidies Committee, which provided generous funding towards publication of the book.
Many thanks to the staff at Intellect Books who were supportive, helpful and honest throughout the publication process. In particular I thank Jelena Stanovnik for being an absolutely legendary production manager. Thanks to Holly Rose for her design work and patience, Emma Rhys for stellar copy-editing, and Melanie Marshall and James Campbell for their assistance and support.
Thanks to all the contributors for giving insightful feedback and suggestions on each others’ essays, improving the book in numerous respects. Thanks also for writing such interesting essays to begin with – they were such a pleasure to work with.
Last but not least, thanks to those who expressed interest in contributing but were unsuccessful or unable to prepare a proposal in time, and to the hundreds of people from 43 countries who contributed to the 3355 visits to the ‘call for papers’ blog in 2011. Your interest in the project was very encouraging. Please consider sharing your ideas at http://doctorwhoandrace.wordpress.com, or if you publish elsewhere, posting a link there.
Introduction
In 2008 the actor David Tennant, then cast as Doctor Who ’s central character, the Doctor, announced that he would vacate the role at the end of 2009. Tennant was the tenth actor to play the Doctor in the television series since its inception in 1963, and it was noted at the time – as it had been many times before – that all ten actors had been white men. Many viewers felt it was time for a change. Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction television series in the world, is watched in over fifty countries and routinely garners millions of viewers for each episode. Doctor Who – including its representations of race – matters to a lot of people.
Speculation abounded in the media that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which produces Doctor Who , would cast a black or female actor as the Eleventh Doctor. 1 For months before the final decision was made, bookmakers were tipping black actor Paterson Joseph as the front-runner for the job, and the BBC itself reported this when interviewing Joseph about the role. 2 Ultimately the BBC announced that the role went to Matt Smith, continuing the tradition of casting white men.
The decision was a surprise and a disappointment to many, not because Smith is a bad Doctor, but because he is white. 3 The disappointment is partly attributable to the fact that Doctor Who ’s twenty-first century incarnation is so strikingly diverse in its casting of other characters, particularly compared to the programme’s past. Doctor Who ’s original series was produced between 1963 and 1989, and it was only in the last few years of its production that black and Asian actors were given prominent roles in the program on anything like a routine basis. The programme was cancelled for 16 years just as that trend was building, with only a telemovie made in 1996, and was not revived until 2005. During the 16-year hiatus, numerous Doctor Who spin-off media were published including novels, short stories and audio books, which picked up where the television series left off. These broadened and deepened the outlook of the Doctor Who universe, making it more adult in the absence of a requirement to appeal to child audiences, 4 and in effect setting a new standard for Doctor Who . The hiatus seemed to make an immense difference to many aspects of the programme when it was revived in 2005, including the new series’ assertive engagement with a cosmopolitan Britain – a Britain not only diverse with respect to race, but also sexuality, gender, regionality, class and sub-culture. 5 Casting a black actor as the Doctor seemed to fit this new picture.
Yet the Doctor’s ‘race’ is more complicated than a simple decision of ‘colour-blind casting’. Race is a sociopolitical category contextualized by history and geography, related to imperialism, colonialism, slavery, nationalism, and more. Thus the whiteness, blackness or brownness of a fictional character as complex and long-lived and well-loved as the Doctor carries tremendous significance. The Doctor is ostensibly an alien who travels through time and space, but Doctor Who is not just a silly children’s show about silvery wetsuitoids and CGI spacecraft. Beneath the special effects and technobabble, it reflects and examines the cultural politics of the society that made it. The programme emerged from and continues to dwell in the post-empire period of British history, a potent time when formerly colonized people were migrating to Britain in larger numbers than before as well as reclaiming their cultural heritage and political independence elsewhere in the world, transforming conceptions of Britishness, the meaning of ‘race’ on the global stage, and the ways in which the western media understand and deal with racism. Doctor Who has captured and repackaged many of the race-oriented ideas and ideologies from this environment, sometimes deliberately and sometimes inadvertently. It has often explored sociopolitical themes in great depth – including imperialism, colonialism, slavery and nationalism – and has proselytized on the nature of good and bad, right and wrong, in almost every episode. In other words, Doctor Who takes a stand. More than that, the Doctor takes a stand. And while, as the essays in this book attest, the particular stand taken at any given moment varies considerably, in general Doctor Who ’s ideological frame is historically and geographically specific: it is liberal humanist. 6 In this, and in the Doctor’s godlike mastery of science as universal problem solver, his Victorian clothing throughout the original series, and his propensity for tea and the European aristocracy, Doctor Who is a child of the British Enlightenment. 7 Perhaps it was some of these elements that led the BBC Wales Head of Drama, Piers Wenger, to describe Matt Smith as having “that ‘Doctor-ness’ about him” when he was given the role. 8 While the Doctor may aspire to a world in which race does not matter, the programme itself is not culturally neutral. Which makes it less surprising – though no less disappointing – that Paterson Joseph is