Doctor Who and the patronising, paternalistic, patriarchy

The past two episodes of Doctor Who, The Caretaker and Kill the Moon, have seen the dynamic between the Doctor and his companion Clara shift towards something a lot more paternal, and uncomfortably more patronising.

Clara began the season as the responsible adult and carer to the Doctor's increasingly alien psychopathic detachment. But the most recent episodes have seen her caught between two very paternalistic, patriarchal male figures, against whom it felt like Clara deserved to put up a greater resistance. She was, after all, once the commander of some Space Romans and said no to their Emperor, and even resisted conversion into a Dalek.

From being a strong counterpoint to the Doctor, she was flipped into uncertainty, and was somewhat patronised, as she found herself caught between the Doctor and her new boyfriend, former soldier now maths teacher, Danny Pink.

It would not be the first time that the show has been paternal and patriarchal towards female characters. That has, historically, been the result of women being written by men for men, in a less culturally aware past. There have been amongst those many strong female characters, even though they usually existed within a (very) male framework (and gaze).

But right now there is a need for more strong female characters, written for women, as visible role models. Women who can show the full and complex range of human emotions, and be strong for it, while being resolute and kind, heroic and compassionate in the face of danger.

In this latest episode, Clara's angry response to the Doctor's patronising attitude was a positive move - even if it was not necessarily helpful to follow that with this strong female character being encouraged, rather patronisingly, to calm down and act when less emotional, by her former soldier boyfriend. It did take a little of the sting out of the moment.

These latest changes in the character dynamic could all, of course, easily be part of an arc - either for Clara, or for the Doctor, particularly regarding his manipulative, sometimes quite patronising, heroism. It is too early in the series to draw any conclusions.

It would be great to think that we are in the middle of a really meaningful arc for the show, in which a lot of the old sexisms can be drawn out, critiqued and then hopefully discarded. We will have to wait and see.

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References:
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+ Stephen Moffatt's Doctor Who: 'The Caretaker'; Series 8; on the BBC; 27 September 2014.

+ Stephen Moffatt's Doctor Who: 'Kill the Moon'; Series 8; on the BBC; 4 October 2014.

+ Stephen Moffat's Doctor Who: 'Asylum of the Daleks'; Series 7 Part 1; on the BBC; 1 September 2012.
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+ Stephen Moffat's Doctor Who: 'Nightmare in Silver'; Series 7 Part 2; on the BBC; 11 May 2013. [Buy Now]

Doctor Who is showing us how Enlightenment and Romance are intertwined

With the advent of the 'no flirting' with the companions era of Doctor Who, the character of Clara is being forced to adopt a new role alongside the Doctor (Guardian, 2014).

In just two episodes, Clara's new role is already looking to be multi-faceted. Friend. Confidant. Carer. Counsellor. Human Liaison. Ethics Advisor. Teacher. Not just a companion. All of these new roles give us some clues about the nature of this new Doctor, too.

As Clara typifies the role of the Romantics, so the Doctor is playing the role of a product of the Enlightenment. Emotional intelligence, compassion and a caring connection to life, versus rational intelligence, cold and practical. However, Doctor Who has also shown us subversions of that same notion. By breaking these characters out of those moulds, the idea that these characteristics belong to some mutually exclusive personality 'types' is shown to be flawed.

When the Doctor's connections with his companions are loosened, he appears to be less human. By removing love and romance, by making him colder, more calculating and detached, he is loosed from what are seen as the quintessential human preoccupations. That is, emotional attachment and compassion.

He becomes more Gallifreyan, more of a Time Lord - his manner, his logic and fascinations become colder, less caring, and less romantic. He comes to embody all of the most deeply embraced stereotypes of an enlightenment thinker. Those stereotypes are, however, as flawed as their opposite; that of the warm, passionate romantic, embracing nature rather than devising machinery to control it.

It is not necessary to think of these characteristics - cold, romantic, practical or compassionate - as part of polarised and mutually exclusive personality types. In fact, Doctor Who has gone out of its way to remind us that it is not one or the other, but rather both working together in unison that makes us well rounded people.

The Doctor has been seen trying to teach an appreciation of beauty to a Dalek, and a love for Roman Philosophy and a capacity for logical thinking. We have seen before in Doctor Who that the Doctor's romantic nature, and his rational nature, all as one whole, have been what has set the Doctor aside from his own people. He cares. As a constant reminder of this, and its importance, he travels with companions who care.

The Doctor and Clara - with dinosaurs in Victorian London, a clockwork man with dreams of the promised land, and Daleks with thoughts of beauty - remind us that the Romantic-Enlightenment divide is false. It is necessary to have all of these characteristics in order to be well rounded. Rationality cannot overlook emotion as a factor, an important factor. Neither can Romanticism overlook the importance of understanding how the world works, even as we appreciate and connect with it.

We need tangible reminders of the impact of actions on living beings, to stop ourselves from drifting out of touch with the world. We need to avoid distancing ourselves from the world behind a wall of technology and pragmatic practical mechanical thinking. Likewise, we need to be able to understand the practical mechanics of the world if we are to appreciate it fully. Clara and the Doctor's new dynamic is subverting the old notions, and showing us just how much emotion and rationality depend upon one another.

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References:
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+ The Guardian's 'Doctor Who: Peter Capaldi promises 'no flirting' with sidekick in new series'; 27 July 2014.

+ Steven Moffat's 'Doctor Who: Deep Breath'; from Doctor Who Series 8; on the BBC; 23 August 2014.

+ Steven Moffat's 'Doctor Who: Into the Dalek'; from Doctor Who Series 8; on the BBC; 30 August 2014.