A clip from this longer presentation – Doctor Who: Feminism in the Whoniverse with Dr. Rosanne Welch
Watch this entire presentation – Doctor Who: Feminism in the Whoniverse with Dr. Rosanne Welch
Dr. Rosanne Welch (https://rosannewelch.com) speaks on “Feminism in the Whoniverse” of Doctor Who, the BBC television program now in its 50th year. She reviews each of the Doctor’s female companions and speaks on how they are represented in the program and how they represented the women of their respective periods.
Transcript:
Martha is cool enough, first of all, to travel with The Doctor. Second of all, she’s going to end up joining UNIT and being just like Liz Shaw, a female assistant through the military connection that he has — and that’s a pretty cool thing. And then, she’s going to end up married To Mickey. Now, this become an interesting question. She, following Rose, is the second person to fall in love with The Doctor. Now, we can’t have everyone do that or the show gets boring, so we know that they can’t end up together and he can’t all in love with her too because then he’s just sort of a wander Romeo and then we lose all respect for him. Ok? If the TARDIS is just like his purple couch, This is a bad thing. It changes the whole point of the show. So, we have to deal with Martha – who recognizes how she feels. Tells the boy how she feels about him — which is a very empowering thing to do. Gets told he can’t feel the same way and doesn’t fall apart. She does the thing that is best for her. She leaves him. She says “Goodbye” of her own choosing, so that she can continue her life. She does not make the mistake that Sarah Jane made 15 years ago. She is smarter and more together than that. So, I think she’s a pretty interesting character.
Feminism in the Whoniverse was presented at the Cal Poly Pomona University Library where Dr. Welch teaches in the IGE (Interdisciplinary General Education) program.
This is the 4th talk on various aspects of Doctor Who that Dr. Welch has presented. You can find these talks using the links below.
- Doctor Who and Culture
- Doctor Who Regenerated
- “How the Growing Popularity of the English Who-niverse Effected American TV” with Dr. Rosanne Welch
Subscribe to Dr. Welch’s YouTube Channel
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