tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post2742069557410527536..comments2024-03-27T09:14:27.496+00:00Comments on All That Is Solid ...: Doctor Who's Christmas CarolPhilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-64956465257657370592013-01-31T16:22:26.342+00:002013-01-31T16:22:26.342+00:00Well that is interesting, but I don't agree wi...Well that is interesting, but I don't agree with the fact that they decide where she goes, so at first they let her out because of the fact that they need her help, but then they promise her they'll come back and they do, but really if she didn't want to go with them, she wouldn't have. <br /><br />And also, I don't think the Doctor really manipulated Karzan, more or less helped him, though, yes, I agree he did do it for his own end. Kailahttp://www.kailasbookshelf.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-15114314418884558272010-12-29T00:09:55.618+00:002010-12-29T00:09:55.618+00:00On the doctor's ethics I rather like the fact ...On the doctor's ethics I rather like the fact that he has a darker side to him (potentially brought about by his way of life). I particularly like the hint that the Doctor knew exactly what he was doing and that she would end up dying for his friends and Scrooge would end up with a broken heart.<br /><br />He's always breaking eggs, the Doctor.<br /><br />However, this woman in the fridge thing is a recurring theme in sci-fi and if it's going to get wheeled out again it really needs to be subverted a little. Once again the only two real agents in the show were the two big men... it was still fun thoughJim Jeppshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17410387006098326671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-15619712743201227462010-12-27T10:28:27.409+00:002010-12-27T10:28:27.409+00:00As I've said before, TGR, doing analyses of th...As I've said before, TGR, doing analyses of this sort is useful because we're all cultural products. Every act of cultural production, from writing a blog post to producing a TV show carries that baggage with it.<br /><br />That an interpretation of a particular episode of Dr Who is plausible and possible shows how digging beneath the surface the shows sexism is still present. But that it has to be dug out rather than being immediately obvious itself demonstrates how much culture has changed in the last 30 or so years.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-26244331299777062562010-12-27T10:23:46.387+00:002010-12-27T10:23:46.387+00:00Cheers, Stephen. Of course this is why the Doctor ...Cheers, Stephen. Of course this is why the Doctor is a fascinating figure for Marxists because he is explicitly a man outside of time, as someone who supposedly stands apart from the historical process. In a nutshell he is the logical outcome of 'the great men of history' mythology which underpins populist bourgeois approaches to history. He bends history according to his will simply because he can. Like the great historical figures he brushes aside lesser figures as inconsequential and sweeps them up in his train.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-3383751484056349252010-12-27T06:42:01.120+00:002010-12-27T06:42:01.120+00:00"Sci-Fi has form as far as dodgy gender issue..."Sci-Fi has form as far as dodgy gender issues are concerned"<br /><br />For a media studies degree in the early 90s I took a very interesting unit in television and ideology, led by John Tulloch, an Althussarian Marxist (as the department all were) and Doctor Who nut (as only he was). Just about everything could be related to the good doctor (though I think we also watched some early Ken Loach). He wrote a book about meanings in the show of which the heavy theory is a blur, but I well remember how he had edited together a series of many screams from just about women character in the show, neatly showing the stereotyped, passive, victim-like representation of women generally therein. He's probably best known in the UK for writing a book about his experiences of and thoughts on being badly injured in the 2005 London bombing, which didn't dent his anti-war views.Nick Fredmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-32744585626106407992010-12-26T21:44:38.968+00:002010-12-26T21:44:38.968+00:00See what you mean about the subtext and the link t...See what you mean about the subtext and the link to the iffy gender politics implied by Moffat's comment on Gillan's audition tape. <br /><br />I'm tempted to say he should keep his negative value judgements about women's bodies to himself, but I guess that would help leave the ideologies that some would argue inform those value judgements in place (in that we wouldn't be able to critically discuss them in quite the same way. Mind you, I suppose even if he didn't say anything like that we would still see the effects of those value judgements in the casting of the series).<br /><br />But I must admit I didn't notice the subtext of Abigail's treatment in the episode on first viewing and greatly enjoyed it overall. Matt's Doctor had some very witty lines. And it was beautifully shot too - very filmic. The production values have improved a lot in the past year. <br /><br />Ethics aside, anyone with an academic interest in refuting Moffat's claim that Karen looks 'wee and dumpy' when sitting down is advised to check the photoshoot she did for Shortlist.com recently.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01386773129436335049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-71476469042268815692010-12-26T18:41:21.128+00:002010-12-26T18:41:21.128+00:00Haha, that's brilliant! I honestly didn't ...Haha, that's brilliant! I honestly didn't notice that little subtext there in that DW episode. Certainly, I see now how Abigail is basically just used by the Doctor for his own ends.<br /><br />For myself, I was a little uncomfortable with the ethics of going into the past and changing a person's history in order to change who they are because the Doctor basically didn't like who Kazran was, saving 4003 lives aside.<br /><br />It's just that what makes me who I am today is my past, and there is no right of anyone (even, dare I say, the Doctor) to take away my past and change who I am, whether it makes me a better person (in his eyes) or not. Perhaps in the same way that we have a right to bodily integrity, don't we have in some way a right to temporal personal integrity?Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09886631117037839186noreply@blogger.com