#a relatively small role for Roger; his character exists really only to show an official from the fictional South American country the | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mariocki · 2 years ago

Text

Roger Delgado practices diplomacy as the unnamed ambassador of an equally unspecified Central American Republic, in Man in a Suitcase: Burden of Proof (1.15, ITC, 1968)

#fave spotting #roger delgado #man in a suitcase #classic doctor who #the master #delgado!master #burden of proof #itc #1968 #classic tv #a relatively small role for Roger; his character exists really only to show an official from the fictional South American country the #episode deals with who is not corrupt (unlike Wolfe Morris and his associates) or a foreign national (John Gregson's English ex pat who's #loyalties are inscrutable). he expresses some outrage at Larry Taylor being violent‚ he offers Nicola Pagett some fatherly advice #and then he exits the episode never to be seen again. it's a small role but a nice change of pace for Rog‚ as he gets to play kindly #diplomat as opposed to villain (or villainous diplomat). the episode itself is.. complex... in its attitudes. perhaps the episode of MiaS #which has aged the least well. it's hard to say‚ but the colonial attitudes are pretty obvious and there's some deeper problematic stuff #going on. most disturbingly‚ said fictional S American country apparently has some kind of ethnic caste system in place #(something obliquely referenced in dialogue is Wolfe belonging to a lower social group bc of his ethnic heritage) but it's the two most #villainous characters who belong to this (? again potentially fictional?) racial group‚ and who are subject to (?? fictional??) racial #slurs‚ something which is never really commented on or resolved by the supposed 'good' characters (it's worth noting none of this involves #McGill‚ who isn't in any of those scenes). it's a troubling bit of.. meta racism??? and definitely the inference is related to skin tone #(both Morris and Larry Taylor being notably darker than Pagett‚ who it is suggested belongs to the higher social class)#it's an uncomfortable aspect of a script which takes a genuinely good plot and then wrings it through some weird‚ pretty offensive places #ok i did a bit more digging and the country may be fictional but the slur is apparently real and has been historically used against latin #and filipino ppl so yikes i guess this episode is just generally fucked up. huh. that's a damn shame. stupid 60s tv always ruining stuff #with utterly pointless bigotry. sigh. consider this a tw i guess #apologies for prev tags‚ South American should read Central American; not certain whether the country is actually named in dialogue briefly #but Pixley provides no details alas

52 notes · View notes