#controversial opinion but i like what i’ve read from may sinclair more than what i’ve read from virginia woolf

[thebookwormdaydreamer]

Currently reading Mary Olivier: A Life. I genuinely think that it’s such a shame May Sinclair is a forgotten author because she’s the one who first coined the term stream-of-consciousness and what I’ve read of her, I just loved.

I first read The Life and Death of Harriet Frean which I highly recommend because it’s short and follows a woman from birth till death. She’s a conventional woman who lived adhering to societal norms and her parents’ expectations, never managing to break free and find happiness.

Mary Olivier: A Life follows Mary Olivier from birth to middle age. The prose is excellent as you can feel the writing style change from when Mary is a baby to when she’s an adult. I’m not done with it yet but I love the way it explores mother-daughter relationships. Like imagine living with a Victorian boymom.

Both books are also free on Project Gutenberg.

[yeonchi]

Doctor Who Series 11 Review: Prelude

I’ve touched on the topic of Jodie Whittaker being the Thirteenth Doctor late last year and fair to say, my views haven’t changed. I said that I would see how she does in the series before I make any judgements, and what better way to do that than with this new review series?

In this series, I hope to answer two questions for myself:

How does Jodie Whittaker’s performance set the bar for other Doctors after her, male or female?

Will the so-called “SJW/feminist/diversity agenda” affect the way I see and think about Doctor Who?

Given the fact that I don’t post or reblog a lot of Doctor Who stuff (since I only follow their official Tumblr and not a lot of their posts come up on my feed), this will probably be a first for some of my current followers. Those of you who know me by reputation will probably think that I would make a rant series either supporting or opposing the Doctor being female. Unfortunately, I don’t feel passionate enough about this series or this topic to justify making such a series - besides, there are more than enough people talking about this already.

Here’s how this series is going to go. Every week, I’ll be posting my thoughts on each episode of Series 11 and rating them on a scale out of 10 with half-points if necessary. I’ll also be doing this with the 2018 Christmas Special and later the rest of the Thirteenth Doctor’s run if I think each series is good enough to warrant a continuation of my reviews. Please note that each review will have spoilers, so the content will be hidden behind a cut - you will have to enter the post to continue. After the break, I’ll be stating the background behind this whole thing and giving a few thoughts about the trailers. Please feel free to follow me if you wish to follow this review series.

Background

The casting of Jodie Whittaker has been an unprecedented and controversial experiment for Doctor Who. While I do feel some concern for the show and the fanbase, I actually don’t mind having a woman as the Doctor, particularly since we have seen cross-gender regenerations in the show. However, I think that there should only be a female Doctor after at least three or four male Doctors (so, based on an average of 4 years per Doctor, then every 12-16 years) - I’m a bit “meh” when it comes to every second Doctor, but if they do two female Doctors in a row, that’s when I know that the “feminist agenda” has probably corrupted the show, particularly given that Jodie Whittaker has identified as a feminist in an interview. Call me sexist if you must (though I would say that your assumed judgement is misguided), but I think that the Doctor’s predominant gender (that is, the gender for most of his incarnations) is male, and I quote this line from the General in Hell Bent as a basis for my belief:

“Oh, back to normal, am I? The only time I've been a man, that last body. Dear Lord, how do you cope with all that ego?”

Yes, I’ve heard from some commentators that this line has some misandric connotations, but I haven’t really thought much of it since it’s just a throwaway line to me. Basically, I’m trying to see both sides of the debate so I can understand why some people feel a certain way about the casting of the Thirteenth Doctor.

Up to this point, I’ve tried to steer away from any leaked material or sneak peeks relating to the new series - though I have watched a trailer or two and read a few news articles - so that I can do this review series on a clean slate with minimal bias as possible. I haven’t watched any shows or movies featuring Jodie Whittaker, including Chris Chibnall’s other drama Broadchurch. However, I have been concerned at the way Jodie Whittaker has been lauded for her role before the series was even broadcast. I get it, she’s the first female actor to play the Doctor, but can’t we just wait and see how she does? The gap between the announcement of her casting and the premiere of the series has only served to promote division and toxicity within the fanbase. The same goes for those on the other side of the debate.

Now, over the course of the build-up to the series, a lot of people have said some shit, including people working on the production team, people working in the media, fans who support a female Doctor and fans who are against it. One reason for why I’m writing this series is because I’ve seen some critics in the final category comment on the “SJW agenda” in Doctor Who. With this review series, I want to see for myself (to the best of my ability) if this agenda has really affected Doctor Who in the way that these critics have claimed. 

In the past couple of years, I’ve tried enlightening myself to the criticisms of political correctness and the social justice warrior (SJW) culture so I can understand why people opposing these concepts have their views. At face value, it may look like some people are opposing feminism, diversity or religion when in actuality, they have a deeper and more complicated reason for doing so. However, because I’ve been mostly unaware of a lot of these things before then, chances are that I won’t be that well-versed in those topics. We shouldn’t have to care or worry about these things, but the current social and political climate is making these issues hard to ignore.

From observation, people are okay with diversity, it’s just the way that they are going about it; filling quotas instead of hiring/casting based on talent and ability, pointing out the character’s identity every episode or using their identity to define them instead of giving them individual personalities. Like I said, I’m a bit dense in that regard, so it can be hard for me to pick up where diversity is actually being forced. Therefore, I would appreciate if people on both sides of the SJW debacle (toxicity will not be tolerated) pick up on anything I may have missed if they happen to stumble upon this series.

At this stage, I’m being carefully neutral towards everything that’s been going on, but if it becomes clear to me that the show is pushing an anti-male/pro-minority agenda, then my opinion on the series will probably change.

First thoughts on the cast

The first time I heard Jodie Whittaker, I thought she sounded like a deeper version of Jane Horrocks; think of her character, Fifi Forget-me-not from Fifi and the Flowertots, but 25 years older. I thought I wouldn’t be able to get that comparison out of my head, but after a few months, I managed to convince myself that their voices weren’t that similar.

Bradley Walsh is better known as the host of the ITV game show The Chase, which is broadcast daily on Channel 7 in Australia in addition to a local version on top of it. Even though I watch the show sometimes and like the format of it, I would never have thought that Bradley Walsh was an actor until I heard that he was cast as one for the new companions on the series.

Mandip Gill and Tosin Cole are new names to me, but they have been in a few other UK dramas. Given the diversity of the new cast, I have heard complaints that their casting (alongside Jodie Whittaker’s) was part of a “forced diversity agenda”. At this time, I don’t think that it’s a problem for me, but I’ll be watching to see how they do.

Looking at the trailers

Up to this point, I haven’t seen much of the Thirteenth Doctor to justify me giving a verdict on her yet. Heck, even her first scene in Twice Upon a Time was just her saying “Oh, brilliant!” then the TARDIS just starts exploding, causing the Doctor to fall out of it just as it disappears.

The trailers still aren’t enough for me either, but I’ll quickly run through them and state a couple of thoughts about them. Trailers are just scenes and lines taken out of context, so judging something based on that is probably jumping the gun. Regardless, here goes...

Series 11 Teaser, 15 July 2018

In wisps of light, we see the Doctor (Whittaker) taking a fish finger from Ryan Sinclair’s (Cole) plate and dipping it in his poached egg, giving Yasmin Khan (Gill) a pizza and replacing Graham O’Brien’s (Walsh) newspaper with a copy of The Beano from 1981.

Then we see some text - “The universe is calling”. Calling for who, I wonder?

And then the Doctor materialises for a brief moment before the trailer ends.

I’m hearing a few Northern voices in the teaser, so no doubt it’ll be set around that region. Okay, according to this article, the first episode will be based in Sheffield, so I’m a few months late to raise that mystery. Still, this is a divergence from the series’ usual setting in London.

Series 11 Trailer, 19 July 2018

The Doctor: “All of this is new to me. New faces, new worlds, new times. So if I asked, really, really nicely, would you be my new best friends?”

“Best friends...” Not sure if they’re phasing out the word “companion” because they think it’s outdated, because when I think about the two, I realise that the word’s getting a bit old as well. Then again, the companions that the Doctor has had over the years have been his friends, and some of them have been his best friends, which can be seen from the way he reacts to losing them or when he is about to lose them. Take a look at the Tenth Doctor with Rose or Donna, the Eleventh Doctor with Amy and Rory, and the Twelfth Doctor with Clara for reference. Sorry if I hurt your feels with the videos in the links, but you can’t say that I didn’t warn you about the spoilers. Is it just me, or have the companion parting scenes been done in two stages?

Once again, this is a trailer, so I can’t infer much from it. Regardless, it looks okay; it’s nothing that special for me (I’ll probably be saying this a lot throughout these reviews).

Release Date Trailer, 7 September 2018

A pop song in a Doctor Who trailer? Now that’s an unprecedented move to appeal to the kids. Nah, I’m not much a fan of that idea. The breaking windows and glass ceiling? Part of me thinks this is a metaphor for the Chinese/Japanese word for “unprecedented” (破天荒), while another part of me thinks that it is a metaphor for the “glasshearted” (玻璃心) fans who are against a female Doctor. The Doctor’s reaction and smug smirk kind of backs this up as a jab to those fans. Boy, don’t look in the comment section of that video.

Series 11 Trailer #2, 20 September 2018

The Doctor: “I’m the Doctor. When people need help, I never refuse.”

That’s nice.

Man: “Why are you asking her?” Ryan: “‘Cause she’s in charge, bro.” Man: “Says who?” All: “Says us.”

I’ve been hearing some complaints about the “feminism” in this scene, but if we take the Doctor’s gender away from the equation, then we have seen in the series that the Doctor takes charge when he has to, or if he is not available, gets his companion(s) to do it for him. At this point, I think these complaints are based on a scene taken out of context, so I might come back to that one when I’m doing the review for that episode.

The same song from the previous trailer is reused in this one - the song is “Glorious” by Macklemore featuring Skylar Grey, by the way. Disregarding the song and aside from the one scene I pointed out, there doesn’t seem to be any other problematic elements. Given everything I’ve learned, however, I’ll be treading into this series with caution.

Anyway, that is it for the introduction. Next week will be the review for the first episode of Series 11, The Woman Who Fell to Earth.