#dw fandom antiblackness

[rjalker]

fandom worships white men so much everyone will latch onto a rich white guy and come up with fifty thousand reasons why he was definitely the single person in that white supremacist rich kid club who was definitely not racist. Because these people can't stop worshipping white men for five seconds and are desperate to latch onto the first conventionally attractive white man they can find. So now we're going to have to suffer through hundreds of posts worshipping Ricky September and coming up with a million and one explanations and backstories and headcanons pretending that he was definitely not racist because uhhhhhhh *checks notes* he's a white man and white people who haven't bothered unpacking enough racism think he's hot and think being hot means you're automatically a good person.

You people can just not latch onto the first white man you see. I promise you'll survive.

And if you're one of the people doing this, you need to stop and think about why you're so desperate to excuse and exonerate a rich white man living in a society literally designed to foster white supremacy so you can make him your new favorite blorbo.

[leikeliscomet]

(Reposting from twitter)

My POV as a Black fan that thinks Dot and Bubble's racism commentary is trash

Rewatched Dot and Bubble and I'm gonna break down from my POV as a Black fan why this episode didn't work for me & why it's an awful racism commentary. Long arse post incoming:

The whole "You should've noticed the cast was all white except for fifteen ha your bias is showing" doesn't work for a show that's been predominantly white for 60+ years. D&B casting has been the default for most of the show so its not abnormal enough to be a racial litmus test. An example is the Matt Smith era The only reoccurring character of colour in s5 (2+ appearances) is Liz 10. Artie n Angie in s7. 0 in s6. RTD's own era isn't fully safe either. For many eps Martha or Mickey are the *only* Black characters. Most POC are side characters or extras.

White fans should be aware of the predominantly white casting of the show but this late in the game feels cheap. Most of the show has gone through 100% white episodes including fan faves and it was never an issue back then bc it was beneficial. This is so hollow. Representing racists as cartoon caricatures SEVERLY underestimates the danger of white supremacy irl. White supremacy is system designed and constructed and rebranded over centuries. It is not accidental. People aren't racist bc they don't know they're racist because they *do* They know the system that oppresses POC, Black people especially, benefits them socially and financially and that is why they participate. Its not stupidity it's intention. That should've been the Finetime core not Lindy goofing around bc the arrows are gone or some shit.

Human Nature showed us racist young people that exercised this power bc they knew this. They may be children but they are still dangerous bc of their views. Martha knew this. The silly tech obsessed gen z angle erases this danger and that of actual gen z white supremacy

Instead of the camp goofy tone we could've gotten a serious focused episode. The slugs and millenial/gen z social media silly distracts from what could've been the main theme of colonisation instead of saving it for 10 mins of exposition at the end & scattering microaggressions. Saving Fifteen's racism scene for a goofy episode was a horrid idea. Spending 30 mins on representing racism as silliness then giving a dramatic dangerous score is the definition of tonal whiplash. Representing his oppressor as a blonde bimbo again does not take this seriously. Fifteen went to 1960s BRITAIN & got through it unscathed. Finetime is a fictional futuristic land but the racism of 1960s Britain was real. If anytime was right it could've been Devil's Chord. Distancing yourself from a panto villain is easy but addressing your history is hard.

The scene itself is incredibly performed so I'll give Ncuti his flowers but what he used this skill for could've been so much more. Having his FIRST SCENE begging to save a racist is disgusting. It isn't Black people's responsibility to show compassion to people that want us dead. Yes the Doctor helps the baddies bc they care. But they're aren't ignorant to prejudice. The liberal anti racism of who is so jarring and why I still think Thin Ice is performative. When white people are angry at injustice it's radical. When it's Black people we're aggressive.

Respectability politics is a tool of white supremacy. That if one pleads and is nice enough they can earn liberation. What would white fans think of Fifteen if he DIDN'T beg Lindy? If your allyship with Black people depends on showing kindness to racists you are NOT an ally.

Next up is Ricky. It was established ALL Finetime citizens have white supremacist views yet Ricky September stans refuse to see him in any negative light. Just like Joan Redfern white dw fans refuse to see racism if a character is likeable. If nice guy Ricky's a racist, then anyone no matter the niceness can be racist too and that's a pill white fans aren't ready to swallow. If racism is systemic and not about individual character, then what's keeping them safe? What happens when YOU are under the microscope.

THIS is why we NEED Black writers in Doctor Who. The nuances, depth and complexity of the Black experience can only be told at it's best by Black creatives and not guessed, assumed or spoken over by white fans and white writers. It's okay to put ego aside and say you don't get it.

"Im white but I loved the Doctor's reaction" "I'm white and i thought the racism commentary was great" "I'm white but i-" Yet again, we have to sit through another round of white and non Black fans of colour dictating Black representation for us. I'm so fucking tired man. AGAIN IM YELLING FROM MY HILLTOP TO WATCH SHOWS BY BLACK WRITERS. Almost EVERY single theme in Dot and Bubble and frankly most of the show has been done WAY better in other media. RTD is not the authority on Black stories. We are. Always have been and always will.

Tl;dr Dot and Bubble is an unserious and tacky racism commentary. It's core message is drowned by more RTD Who camp. Don't tell me this episode was good at representating my own experience. It wasn't. S15 having Black writers isn't a need it's a must. Goodbye.

Reblog this version pls

[akajustmerry]

this is going to sound so SILLY but the reason I haven't answered any asks like "wdy think about yasmine's casting in DW" etc is cos like.... WELL, AS Y'ALL KNOW, it's been my dream since I was like 14 to be showrunner of that show and the idea I KNEW I was ALWAYS going to do was like "the Doctor travels with Donna's daughter and they get to reconnect with Donna through connecting her daughter" there's other precious details, but anyway I literally have a notebook mapping out EXACTLY how I wanted to do this idea and I know it's fucking stupid and obviously its been in fanfics too etc but I'm like actually devastated that rtd is doing it because that was a whole companion arch I mapped out and now he's just gonna do it in a SPECIAL. and idk yeah I guess it's validating in a way but I already have so many issues with rtd being showrunner again (least of all the existential stomach ache of "what's the point of me even reaching to be showrunner if they just gonna give it to these white men AGAIN rather than chance someone new") and to see this idea that I've dreamed of doing for years being done by him too? it's like salt on a wound. Also, again as a Black person I'm just like where are the Black writers in your writers room, RTD? I'm not giving you any praise for casting unless you show me you actually care about Black voices!!! I'm really salty about it. I really hate the antiblackness of rtd-who and the way it's constantly pinkwashed by the fandom. this just feels like a cosmic slap in the face atm. again I know it's silly in the scheme of things but that's how I feel.

[skzloona]

Finished my pseudo essay on how racist and antiblack the dw fandom has been of late. I'll clean it up and post it here tomorrow or something. Hopefully someone will read it and realize to be a little bit more respectful. Just a little. My brain is so tired.

[rjalker]

Yes people it is in fact literally white supremacy and patriarchy that have convinced you it's a good idea to desperately latch onto and retcon Ricky Saturday into The Real Victim of White Supremacy™ and make up hundreds of excuses and fake backstories to prove he's not actually racist.

He is a probably billionaire cis white man on a planet literally dedicated to upholding white supremacy. There is no retconning and headcanoning the racism out so you can pretend he's your innocent blorbo who deserved better and the fact that you're all so desperate to try is literally just showing that you still worship white men above all else and think they can do no wrong as long as you think they're hot.

[rjalker]

[ID: A two panel black and white meme, first showing a gymnist casually walking across a foam mat before holding their hands out to the sides, labeled, "Aknowledging that Ricky September is a white supremacist just like the rest of the billionaires on Planet White Supremacy".

The second panel is labeled, "Deciding to uphold white supremacist patriarchy by insisting that he ~deserved better~ and was actually secretly the real victim the whole time", with curly lines about deserves better for emphasis, and shows another gymnist performing an exaggeratedly convoluted act over bars, ropes from the ceiling, a pommel horse, and lastly flying over a burning car. End ID.]

[rjalker]

maybe tomorrow I'll make a pie chart showing the number of posts talking about the theme of antiblack racism in the episode vs the number of posts gushing about the white man who was absolutely just as racist as the rest of them but because he's a white man who's conventionally attractive, White Fandom just has to find a million and one excuses to exonerate him and pretend he was the only one on Planet White Supremacy who wasn't racist because they think he's hot so that means he was a good person. Because they don't want to admit that people they find attractive can be racist and that especially cis white men who are the sons of billionaires who are literally living on Planet White Supremacy....are racist.

[rjalker]

I fixed it.

[ID: A meme showing two old white men. The first is saluting the camera, the second is kneeling in prayer. Text has been added that reads, "In this house we stand for the anti-colonialist slugs, and kneel for the Dot who personally helped them kill the white supremacists." Next to the saluting white man is a cropped screenshot from the Doctor Who episode "Dot and Bubble", showing large, slug-like creatures with orange bodies and dark armour plating on their backs. Next to the kneeling man is an MS Paint drawn spherical robot drone made of dark grey metal, with a camera lens in the center with a red light. Blue-green blood is splashed across the top and dripping down off one side. End ID.]

insert the pigeon meme: Is it anti-colonialist to worship conventionally attractive rich white men and exonerate them of all wrongdoing and insist they're the real victim of white supremacy?

[rjalker]

[ID: The meme of someone holding up an Uno wild card, which has been edited to read, "White Fandom stop worshipping white men for just one single gods damned episode, or draw 25". The first letters of "White Fandom" are capitalized for emphasis. In the next panel, we see someone sitting at a table, holding a ton of cards, with the person labeled, "White Fandom". End ID.]

[rjalker]

so now that everyone's happy to admit you didn't even notice that everyone was white or even that the episode was about racism until you literally had to be told that online, and that you thought the "twist" ending came out of nowhere, is everyone going to take this as a sign that they need to actually listen to people of color when they talk about racism in media that you didn't notice?

Because the designers for this episode were pulling out all the stops to emphasize the fact that everyone on that planet is white. Everything about the colors, and lighting, and makeup was there to emphasize how white everyone is. The racism was present the entire time.

If you didn't notice, and you were shocked at the "twist" ending and thought it came out of nowhere and was completely unpredictable, this is literally your sign that you need to sit down and listen to people of color when they talk about racism.

If you didn't notice the racism that was present from the start of this episode when the designers were going out of their way to highlight it, what exactly makes you think you're the authority on racism that's not being done on purpose the rest of the time?

If you see people talking about racism in media, and you didn't notice the racism, instead of declaring that these people are wrong and there's no racism at all, remember this episode.

And do the bare minimum of actually listening to people of color and other people who talk about racism. Just because you personally don't notice it doesn't mean it's not there.

Next time you see people criticizing racism in something you enjoy, instead of taking it as a personal insult and insisting these people are wrong, get some humility and shut up and actually listen and be willing to learn.

So many people literally did not even notice the racism when the entire episode is designed to make you notice it.

Take this as a loud blaring neon sign that you need to unpack a whole lot more white supremacy in your brain than you thought you did. And next time you see people criticizing racism in something you like, listen to them and actually take the time to learn. Because if you don't see the racism, it's probably because you're literally too ignorant to notice. And that is a problem you need to fix for yourself.

Stop harassing people of color who criticize racism in media you enjoy. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there. It shouldn't take an episode written by a white man to get you to start actually listening to people of color, but you better not waste this hopefully eye-opening opportunity to be less racist.

Listen to people who criticize racism in media you enjoy. Stop pretending that because it's not noticeable to you it's not there. You're just proving how ignorant and racist you are when you do that.

[rjalker]

as soon as the person in question is a conventionally attractive white men, then suddenly people start pulling out all the stops of "oooooh anyone can become a better person!!! anyone can improve themselves :)))) we shouldn't judge people for their past :))))))))" when we're talking about a literal white supremacist.

you people literally just support white supremacist patriarchy more than you want to admit.

It is literally not a coincidance that the cis, abled, conventionally attractive white man out of all of the white supremacist characters in this episode is the one people are falling over themselves to defend like their lives depend on it.

[rjalker]

I was going to make a post like this yesterday but then I got distracted and I'm actually too lazy to make the proper post now but I am really tired of the Doctor Who fandom in particular seeing people criticizing bigotry in the Canon and telling people that they should just shut up because Canon is whatever you want it to be so instead of criticizing what is it in the show they should just go listen to some fucking audios or go read a million or one books and stop complaining.

And they're literally just doing this to stop people from criticizing the canon, not because they actually want people to have fun with other storylines or anything they literally just want you to shut up and stop calling out racism and misogyny or whatever the fuck it is you're criticizing.

There's a big fucking difference to saying "Cannon is fake so do whatever you have fun with and fuck the bullshit this one particular writer did"

And telling people "stop criticizing Canon shut up I don't want to hear you criticizing this show I enjoy. Shut up about the racism already shut up about the misogyny no one cares just go read a different book if you think this one is bigoted, calling out bigotry isn't important and you're just wasting my time"

[rjalker]

People are upset by the fact that it's literally a fact that the Doctor broke down crying and screaming because he couldn't save white supremacists. They're mad that this fact is being stated because they think all the in-universe explanations they've come up with change the literal fact that Russel T. Davies, a white man who've been known for his antiblackness for years, made the executive decision to have the Black Doctor break down crying about not being able to rescue white supremacists.

That's literally what happened, people. If you think it's absurd to literally state the facts, it's because you're too fucking racist to even aknowledge the literal indisputable facts of the episode.

~"we can't just pretend the Doctor was crying about not being able to rescue white supremacists~~~" that's literally what happened. Literally. What. Happened. Just because you're a racist coward who can't even admit the literal facts does not mean you're actually the intellectual here for not wanting. to state the basic facts of the episode.

I don't care if you think it fits the Doctor's personality. A white man wrote a Black man breaking down crying and screaming with tragic music over not being able to rescue white supremacists.

Aknowledge that literal fact, or shut up and stop wasting everyone's time.

[rjalker]

watching this happen in real time. The Doctor Who fandom can pretend to be progressive all it want but it's still filled with people being willingly racist and ignorant. Especially the people pretending that criticizing the way Russel T Davies is changing the rules just so that the first Black person to play the Doctor can be overshadowed, means you're not a real fan and a poser.

[ID: A stick figure comic with a person with brown skin saying, holding up one hand, "Yeah, [insert thing] was racist.". Across from them, a stick figure with white skin has their arms crossed over their chest, replying, "Really? Well I don't think race had anything to do with it. I didn't even notice that the butt of the joke was a Black person." End ID.]

You get a Racism Bonus if the white person follows or proceeds this statement with "I understand the criticism of Russel T Davies' writing of race in the past, but I just don't think this instance was racist"

[rjalker]

"the white woman character should yell at the Black man character because a white man wrote a racist story so this needs to be taken out on the Black character by having a white woman lecture him about racism" is not an anti-racist statement, you people are just further entrenching the racism that RTD already started.

[leikeliscomet]

You think Martha deserved better because you think her being attracted to Ten is some moral failing she needed to correct I think Martha deserved better bc the misogynoir in S3 in the show and fandom was so rampant that Freema Agyeman, other Black and mixed actors and fans are dealing with the repercussions over a decade later we're not the same