It’s that time of year again! For the past couple of years, Doctor Who has created a mini-episode for Red Nose Day in the U.K., which raises money for Comic Relief, a charity that gives aid to disadvantaged people both in the U.K. and in Africa. This year, Steven Moffat wrote a two-part minisode for the cause, both parts of which can be viewed below the cut.
I’ve been regularly discussing Moffat’s Women here at Tor.com, because for the most part Steven Moffat has excelled in creating complex female characters. From Nancy in “The Doctor Dances” to Amy Pond he’s done a wonderful job of creating women that are positive feminist additions to the television landscape.
Which is why it pains me to have to write a negative Moffat’s Women column for the first time.
Part 1 – “Space”:
Part 2 – “Time”:
In “Space” and “Time,” The Doctor is allowing Rory to help fly/fix the TARDIS (it’s not really clear which, but knowing the TARDIS it could easily be both). Rory gets distracted by the sight of Amy walking above him on a glass floor in a short skirt, and drops a thermal coupling, which The Doctor “specifically mentioned not dropping.” This causes the TARDIS to end up inside itself, and a cute, wacky bit of time paradoxery ensues.
There’s a wonderful bit in the middle where Amy, upon seeing herself outside herself for the first time can’t stop flirting with herself. It reminded me of Mirror Universe Major Kira on DS9 or Doppleganger Willow on Buffy. Except, there’s no “evil” Amy. It’s just Amy, which makes this moment all the more amazing. There’s no good/evil judgement there. Of course Amy would flirt with herself! She’s gorgeous and awesome! What makes it even funnier is The Doctor calling Amy on her slight tendency toward self-centeredness by saying that Amy flirting with herself is “true love at last.”
Rory being distracted by Amy in a short skirt (not to mention the idea of two of her) is understandable. After all, he knows what she looks like under the skirt, making it even more understandable in his case. This isn’t my problem with the minisodes. My problem is with the too-easy, dated, sexist humor they employ, especially in the second part. First, there’s the issue of Amy being a bad driver and Rory being allowed to “have a go” at driving the TARDIS. Bad woman driver, ha ha. Now, one of the things I love about Amy is the fact that she’s flawed. She’s a complex woman, so if being a bad driver is one of the many things that make her who she is, I can forgive that.
Less forgivable, however, is the final message at the end. Once the crisis is resolved, The Doctor says that they should be safe, but to prevent it from happening again, he says “Pond, put some trousers on.” So, let me get this straight: Rory gets distracted, Rory drops the coupling…and it’s Amy’s job to put some pants on? Yes, it’s just a joke. Yes, she rolls her eyes at The Doctor and gives Rory a glare…but the fact that Moffat chose to have The Doctor reprimand Amy at the end instead of, oh I don’t know, slapping Rory upside the head for not paying attention, soured the experience for me.
It’s an issue I’ve been thinking a lot about recently, under more serious circumstances. You can check out how I feel about the matter here. Long story short, it bothers me that it’s always a woman’s responsibility to cover up, because “men will be men. What else can we expect from them?” I’m tired of it always being a woman’s job to curb her behavior or style of dress in accordance with what men want and need.
First, when discussing Amy’s “bad driving” she brings up the fact that she got her license on the first try—unlike Rory—Rory says that Amy “cheated” her way into a driver’s license by wearing a skirt. Ha, ha? Later, The Doctor does reprimand Rory when the problems first arise with an “Oh, Rory!” to which Rory replies, “Sorry.” So, how hard would it have been for The Doctor to say something to Rory at the end like “I’m getting you a pair of blinders or something?” Or, so as not to place blame on Rory for his desire for his wife, or blame on Amy for wearing what she wears, say something like “I’ve really got to figure out how to tint that floor?” There were any number of ways to write a funny ending for the minisode. It bothered me that Moffat went with humor that dates back to a time when people laughed at bosses chasing their secretaries around a desk, and it was totally okay. I’m willing to give Moffat the benefit of the doubt and assume that, since this was a small job for a charity, that he wasn’t really thinking that hard about it. I hope he’ll come to realize that “punishing” Amy for what she wears, even in jest, sends the message that men and boys don’t ever have to be responsible for their actions. That women cause trouble, or that women are “asking for it.” That it’s better if women aren’t around when men are doing manly things, because they’ll just be a distraction. Do you see where this way of thinking can lead?
Not to mention the fact that Amy had what seemed like an urgent question for The Doctor that she wanted to talk to him about in private at the beginning of the minisode; a question we never heard. Perhaps this will be addressed in “The Impossible Astronaut?” We’ll have to wait until Saturday, April 23rd for the Series 6 premiere of Doctor Who on BBC One/BBC America to find out!
Teresa Jusino is two years older than Buffy Summers. Her “feminist brown person” take on pop culture has been featured on websites like ChinaShopMag.com, PinkRaygun.com, Newsarama, and PopMatters.com. Her fiction has appeared in the sci-fi literary magazine, Crossed Genres; she is the editor of Beginning of Line, the Caprica fan fiction site; and her essay “Why Joss is More Important Than His ‘Verse” is included in Whedonistas: A Celebration of the Worlds of Joss Whedon By the Women Who Love Them, which is on sale now wherever books are sold! Get Twitterpated with Teresa, or visit her at The Teresa Jusino Experience.
I think is this over-reacting, to be honest. The whole sketch was tongue-in-cheek British naughtiness (including Rory ogling the “twin” Amys) and completely inoffensive in my book.
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I’m with you on this, Teresa. I’ve had too many times in real life where I’ve been told that I had to control my behavior, because men can’t be expected to control theirs, to find it “funny” when it gets pulled out in fiction.
If this wasn’t something that happened in real life, it might be funny, for the surprise value (why pick on Amy for Rory’s mistake?)
It’s part of the larger problem of rape culture, the idea that men can’t be expected to control themselves around women, and that the solution to this problem is for women to cover up, be quiet, and somehow manage by behavior to reach inside the minds of men and control what they’re thinking and how they’re acting.
@Misa (female!) – It’s the fact that this is standard “tongue-in-cheek naughtiness” that made it a problem for me. The fact that this is acceptable go-to humor, that it is typical. That’s part of the problem. The fact that people rarely question that laughing at this sort of thing is OK, because it’s so ingrained. I was just hoping to shine a light on that.
@dripgrind and Ursula – the thing is, I think that Doctor Who tries, and tries really hard to advance the cause of women. From the “hit you over the head feminism” of the Sarah Jane days, to Moffat and his creation of all these fabulous female characters. The thing is, even someone like Moffat, who I don’t think does stuff like this intentionally, needs to be called on it during those times where he slips. Perhaps especially when it’s unwitting and seemingly innocent, because it’s those very unwitting, innocent instances of sexism that allow it to continue, even as more overt sexism is successfully quashed.
Teresa, I agree with “calling him on it.”
It isn’t that he’s a horrible person for making this mistake, and for not seeing a less-than-nice part of culture because he, like the rest of us, is swimming in it.
I know many people who, if called on this type of thing, will get upset. I also know many people who get upset when others are called on this type of thing – as if pointing out racism, misogyny, homophobia or other bias is a worse thing than actions that are misogynistic, racist, homophobic or otherwised biased.
But I also know many people who can call out such behavior in a straightforward and clear way (as you have) and I know people who, if called on this kind of thing, will say “I’m sorry, my mistake, I won’t do it again”, and then make a consicious effort to pay attention in the future. Which is really all the response needed.
It’s like stepping on someone’s toes – you don’t do it on purpose, but when they yell, you apologisze, and make a point of watching out for toes in the future.
And if you see someone yell because their toes were stepped on, you don’t turn around and scold that person for yelling when their toes are stepped on. You offer them a hand if needed, and think about what happened so you don’t step on toes yourself in the future.
I disagree with your statement that it is always the woman who has to change. It is usually the woman, but lately I have seen more and more topless men distracting the heroine. The Doctor would have told him to put on a shirt.
I wonder how The Doctor would have reacted if it had been Jamie McCrimmon instead of Amy.
I have stumbled upon the alternate universe where people believe Steven Moffat creates strong female characters. Amy Pond is a strong female character? Really? I’d rather not live in THAT world, thanks very much.
To wit, here’s Moffat:
There’s this issue you’re not allowed to discuss: that women are needy.
Men can go for longer, more happily, without women. That’s the truth. We don’t, as little boys, play at being married – we try to avoid it for
as long as possible. Meanwhile women are out there hunting for husbands.
and:
Well, the world is vastly counted in favour of men at every level –
except if you live in a civilised country and you’re sort of educated
and middle-class, because then you’re almost certainly junior in your
relationship and in a state of permanent, crippled apology. Your
preferences are routinely mocked. There’s a huge, unfortunate lack of
respect for anything male.
Q.E.D.
@m.d. – While you might be right about what would happen if the roles were reversed, you actually stated what the real issue was: “It is usually the woman.” Teresa’s exact point is that this is a STEREOTYPE. A lame one. It’s insulting because “it is usually the woman.”
Agreed with you, Teresa. Thank you for calling him out on it.
The entire point of these segments was to poke fun at the prudes who complained about Amy’s skirts.
What an over reaction…
…the whole
5th season had Rory being treated quite poorly and Amy tried to cheat on
him more than once with the Doctor….and that’s acceptable to you
apparently as humour?…just don’t mention her skirt. Sigh.
Moffat is a perfectionist when it comes to his scripts. It’s not
unwitting. It is intentional. He just INTENDED for you to see it as a
joke and not analyze it. He knew it would be deemed as funny, and that’s
how he wrote it. I watched it with my girlfriend and her sister, and
both thought it was pretty funny, and didn’t find such a comment
offensive at all.
Russel T Davies when he relaunched the show infused it with humour about BOTH sexes.
I have two words for you. JACK HARKNESS. Throught all the Tennant seasons Harkness was the butt of similar jokes from the Doctor when the ladies oggled HIM the way that Rory was oggling Amy….and Harkness was always the one that was rebuffed for being too sexy, or too flirty…That’s okay apparently, but gods forbid a comment of a very similar nature be made to Amy Pond? It’s the same thing, and you know why it doesn’t tee people off? Cause they know it’s a joke!
You want to talk about sexism…let’s talk about how the Twilight
series portrays women and their men, written BY a woman. That series is a
treasure trove of sexism and mistakes in writing and portayal of youth
and love, the likes of which are so blatant it galls me that so many
people think it’s okay for teens to read, let alone watch.