The Doctor’s unusual journey to becoming a woman and discovering what it means to no longer be a man.
Doctor Who is a popular British show about a man and his box. And by man I mean Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. Time Lords have two hearts, the ability to know everything that happens and will happen through all of time and space. But most of all Time Lords can regenerate. When the Doctor dies he is filled with glowing gold regeneration energy and his consciousness is transferred into a new body.
And by box I mean Time And Relative Dimension in Space or TARDIS. In other words, a time traveling spaceship. On the outside the Doctor’s TARDIS may look like an ordinary Police box, but despite appearances it is much bigger in the inside and has the capacity to take him and all of his companions across the universe.
Since 1963, the Doctor has used his TARDIS to travel through time and space. With the help of his companions, together they fight creatures like Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels, and even a crack in time. The Doctor has fought in thousands of battles and saved many lives, but for every life he has saved, the Doctor has also lost a companion close to him. He lost his lover Rose to a parallel universe, his wife River the first time he meet her. His best friends and in-laws, Amy and Rory to the Weeping Angels; ancient creatures disguised as angel statues that feed off of time energy and kill their prey by sending them back in time. The only way to defeat them is by never looking away, they can’t move when they are seen. But blink and you're dead.
There were others the Doctor lost, and at one point he thought he was the only Time Lord left in all of the universe and in a way he was right. The Doctor was the last Time Lord in the universe, but his people weren't dead like he thought. They were just trapped in a different universe.
The Doctor’s companions are not invincible and neither is he, though he can bring himself back from the cusp of death. But every time he regenerates, he would often change into wildly different characters. For twelve regenerations the Doctor always remained a man, but for the first time in Doctor Who history the Doctor regenerated into a woman.
The Twelfth Doctor regenerated into the Thirteenth Doctor during the Christmas special in 2017; however, Doctor Who fans had to wait until October of 2018 to get to meet the new Doctor and her companions. This time, the Doctor has three new companions. Yas is a Pakistani woman, Ryan is a black male, and Graham is a white heterosexual male; however, he is Ryan’s step-grandfather and is much older than the Doctor’s unusual choice of companion considering the Doctor does a lot of running. It’s an incredibly diverse group, a stark contrast to the mostly white coterie of the past.
Doctor Who has taken on the challenge of addressing issues of social injustices, like many popular television shows today. Take the network the CW, they have made recent strives to be more inclusive of all people regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation and race. But unlike shows on the CW, Doctor Who has the unique opportunity to explore what it means to be the same person but of a different gender. It is even possible that one day they may explore what it means to be the same person but of a different race.
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Since the start of the season, the Doctor has faced new challenges since becoming a woman that she would have otherwise not dealt with if she were still a man. For example, on several occasions the Doctor’s authority has been challenged because of her gender. During the ninth episode of the season which aired on November 18, the Doctor’s own psychic paper lowed her status. Psychic paper is how the Doctor always manages to get into places and talk to people she would not have been able to talk to otherwise. It is essentially a fancy fake ID. The drawback of the psychic paper is while it shows people what she needs them to see, the viewers also has some power over the paper. They cannot see what they do not believe. When the Doctor used the paper on a woman she was portrayed as an authority figure; however, when she used it on a man, she suddenly became an assistant. And an assistant to a man.
This was not the first time the Doctor had faced challenges with the psychic paper because of her appearance. When the Doctor was Eleven the paper only showed wavy lines when he told a young boy that he was a responsible adult. But that was because the Doctor was trotting around, smiling like a bumbling goofball, not because the Doctor was a woman and the concept of a woman being in charge over a man is impossible to fathom.
The Doctor was once seen as a strong white heterosexual man who could swoop in and save the day without question. But now that the Doctor is a five foot, six inches, thirty-some-year-old, blue eye, blond haired, possibly LGBTQ+, independent woman. Now she is questioned at every turn. In the ninth episode, the king expected her to stand there and look pretty while waiting on the men. It wasn’t until she save the day that he respected her authority, but even then it was clear he was sceptical of her role.
As a woman myself I can relate to the Doctor’s frustration. The Doctor’s apparent inability to be taken seriously is an issue that women face on a daily. Men in power will always make woman feel small, but after diligently watching this season of Doctor Who with more excitement than I’ve ever experienced, I know the Doctor will never let a man belittle her. The Doctor is a fighter and she will inspire so many people to stand up to injustice and fight right along with her.
However, while the majority of the Doctor Who fans are overjoyed at the prospect of a female Doctor, some feel that the trend towards political correctness is snuffing all of the fun out of Doctor Who.
“Doctor Who’s team of sidekicks, for example, appears to have been put together by a Committee for Diversity,” writes “The Spectator,” in the article “The new Doctor Who Jodie Whittaker is a delight – but the script isn't. ”
But it is possible the author's animosity against the script is because of the growing pains associated with getting a new writer. Not only did Doctor Who get a new Doctor, Steven Moffat, the main contributing writer left the show. However, the script is not the only criticism “The Spectator” has about the new season of Doctor Who.
“Inclusion and Bolt-On-Issue-Driven-Characteristics headed by Polly Toynbee: strapping black Ryan (Tosin Cole) has dyspraxia; his cowardly step-grandfather Graham (Bradley Walsh) is recovering from cancer; I’m not sure yet what Yaz’s (Mandip Gill) affliction is, but presumably it will be something incredibly relevant like gender dysphoria or advanced #MeToo syndrome,” the article continues.
However, “The Spectator” is known for being conservative and right-leaning. Since the start of the season the Doctor has been largely supported by the Doctor Who community. According to the article, “Doctor Who: Jodie Whittaker A Hit With Fans After First Episode” written by BBC News, approximately 8.2 million people viewed the series premiere.
“Whittaker's first episode as the Doctor drew the programme's biggest series launch viewing figures in 10 years,” writes BBC News.
Members of the Doctor Who fan base claim Jodie Whittaker is the embodiment of the Doctor; however, there has been some slight backlash due to the Doctor’s gender change. After the first episode of the current season aired a Doctor Who Barbie was released. Many people were outraged because they through that the Barbie’s hair was too shiny and they did not like how the Doctor wore heels when in the show she wears boots. Not to mention the Barbie retails at $50, but what the fans failed to acknowledge is the creation of the first Doctor Who Barbie will allow young girls to have a positive female role model that not only saves entire planets, but also proves that women are more than capable of doing anything a man does.
The show has yet to reveal the Doctor’s sexual identity. When the Doctor regenerates the Doctor experiences slight personality changes and appearance change, but at the end of the day the Doctor is still the Doctor. Each Doctor still has the desire to help people, be compassionate to other, and is anti-violence. And the Doctor still loves their family, companions, and love interests. The fact that the Doctor is a woman does not mean that she stops loving Rose and River or that suddenly she is attracted to male instead of females.
In every regeneration of the Doctor, the Doctor has small personality changes. Doctor’s Nine through Eleven each had their own catch phrases: “Fantastic,” “Allons-y,” “Geronimo!” Each of the Doctor’s catchphrases mimicked their personalities. The Eleventh Doctor is known for his borderline childish behavior, after all Matt Smith who plays Eleven is the youngest actor to be cast to play the Doctor. Within the Doctor Who community there was an ongoing joke that he would be would be the first Doctor to travel with his parents. Which he actually did, or at least he traveled with his parents-in-law. In fact, during his travels with his in-laws Amy pregnant with the Doctor’s wife River while they were traveling in the TARDIS. The Doctor’s goofy nature is also reflected in his outfit. Eleven dresses in a quirky tweed suit with a bow tie because “bow ties are cool” and on occasion he also likes to wear fesses.
When Eleven regenerated into Twelve the Doctor had a bit of an identity crisis because of his newly peppered gray hair. The Doctor goes from looking like he is in his mid-thirties to mid-sixties. Twelve liked to act like he was younger that he actually was in a hip grandfather kind of way. He turned his sonic screwdriver into cool sunglasses that he worn all the time including inside and ran around playing the electric guitar.
When Twelve came to the end of his run fighting against unbeatable cybermen and regenerated into Thirteen it was clear that the new Doctor is the Doctor in every way. Between her quirky obsession with pockets to the Doctor’s continuing desire to help other people, Whittaker embodies the Doctor in every way. While it is still not possible to define the new Doctor’s personality like the other Doctors, what is possible to say is: Doctor Who is about a mad woman and her box.
Even the show has yet to address the Doctor’s sexuality, at the end of each regeneration episode the Doctor changes out of the previous Doctor’s clothes and into an outfit that suit their new personality. The thirteenth Doctor’s outfit has a rainbow on her shirt, which could be an indicator that she is LGBTQ+ because it is the symbol of the LGBTQ+ community. If the Doctor is revealed to not be LGBTQ+ then the producers would have backtracked all of the progress they have made and possibly even face consequences from the viewers for making the Doctor heteronormative.
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Whenever the Doctor regenerates, they are the same person, but at the same time very different. No matter how many times the Doctor regenerates, the Doctor is always against guns and the Doctor always pushes the TARDIS door open even though there is a sign on the door that says pull. Somethings about the Doctor never changes, but why is it one regeneration of the Doctor goes around wearing bow-ties and loving on everyone while the following Doctor refuses to give people hugs? The only reasonable explanation for the slight changes in the Doctor's behavior is it has to do with the body change because the Doctor’s mind stays the same.
The various personalities that the Doctor goes through brings up the age old question of Nature v. Nurture. The article “Natural Characteristics That Influence Environment: How Physical Appearance Affects Personality” found that the way someone looks actually does not have an affect on their personality; however, an individual’s appearance has an effect on the environment they are in and the environment is what affects their personality.
According to the article, kids begin to notice how people react to them around the age of ten.While the Doctor is not ten and is actually over 1,000 years old, after each regeneration the Doctor is treated differently and often times has to explain to their companions that they are the same person. Despite that the treatment of the Doctor still shifts and as time goes on so does the Doctor’s personality. In the first season after the Doctor regenerates, it is sometimes hard to put a finger on the Doctor’s personality. It is like the old Doctor is still lingering while the new Doctor tries to figure more about themself.
“Naturally, people react with certain biases to people who look one way or another,” States “Natural Characteristics That Influence Environment: How Physical Appearance Affect Personality.” “Good-looking children are treated as social superiors, because in society, stereotype dictates that popular people are good looking.”
Treatment is key to how an individual behaves and eventually dresses. The longer a person is in a certain environment the more likely they are to change how they dress according to how the environment influences them. At the end of every regeneration episode the Doctor does a dramatic changing scene. Its is possible the reason that the clothing change happens at the end of the episode is because the environmental factors caused by the Doctor’s body change has begun the process of influencing the Doctor and her behaviors.
When the Doctor comes out of the dressing room she is wearing a long trench coat with pockets because within the course of the episode the Doctor has developed an obsession with pockets after the ones in her old coat was destroyed. The Doctor pairs the coat with long hippy-like pants, brown combat boots and a rainbow shirt. The scene is supposed to indicate that the Doctor has rediscovered herself and she needs what she wears to reflect her change and her environment.
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I consider myself a feminist and social justice advocate. So when it was announced that there was going to a female Doctor, not only did the Doctor Who nerd in me scream out, or more accurately, squeel, so did the feminist in me.
In recent years, I realized that I didn’t have many strong female role models. I was a Disney Princess girl because that was what young girls were taught to watch. I went through a brief Power Rangers phase, but my friends did not harbor the same enthusiasm I did, so I slowly stopped watching it. I was back to Hannah Montana and Cinderella.
The only real female role model I had was Hermione from Harry Potter, which later turned into J.K Rowling once I realized she was the mastermind. But besides the Harry Potter series I was largely influenced by Disney movies. I was taught to search for my Prince so he can come and rescue me because my happiness depends on finding a Prince in shining armor. My role models taught me that if I wait around long enough someone else will take care of my problems and not to stand up for myself. I was taught to run away when things got tough, eat food from strangers, not fight back when a man I do not know kisses me in my sleep. My role models twisted the issue of consent into a fairy tale and made me feel like I would someday have to be a good little housewife instead of pursuing my dreams.
The fact that there is a female Doctor is absolutely groundbreaking for me because I adored the Doctor before, but now I can look up to her. Try to be her. I can replace all of my all of my cookie cutter Princess role models from my childhood with one who helps people because it is the right thing to do and so can other young women.
The Doctor is my new feminist icon.
The fact that there is a female Doctor makes me feel like I am represented. The Doctor can change into anyone, be any gender, any race. It's about time BBC mixes it up because white heterosexual males are not the only people out in the world.
While Doctor Who has yet to have a Doctor of a different race, having the first female Doctor is a step in the right direction. And so is the current casting to companions. The theme of the current season of Doctor Who may be trying to end planetary genocide but the show is also working towards informing the public of social justice issues and is working towards equal representation and intersectionality even if the Doctor is still white. Hopefully the next one won’t be and others can feel represented as well.
Regardless, the intersectionality of the season is nothing like it was before. Doctor Who highlights Yas’ struggles as a woman of color in the police force and the challenges that are presented in her line of work. The show also addresses racism in the Rosa Parks episode. The episode deals with significant issues discrimination because of race and as well as xenophobia.
In the third episode the season, the Doctor takes Graham, Ryan, and Yas back in time to a few days before the Montgomery Bus Boycott because a terrorist and white supremacists is threatening to change the course of time by making it so that Rosa Parks never refuses to give up her seat for a white passenger. While the Doctor and her companions are back in time Yas and Ryan are discriminated against because of their race. There are several occasions when Yas and Ryan are kicked out of restaurants and motels. Not to mention there is multiple occasions when Yas is mistaken for a Latina women. They are abused and misstreated, but because of their actions that day Rosa Parks not only changed America, she changed the universe.
“Asteroid 284996,” the Doctor whispers, standing quitely stairig out into the galezy in solidarity. “also known as Rosa Parks.”
None of the other Doctor’s companions ever had to deal with the same issues of racism that Yas and Ryan had to face in just one episode. The episode highlights the importance of the Civil Rights movement and how one event can change the course of history. It is even possible that this show could change history and be one of the front runners for inclusion in the movie and television industry. Only time will tell. Thirteen still has several more season to come before the next regeneration, so Who knows what Doctor Who has in store in her little blue box.