Doctor Who

The other day, I decided to rewatch a few older episodes of Doctor Who, the popular British sci-fi show. Normally I am not into science fiction, but I really liked this show when I watched it on Netflix a few years ago. Eventually, it got too confusing and I stopped watching, but every now and then I put it on in the background for noise while I do homework.

I have never looked at Doctor Who in terms of race, as it was something I didn't think about too often before taking my Women's Studies class. After watching a few hours worth of the show, I began to think about the writing of the show, and how that writing works in terms of race.

The writers of the show do a good job with the few Afro-european characters. Now, I don't necessarily know what stereotypes exist in the British media, but from what I can tell the characters are not written in a stereotypical way. They act and speak in the same way that the white characters do. They are written as intelligent people, who are just as necessary in helping the Doctor as any other character is. However, despite this, there are still so few Afro-european characters on the show. From the episodes that I have seen, there were maybe two or three major characters that I can remember the names of that were of color. I'm not necessarily sure if this is representative of the British population, or if BBC has the same problems with not writing people of color as NBC in America does, but I'm leaning towards the second one.

The thing that most surprises me about the writing of Doctor Who is the fact that in 50 years, there has not been a Doctor of color. For those of you that don't know, the Doctor is an alien (who looks and acts just like a human) that can regenerate as a person of any age, any gender, any race. However, in all of the 12  Doctors there have been, they have all been white males. I think this says a lot about the team of writers. Do they not think a women Doctor would be as popular? The Doctor has had plenty of woman companions who have been incredibly intelligent and necessary for the Doctor to complete this work. Why could the next Doctor not have been a woman with a male companion? Or ever better, a female Doctor with a female companion? The companion does not always have to be a love interest, as in the case with Donna. A female Doctor would still have the same brain and act in the same way as the Doctor. I know for a fact that a female or Afro-european Doctor would be just as funny as the current Doctor. I just don't see what the writers or casting directors thought processes are in terms of characters that aren't white males.

As great as I think the show was when I watched it, I do see a lot of flaws in terms of the writing of women or Afr-European characters in the show. I believe this shows that it is just not America that has trouble representing non white males in the media.

If any of you have watched the show, or just have opinions on this issue too, I encourage you to comment below. I would love to have a discussion with you!