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[frelling_tralk]

Doctor Who legend Sylvester McCoy says only a MAN can play the Time Lord

Obviously there's been a backlash against his statements in fandom, but can I be super-unpopular and admit that I'm not sure how I feel about a female Doctor either? Not that I'm agreeing with Sylvester McCoy reasoning though, "If they changed it to be politically correct then it would ruin the dynamics between the doctor and the assistant” doesn't even make sense as an argument when the dynamic between the Doctor and his Companions changes all the time? It's hardly an established dynamic that shouldn't be touched, they all relate to one another differently depending on differing individual personalities?

But anyway, it seems like the popular thing these days in fandom is to root for a female Doctor, and I'm just not sure how I feel about it. The canon suggests that Time Lords have some control over their changes, so why would the Doctor suddenly choose to regenerate as a woman when he has kept a male identity through 12 regenerations, and seems to have always identified as male? I mean I'm not entirely opposed to a female Doctor by any means, but I guess that's why it's a little bit of a sticking point for me at the moment. The argument seems to go that the Doctor is a Time Lord and can easily choose to regenerate as female without it being a big deal, except that he hasn't through 12 regenerations so far, nor have other Time Lord's like River and Romana, so clearly Time Lord's still must have some basic concept of gender and whether they identify as male or female?

Obviously the intro of Missy has changed things by opening up Time Lord society dealing with gender identity differently, but that still all seems a bit vague to me at the moment when this is the first time that we know of (I think?) that a Time Lord has chosen to change their sex, and we don't yet know if the Master had any particular reason for switching. I guess that I'm just stuck on, whatever regeneration they go through, it's always seemed like Time Lord's still keep the same basic core personality in the past, so wouldn't the Doctor (and the Master too I guess) continue thinking of themselves as male? I feel like the lone voice in fandom when it comes to this debate, because it always seems to get painted as only someone really old-fashioned and set in their ways could not want a female Doctor. And Idk, there's definitely some interesting casting choices out there that I could see myself enjoying as the Doctor, but at the same time it does feel to me like it would be kind of a simplistic message if the show did go with "oh we're hired a biological female to play the Doctor, that means that the character is suddenly a woman now and thinks of herself that way". I mean I assume anyway that part of wanting an actress to play the role of the Doctor would include that incarnation of the Doctor starting to identify as female?

I'm certainly not opposed in any way to changing the gender of established characters for reboots, I'm just not sure how to feel about it when it comes to a character from an ongoing television series. I'm a bit of a hypocrite I guess though lol as I have been enjoying the portrayal of Missy as the Master so much that they could probably make a female Doctor work for me just as easily with the right casting, but still is there anyone else out there who also feels a bit unsure with how a female Doctor would work when he's always been portrayed as male? (The Master choosing the female form for this latest regeneration just doesn't cancel out to me the way that it's always been shown to us as working in the past for the Doctor)

Comments

[rustydragonfly.livejournal.com]

So long as they pick someone who works, I'm happy. I'd be happy with a female Doctor, but I'm not going to froth and cry sexism if the character continues to be male.

But this looks like one of those fandom things I'm better off staying well back from for my own sanity.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

It seems like there's two extremes, with internet fandom being super into the idea of a female Doctor and suspicious of anyone who doesn't agree, while most casual viewers are clutching their pearls at the very thought

In theory I'm not opposed to a female Doctor, it's the idea of him changing gender just because that doesn't really make sense to me within the show at the moment, although I have shifted slightly more to being in favour since Missy.

[rustydragonfly.livejournal.com]

I really don't care either way. I don't think it'd be horrible to turn him female, they pulled it off well with Missy and I have to admit I LOVED that they didn't have any of the "oh, now I am female, let's go on about it" stuff. She's just a woman now and that's that. On with the show! That'd be cool to see with the Doctor too. Something about the change just not being a huge deal. And I do think Missy is foreshadowing or testing the waters somehow.

But I do think a lot of the people who actively want a female Doctor think such a character would be... automatically better? Which I'm not cool with, a female Doctor would still have to be a good character, not poof, you're female, automatic good points. And while I feel stating the Doctor should only be male is a bit narrow, I don't think it makes you horrible sexist scum who has to die in a fire.

I dunno. It's not somewhere I want to tread. With my shows, what happens, happens. Not as if I own them, is it? I'll focus on making the things I DO own good instead, that's more productive than yelling at a screen.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

I LOVED that they didn't have any of the "oh, now I am female, let's go on about it" stuff. She's just a woman now and that's that. On with the show!

It wasn't a huge deal I agree, but I would argue that some of the writing did subtly shift when the Master became Missy, i.e changing from his chosen name and using the Mistress form instead (which has pretty different connotations to Master), as well as referring to the Doctor as "my boyfriend" and kissing him, something that arguably previous versions wouldn't have done. Although I'm probably on shaky ground there when it comes to John Simm's Master :P

Missy still has a similar personality to past versions of the Master undoubtedly, but I would argue that as a character Missy is meant to come across as female, rather than the male Master just using a female form. And so does that mean that the writing of a female Doctor would also change to reflect that he now considers himself to be female, even though a person's gender automatically switching to match their biological sex surely isn't the greatest message to be putting out there, but that seems to be what people are asking for with a female Doctor?

[rustydragonfly.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, the writing shifted, I just rather liked that there wasn't a big deal made in the storyline about it. But that's just me. I can definitely see why it would be bothersome to others. Still, I guess that's fandom - sometimes something can be issue laden for one person and great for another!

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

It's not issue laden for me personally with Missy because I do agree on being very happy with that casting, but I found it interesting that people are asking for a female actress as the Doctor when surely stuff like that would get a lot more scrutinised with the lead character (especially if Moffat was still showrunner at that time), and people would start talking about how problematic it was that the Doctor was now using female pronouns when he never had before, and does the change of sex mean that he is suddenly a woman now etc

Yet no one seems to bring any of that up in the call for a female Doctor?