“I feel SO guilty.”
Rory’s guilt at having an unexpected Ood-butler sounded pretty geniune. And you know what, I think it was. Real guilt. Cos Rory’s lived through the Roman empire. He’s witnessed slavery right up close…
He knows it when he sees it.
Rory’s guilt at having an unexpected Ood-butler sounded pretty geniune. And you know what, I think it was. Real guilt. Cos Rory’s lived through the Roman empire. He’s witnessed slavery right up close…
He knows it when he sees it.
August 31, 2012 @ 2:08 am
You’re quite right. “Rory the Roman” would have had first-hand experience with slavery. An interesting point, however, is that the Romans, and other ancient people didn’t see slavery in quite the same way as we think about slavery as it existed in the early decades of the US and in other similar cultures. For the Romans, slaves were human. And it was okay to treat human beings as slaves. During the so-called “Dark Age” Europe rejected the idea of slavery and the idea that it was okay to treat humans as slaves. So when slavery reemerged in European culture and in cultures influenced by European culture, it involved dehumanizing the people forced into slavery. The people who were slaves had to be, in some way, defined as less than human. I’m really not sure which is worse, considering it okay to treat human beings as slaves, or considering it not-okay to treat human beings as slaves and therefore defining the human beings you treat as slaves as not-really-human. In the story where we first met the Ood, they were treated as not-as-good-as-human, and therefore it was okay to enslave them. And the moral issues around that were evaded, as the Doctor rescued the humans but left the Ood-slaves to die. Later, when the Doctor and Donna reach the Ood home-world, we learn more about them, and it is acknowledged that it was wrong to treat the Ood as slaves. But after that, we only see Ood who were modified to be slaves, the part of their brain that they carry in their hand replaced with the Orb that allows them to speak to humans out loud instead of speaking to other Ood telepathically. It is almost as if the liberation of the Ood is retconned out of the latter stories that involve the Ood. The Doctor apparently rescued the Ood who wound up in Amy and Rory’s house from a very dangerous situation. And it is an Ood who has been attacked and mentally and physically disabled in order to make it accept slavery. The Ood may be conditioned to “serve” but that conditioning is an atrocity. And the Doctor’s solution is to have Amy and Rory let the Ood serve them, at least until he can get to them and return the Ood to its home-planet, where other, non-lobotomized Ood can help it heal. On the one hand, this is pragmatic. Amy and Rory do not have the capability to heal the damaged and suffering Ood. Giving the Ood the space to do what it considers necessary may be a kindness, rather than trying to force it to act “free” when it is suffering from the effects of brainwashing. But on the other hand, as Rory recognizes, letting the Ood serve them is taking advantage of a horrible and oppressive situation where the Ood are purely victims. The human and humane response to finding a slave-Ood in your home is not to let it serve you, but to make every effort to help and serve the Ood so it can recover from the oppression of being enslaved.
August 31, 2012 @ 4:49 pm
In the story where we first met the Ood, they were treated as not-as-good-as-human, and therefore it was okay to enslave them. And the moral issues around that were evaded, as the Doctor rescued the humans but left the Ood-slaves to die. This has always bugged me, although I suppose at least he didn’t mean to (and was sad that they died)… On the one hand, this is pragmatic. Amy and Rory do not have the capability to heal the damaged and suffering Ood. Giving the Ood the space to do what it considers necessary may be a kindness, rather than trying to force it to act “free” when it is suffering from the effects of brainwashing. But on the other hand, as Rory recognizes, letting the Ood serve them is taking advantage of a horrible and oppressive situation where the Ood are purely victims. The human and humane response to finding a slave-Ood in your home is not to let it serve you, but to make every effort to help and serve the Ood so it can recover from the oppression of being enslaved. To my irritation, I’m even a little disappointed in Amy for seemingly not feeling guilty about having a ‘slave’. :( It’s the house-elves situation all over again! Thanks for this post, I love that even a tiny short has inspired discusion. :D
September 1, 2012 @ 5:28 am
Amy does seem uncomfortable about the Ood’s presence and activities in their home, although she is not as articulate about it as Rory is. But the strained smiles and awkward thank-yous tell us a lot about her discomfort. It’s also worth noting that all the work we see the Ood do in their home is traditionally women’s work. And we know that there is at least some division of household work between them following traditional gender roles. In “The Girl Who Waited” when Older-Amy mentions possible visits at Christmas, Rory points out to Amy that she’d said she wished there were two of her when preparing Christmas dinner. Which tells us that Amy is the one doing the cooking for the household. And she’s doing it on her own, wishing there were two to do the job, rather than the two of them doing the work together. So it is easier for Rory to express discomfort at the Ood doing household work. For him, the change in who is doing this work is abstract, distanced. Amy did it before, the Ood did it temporarily, Amy will do it again when the Ood is gone. Amy is the woman of the household, so he considers it normal for her to do the “woman’s” work, and abnormal to have an Ood doing the work instead. But he isn’t the second person to help cook Christmas dinner. For Amy, the situation is more complicated. She’s normally doing the double-shift that many married women who also have paying jobs have to deal with – a day of “work” and then hours of housework to follow. So for Amy, the Ood is a bit of a temptation. The chance to work one job, like Rory, rather than two! The Doctor knows that it isn’t right to leave the Ood to be Amy and Rory’s servant/slave/butler forever. But he also knows the way that the slave-Ood were conditioned. And helping a slave-Ood to learn to be free is beyond Amy and Rory’s abilities. So the Doctor’s advice is pragmatic. Give the Ood the space to do what it thinks it should do. Even if it is awkward, and an invasion of their privacy. Amy and Rory don’t want an Ood slave. But the Ood doesn’t deserve to be treated badly just because they’re not happy about the way the Ood has been abused in the past. And slave-Ood can be dangerous when they’re frustrated or unhappy, as we saw when they turned on their captors in other episodes. The Doctor will stop by, when the TARDIS is ready to play nice again, and pick up the Ood to bring it home for appropriate care. We don’t see either Amy or Rory enjoying the Ood’s service in the way that Harry, Ron and Hermione enjoyed Kreatcher’s service after his change of heart in Deathly Hallows. The situation is awkward for both Rory and Amy. Rory calls the Doctor to try to get things sorted. Amy guides Rory in dealing with the Ood. Neither of them makes any requests of the Ood, any demands for work or service. But Amy focuses on showing the Ood appreciation for what it is doing – eat the breakfast, go to work, let the Ood do as it pleases, without demands, and without complaints. For Amy, the Ood is a bit of a busybody houseguest. The sort of guest who insists on “helping” while putting all the dishes away in the wrong place, and sorting the laundry wrong, and generally interfering in the running of a household in a way that will probably mean more work later. But you don’t complain, and you do say thank-you, even as you’re cringing at the thought of how much work it will take to find everything put away in the wrong spot and get back into routine later.
September 1, 2012 @ 12:15 pm
Wow, this is lot of interesting stuff to think about! It’s also worth noting that all the work we see the Ood do in their home is traditionally women’s work. I’m not sure Amy and Rory wouldn’t share household tasks- granted, we don’t really see Rory doing anything more than carrying the shopping, but I guess I just like to think he would. Or I hope he would, since they’ve both got careers now… For Amy, the Ood is a bit of a busybody houseguest. The sort of guest who insists on “helping” while putting all the dishes away in the wrong place, and sorting the laundry wrong, and generally interfering in the running of a household in a way that will probably mean more work later. But you don’t complain, and you do say thank-you, even as you’re cringing at the thought of how much work it will take to find everything put away in the wrong spot and get back into routine later. Ah yeah…that sounds pretty accurate really. I guess the house-elves comparison may not be right, since as you said neither Amy or Rory actually enjoy their Ood. I wonder if they gave him a name?
September 3, 2012 @ 12:05 am
I’m not sure Amy and Rory wouldn’t share household tasks- granted, we don’t really see Rory doing anything more than carrying the shopping, but I guess I just like to think he would. Or I hope he would, since they’ve both got careers now.. From what I’ve seen of Moffat’s work, he isn’t misogynist in the way that so much of the media is violently hostile and hateful towards women. But he does tend to fall into the sort of sexism that takes the form of a man thinking “women are wonderful and can do so much, and men are just bumbling fools” that then turns into a convenient excuse to leave the housework to women (she’s so much better at it!) and the childcare to women (she’s so much better at it!), and the emotional work in the relationship to women (she’s so much better at it!) while also not thinking anything of the woman in their life also working a full time job as demanding as his (women are awesome and can do anything a man can do!). Which is what I’ve seen of the domestic work when it comes to Amy and Rory’s relationship. We don’t see much of it. But at the end of “Vampires of Venice” Amy announces that she has her spaceship and her boys, and she’s going to put the kettle on. Moffat has written her doing as much of the world-saving as the Doctor and Rory, and then stepping in to take care of the domestic work. As I mentioned before, in “The Girl Who Waited” Rory mentions Amy wishing she was two when making Christmas dinner – but neither of them notices that there are two of them, and the need for the work of two when preparing a meal can easily be met by both of them working together. It isn’t conscious discrimination. But it does show a problem in how Moffat sees the natural and normal division of labor for a heterosexual couple. With Amy and Rory, Moffat seems to want to write a devoted married couple, with a basically strong relationship. This relationship has been shown to be severely stressed in “Asylum of the Daleks,” but when they finally break through to each other and the problem is brought into the light where they can work on it together, it’s clear that they are going to be able to work things out. So what we see of them in the rare domestic scenes what Moffat considers a good way to show the domestic life of a couple that does well together.