i understand the criticism of danny pink and bill being converted and the unease but i do think it’s relevant to remember that rory was turned into an auton, activated and forced to attack against his will and i think this is in a similar area
@xingshining said: Rory was turned into an Auton, Amy was turned into a Flesh duplicate and a wooden doll, Clara was turned into a Dalek TWICE (once permanently and once temporarily)…
exactly, i am receptive to the criticism that conversion specifically is something that happens to black characters/companions, and in no way is it invalid (though in danny’s case as he was written and cast colour-blind i wonder what impact it would have on the discussion if he’d been cast white, i don’t think that he’d be written differently but that’s irrelevant because he wasn’t)
but i just wonder a bit how common people think the idea of the ‘monstering’ of companions is in the moffat era, because to read some of the reaction you might think danny and bill were the only ones to experience it
This is the point where someone should definitely mention Jane’s wonderful writing on the monstering of Doctor Who companions: The Monstering of Amy Pond, The Monstering of Clara Oswald, and a general essay on beauty and monstrosity on Doctor Who.
I think the question is not so much “Does this happen only or primarily to black characters?” because the answer would be no, although the correlation with Cyberconversion is particular is pretty high. The question is “Is this really the same thing, with the same connotation, when you do it to a black character, when you do it to a black body?”. And that’s something I’m not at all qualified to answer, as someone who is white.
Ages ago I remember reading a really good post or essay in relation to the Torchwood episode “Cyberwoman” (which again featured a black woman who’d been ‘converted’) and I wish I could find it, because I figure it’s pretty relevant at the moment.