Amy Pond Grows Up- Doctor Who Series Five, Adulthood, And The Monomyth
AMY POND GROWS UP
Doctor Who Series Five, Adulthood, And The Monomyth
I’m gonna let this speak for itself! Any comments are appreciated, hope you enjoy, and it contains speculation for Series Six. (Although no spoilers.)
AMY: I grew up.
DOCTOR: I can fix that.
–The Beast Below
So, there’s this thing about growing up…
Let’s look at the Doctor. He’s not exactly grown up, not really an adult, and can’t really have a relationship with a human. (Yes, there’s River, but we know nothing about her so far) He couldn’t tell Rose he loved her, he couldn’t understand John Smith’s love of life when he stopped being him, he’s the guide through a world of adventure but in adventures people die.
Let’s look at Rory. He’s a grown-up, completely. He’s got a job, a car, he’s left childhood behind. He’s very sensible, he’s totally reliable, and he’s so very in love with Amy. He could be, in some other (inferior) story, the boring alternative to the Doctor, a life of mortgages and beans on toast and nothing else. But, Rory questions the Doctor. But, Rory shows kindness to an enemy. But…he’s a good man. Probably time good men stopped being considered boring, and the Doctor would certainly agree.
Then there’s Amy- girl with an imaginary friend, a boy who couldn’t grow up. She’s Peter Pan’s Wendy, but we know how that turned out. She leaves with him the night before she herself grows up, flies away in her nightie to another world. And all the time she knows she’s running from adulthood, and while Rory tries to tempt her back she’s gotta find her own way. “Why would we leave all this, why would anyone?” says Amy to Rory, but the Doctor’s given his answer to that already. “I look at a star and it’s just a big ball of burning gas…after a while everything is just stuff.” No-one can stay on the TARDIS forever, or it’ll make the magical so mudane.
The greatest test the TARDIS ever gives is whether or not to leave it. It’s like walking away from it is an acceptance of adulthood, a taking with you of what you’ve learned. Sarah Jane did it, Martha did it, and their lives aren’t devoid of magic, they’re parents and warriors and heroes. And they still get to see the Doctor, be his friend, look at Sarah Jane! They get everything, a life to call their own.
So Amy, when we meet her, oh she’s no grown up. She’s wounded and careless and cruel. She won’t acknowledge Rory as her boyfriend, and space museums packed with astounding things bore her. (You promised me a planet). Series Five is Amy’s journey to adulthood- to be continued, hopefully, in Series Six. So let’s look a wee bit at that.
Snatched from Wikipedia:
“In a monomyth, the hero begins in the ordinary world, and receives a call to enter an unknown world of strange powers and events. The hero who accepts the call to enter this strange world must face tasks and trials, either alone or with assistance. In the most intense versions of the narrative, the hero must survive a severe challenge, often with help. If the hero survives, the hero may achieve a great gift or “boon.” The hero must then decide whether to return to the ordinary world with this boon. If the hero does decide to return, he or she often faces challenges on the return journey. If the hero returns successfully, the boon or gift may be used to improve the world.”
That’s basically what Series Five is! Amy’s hero’s journey, with Rory as the ‘gift’. And I figure that Series Six will be the ‘return journey’. Going into lots more detail, because I heart this sort of thing:
Departure-The Call to Adventure- “The hero starts off in a mundane situation of normality from which some information is received that acts as a call to head off into the unknown.”
Little Amelia meets and loses the Doctor. She’s not quite normal, but her life seems mundane, and although it takes a while for Amy to head off, eventually the Doctor comes for her…
Refusal of the Call- “Often when the call is given, the future hero refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.”
Amy hesitates, cos she’s getting married the next morning. (This would be her sense of duty) The hesitation doesn’t last long though…
Supernatural Aid- “Once the hero has committed to the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her guide and magical helper appears,or becomes known. More often than not, this supernatural mentor will present the hero with one or more talismans or artifacts that will aid them later in their quest.”
If we leave the Doctor out of this whole thing (he is the quest, sort of), this is so River. And the talisman would be her diary, given to Amy at her wedding to help her.
The Crossing of the First Threshold- “This is the point where the person actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known.”
Amy lands on the Starship UK, a completely new world. And heck yes,it’s dangerous. But she passes her test…
Belly of The Whale- “The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the hero’s known world and self. By entering this stage, the person showswillingness to undergo a metamorphosis.”
Ooh, Amy literally ends up in the belly of the whale. (Okay, okay, it was its mouth, but still.)
The Road of Trials- “The road of trials is a series of tests,
tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo to begin the transformation. Often the person fails one or more of these tests, which often occur in threes.”
Where to start? Amy takes on multiple tests- the Daleks, the Angels…she escapes alive, but changed.
The Meeting With the Goddess-“This is the point when the person experiences a love that has the power and significance of the all-powerful, all encompassing, unconditionallove that a fortunate infant may experience with his or her mother. This is a very important step in the process and is often represented by the person finding the other person that he or she loves most completely.”
Hey, hello Rory!
“And when the adventurer, in this context, is not a youth but a maid, she is the one who, by her qualities, her beauty, or her yearning, is fit to become the consort of an immortal. Then the heavenly husband descends to her and conducts her to his bed – whether she will or not. And if she has shunned him, the scales fall from her eyes; if she has sought him, her desire finds its peace.”
Well, she shunned him, sort of, and in Amy’s Choice the scales fall from her eyes.
Amy’s totally ‘fit to be the consort of an immortal’, but she’s been looking at the wrong one. (as discovered by her in Amy’s Choice) To be with the Doctor completely would require a huge change, maybe even the loss of some of your humanity- you’d see the universe turn to stuff. Rory is what keeps Amy grounded in reality, even when he himself becomes immortal he’s still the embodiment of ordinary but phenomenally powerful love. He waits two thousand years just to make sure she’s safe. The Doctor would never, ever do that- it’s not in him to take the slow path. It would be boring, and he’s always got a quicker way…
Rory vs the Doctor. That’s a lot of what Amy’s journey is about. The best of humanity vs the world-saving, but also world-destroying hero. Not an easy choice, because the Doctor represents so much magic and power, but sometimes it all comes down to love.
Woman as Temptress- “This step is about those temptations that may lead the hero to abandon or stray from his or her quest, which does not necessarily have to be represented by a woman. Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.”
I’ve got nothing for this one. Plus it’s kinda sexist. Let’s just ignore it!
Atonement with the Father- “In this step the person must confront
and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure who has life and death power. This is the center point of the journey. All the previous steps have been moving in to this place, all that follow will move out from it. Although this step is most frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone or thing with incredible power.”
Amy confronts the universe and puts it right, bringing back the Doctor. The cracks in the universe held tremendous power in her life, but now they’re gone and everything is right again. She has Rory, and her parents…
Apotheosis- “When someone dies a physical death, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. A more mundane way of looking at this step is that it is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before the hero begins the return.”
We’re a bit in the wrong order now, but Amy does die a physical death in The Pandorica Opens.
The Ultimate Boon- “The ultimate boon is the achievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the person went on the journey to get. All the previous steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this step, since in many myths the boon is something transcendent like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies immortality, or the holy grail.”
Amy marries the man she loves and they run off in the TARDIS with a man they both love. She’s got her man, won the day, gets New Who’s very first happy ending.
But what comes next is the Refusal of the Return– “Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man.”
SERIES SIX- BRING IT, MOFFAT. I don’t want them to, but I’m willing to bet Amy and Rory will leave at the end of the year, and go on to have plain awesome lives. The fifth step of the Return is ‘Master of two worlds’. I want Amy and Rory to be that.
But just for now, let’s stay in the Doctor’s world…
RORY:
You ran off with another man.
AMY:
Not in that way.
RORY:
It was the night before our wedding.
AMY:
We’re in a time machine. It’s the night before our wedding for as long
as we want.
RORY:
We have to grow up eventually.
AMY:
Says who?
Well…yes, actually, says Who. (Sorry). With the occasional exception, the Doctor teaches people and fixes them and then shows them back out into the world again. He needs to see the universe through new eyes all the time, and that’s why he’s loved all his companions, he’s seen so much of the universe through them. And none of them need be the consort to his immortal.
The whole story of Amy has quite a few things to say about not only the role of the Doctor’s Companion but about the roles of men and women in general- She’s the brave hero off having adventures, Rory’s the one who waits for her. She’s the one who cheats, he’s the one who forgives her. She’s the one who’s afraid of commitment, and he’s the loyal, commited partner. She’s the hero, he’s the prize. And he’s a nurse, a traditionally female role! But I think it’s worth pointing out, unlike previous companions, Amy gets to be married and still be everything she was before, still be devoted to the Doctor.
I’ve looked at Rory in depth before, but I think I was a bit hard on him then- basically I think now that the key to him is that he loves Amy totally unconditionally. He’s never make her choose between him and the Doctor- he may still have to entice her to step out of the TARDIS and complete her journey, but he’d never deny her her best friend.
Karen Gillan says in an SFX interview, “I think there’s alway going to be this thing between the Doctor and Amy that Rory can’t really be a part of, because they’ve just shared this thing together.” but if anyone could understand that, Rory could. The Doctor demanded back in The Hungry Earth that the three people in the church be the best of humanity, and Rory passed the test with flying colours- he was kind to Alaya, tried to save her life, carried her body back to her people and took Restac’s revenge for himself. And he’s pretty much grown out of jealousy now. The Amy who is dedicated to the Doctor is Rory’s Amy, and he wouldn’t change her for anything. The Doctor’s a part of her, and he accepts that. This is, after all, the man he died for.
Amy grew up and the Doctor can fix that. He does, but not in the way she expected. She grew up because she had to, he’s going to make her grow up because she wants to. By the end of Series Five Amy’s an adult
who knows enough of children’s dreams to save the Doctor from his own sacrifice. She’s learned. Now she’s just got to find her way back, to share what she’s learned- the Return. The last phase of truly growing up…
Refusal of the Return- As seen above, “the hero may not want
to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man.”
The Magic Flight- “Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it.”
I think we can safely assume there will be monsters in the next series…
Rescue From Without- “Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, oftentimes he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience.”
Now this one is interesting-
Campbell explains it to us. “‘Who having cast off the world,’ we read, ‘would desire to return again? He would be only there.’ And yet, in so far as one is alive, life will call.” Oh, this will happen to Amy. After all- “Why would we give this up? Why would anyone?” But Rory, he’s her rescuer. He’s always been.
The Crossing of the Return Threshold- “The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world. This is usually extremely difficult.”
Ah, it will be hard- just look at Sarah Jane or Rose- but I think Amy and Rory will manage it. They’ll pass the TARDIS test, they’ll leave, and they’ll be okay. Hold out for The Pond Adventures in twenty years time!
Master of Two Worlds –“This step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds”
Mentioned this earlier! This is what people like Sarah Jane managed to achieve- she had her time with the Doctor and used all she’d learnt wisely. She gets a son, a family, the continuing friendship of the Doctor himself and a geniunely fantastic life.
Freedom to Live –“Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.”
Well, this is the last step. They all lived happily ever after.
I’ll miss Amy and Rory terribly once they’ve completed their journey, but the Doctor said it best: if nothing ever finished, nothing would ever get started. So here’s to Series Six, just around the corner, and to Doctor Who, the best children’s show ever. The one that shows us adulthood and childhood and all the wonders of the universe, and has us grow up but not forget.
