clara oswald

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taiey:

Why Clara Oswald is detailed, independent and as fabulous as a Soufflé

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itsaliciasmith:

So it’s MAD day. Or it was, or it would have been had I not been as silly as a pancake and not posted a queue. And something I’ve seen on tumblr a huge huge amount is Clara complaints. Complaints that she revolves around the doctor. Complaints that she’s another ‘sassy flirty Moffat woman’, complaints that she’s bland, complaints that she’s under developed and uninteresting. A little personal statement: Clara was, to begin with, a character I was uninterested in. If you know me well, you’ll know my absolute devotion for Amy Pond (if you don’t, I hope this post will get you better equipped with the love I have for her) thus naturally I was in a fit of tears upon her death. Clara was the follow-up to a companion I adored. MY companion. So initially I never paid much attention to her. She was charming, chatty and likable. That was enough for me. But since seeing so many complaints over her character, and looking back at her wonderful wonderful series 7B, it’s struck me as bizarrely odd that I never liked her as much as I do now. Clara Oswald is detailed, independent, and as fabulous as a Soufflé. And she is so much more than she appears. And here’s why:

So first, Clara’s upbringing is a key player in shaping who the character ultimately becomes. It is here when, in relation to Rose, Martha, Donna and Amy, that Clara triumphs and slays the competition. In her upbringing. The amount of detail, knowledge and information we have of Clara’s childhood and adolescence is astounding for really any character not just in Who but on TV in general. So what do we know?

Well,

  • We know Clara was born in 1989, in Lancaster to Ellie and Dave Oswald. I could go on for hours about the fact that we’ve already got a ton of back story and history concerning Clara’s parents. We’ve seen the moment they first met, we’ve seen the moment their love was sealed, and we’ve seen first-hand just how strong their love for each other was. From that comes Clara.
  • We know that she, as a girl, is fairly mundane. She doesn’t particularly dream of a better life, she’s happy. Perfectly normal. She doesn’t believe in destiny, calling it ‘rubbish’. She is happy and content with herself.
  • We know she’s outgoing and friendly, Ellie has to tell a young Clara off for ‘talking to a strange man’. It’s implied that Clara talks to strangers a lot. What can we gather from this? Well, not only is she a charming, incredibly chatty, talkative person, but she’s also someone who doesn’t particularly follow rules well – something that grows to importance later on.
  • We know she’s fairly clumsy, she says herself ‘I’m always losing things.’ such as her pencil, her bag, her grandma and her mojo. This is clearly a very important part of Clara as a character, she tells us that she ‘used to be terrified of getting lost’ and that she ‘used to have nightmares about it’. This clumsiness and ability to lose things and get lost is epitomised when she is six years old, when she actually gets lost herself. Blackpool Beach, on a bank holiday Monday. Luckily Ellie found her. They went back home, had fish and chips and read stories. In terms of arguments about revolving around the doctor, if this isn’t the most normal, unrelated to the doctor life you’ve heard for a companion yet, then I don’t know what is.
  • We know that she is compassionate, fiercely intelligent and a wonderful people person. She is able to understand, after talking to him for less than a minute that the doctor is lonely. She then attempts to help him stop his feelings of solitude, asking him what he’s lost and giving him wonderful advice of what to do (advise we later see, that the doctor takes on.) She is incredibly empathetic, especially to people she relates to (i.e. the doctor. He feels lonely. Clara is scared of being lonely.)
  • We know that at some point before Clara turned 16, the Oswald’s moved to London.
  • We know that when Clara is 16, on the 5th March 2005, her mother, Ellie, dies of unknown causes, (though the date could imply she died as a result of the Auton attacks in series 1). This proves revolutionary for her character. Her fear of being lost or of losing is brought 100% into play, in that she now has to deal with the biggest loss of all. The book she was given as a child of her mother’s becomes all the more special to her, and she starts to express desires to live in her mother’s footsteps and visit all the places in this book – however, we know that she doesn’t because she can’t abandon her normal life in London. She can’t abandon her responsibilities
  • We know that Clara has been to University, studying literature, that she has her degree but isn’t taking it anywhere.
  • We know that instead, her mother’s death inspired her to become a nanny. Because we know that Clara deals with loss by giving back.
  • When her family friends, The Maitlands, mother dies, she becomes a Nanny full time, looking after the children of the family, Angie and Artie because she’s compassionate, empathetic and is able to relate to what Angie and Artie are going through (sound familiar?) She hides her emotions for the benefit of her ‘children’.
  • We know that she doesn’t believe in ghosts.
  • We know she’s a book worm and that she is currently reading ‘Summer Falls’ by Amelia Williams, which made her cry. Her favourite chapter is chapter 11.
  • We know she’s loyal and persevering. She carries on looking after Angie and Artie even when she’s told she can have the day off.
  • We also know that Clara is terrible with computers, despite her intelligence.

That’s a hell of a lot of information and back story for a character, yet alone one who’s story hasn’t even begun yet within the narrative. This is pretty much where the doctor comes in to her life. And we already know that she had a mother, has a father, has family friends, has a job, a degree, fears, anxieties, quirks, beliefs but most of all personality. We know an absolute hoard of information about her life as a child and young adult. Far more than Rose, Martha, Donna and Amy.

Now for the Clara that we see once the doctor gets involved:

  1. First things first, I’d like to give a round of applause for Moffat for giving us our first full time companion to take some time to debate whether travelling with the doctor would be a good idea. We know Clara is reluctant to leave her London life and her responsibilities (because she hasn’t traveled the world despite meaning to) and it’s bloody independent of her to tell the doctor ‘come back tomorrow because then I might say yes’. It’s a realistic approach and one I’m surprised hasn’t been taken before.
  2. Although Clara eventually accepts the doctor’s invitation, her loyalty towards her ‘children’ and home life stays prominent. She only travels with the doctor once a week, on Wednesdays, and has him drop her home straight after. Travelling with him does not take over, or push to the side her home life. That’s a first for any companion (save for the last 5 episodes of Amy and Rory) and it’s darn wonderful. Can people not see how amazingly fresh and independent Moffat is making Clara here? She literally has a whole life outside of the doctor. Her job and Angie and Artie are her priority. Her independence is extremely clear because when asked where she would most like to go for her first trip in the TARDIS, she can’t give the doctor an answer because she doesn’t know. Because she hasn’t thought about it. Because travelling the universe is not a priority for her. The doctor doesn’t run her life (as oppose to Rose, Martha, Donna, etc.) The Doctor and adventures is just a fun little thing she does on Wednesdays. CLARA. IS. INDEPENDENT.
  3. I suppose the main reason I love Clara and her arc so much is that it doesn’t change her. The doctor doesn’t change her, neither does the universe. I see so often people praising the fact that Donna Noble thought she was worthless but the doctor made her better. I see so often people praising the fact that Rose thought her wonderfully normal home life was awful and that the doctor made her life better. This was always an idea that baffled me. While it was nice to see these characters become amazing people, it’s always because of the doctor that they did. Without the doctor, Donna would have never realised how brilliant she was. Without the doctor, Rose would still be stuck in her ‘boring’ earth life. The fact is, the doctor is a fictional character and he is never going to come on my doorstep to show me how wonderful I am. Sure he can tell me indirectly through telling Donna and Rose and Amy how brilliant they are, but I am never going to prove my brilliance in my travels with a 1000 year old alien. And Clara is the exception to this companion formula. Sure, she does some fab things while in Space or in the past or in the future, but her character isn’t developed by those things. Her development comes from her home life. She is perfectly fine being the way she is. Her amazing traits of compassion and empathy stem from her normal life outside the doctor. She doesn’t need to see the universe and travel with a man to understand how brilliant she is. Her brilliance is shown through looking after these children, through working even when she doesn’t need to be because she cares, through cooking the children soufflés, through taking the kids on days out, through the normal stuff. The stuff I can do. The stuff you can do. That’s a beautiful message to send to young girls. Despite saving a civilisation, despite stopping the earth from breaking out into war, despite saving the doctor from dying, she is, at the end of the day, just Clara Oswald, resident London nanny. And that’s absolutely fabulous.
  4. We can see clearly that Clara is a huge rule follower with the doctor. She follows his rules. She never wanders off, and is always eager to lend a helping hand. This is likely a direct result of her mother’s death: we see that as a child, Clara is prone to disobeying her mother’s rules. She talks to strangers, and got lost in an incredibly busy area. It’s another example of Clara trying to make up for the untimely death of her mother. She never followed her mother’s rules so she’s making up for it now with other people.
  5. She’s adopted an idea, probably inspired by her love of fiction as well as more obviously her mother’s death, that she must be a heroine. That she needs to prove herself. She’s always asking questions. Trying to assert herself and make sure she’s doing stuff properly. She even dresses like a hero. All leather jackets and flowing spunky dresses. Clara’s desire to prove herself comes up a lot in her arc, not only in her ferocious desire to protect and look after Angie and Artie – something that was taken away from her due to her mothers death, but in the decisions she makes while with the doctor, especially her decision to enter his time stream. (She makes decisions quickly and efficiently. She knows what she has to do and is focused on getting it done)
  6. Don’t even get me started on Clara in The Rings of Akhaten. She not only gives up her late mothers ring, but gives up the embodiment of her lost future with her family. Her proper family. Her complete family. She gave up something that she loves very much to save a civilisation that she hardly knows – despite the doctor telling her very firmly not to get involved. She also gets mad at eleven at the end of the episode, putting him in his place, and says if she’s going to travel with him, it’s gonna be on her terms and because she’s Clara. Not someone who looks like someone else, but Clara. If that doesn’t show how wonderfully independent Clara is then I don’t know. It’s also Clara making her own decisions about her life and her travels. In another word, Clara has agency.

SO.BASICALLY. CLARA. IS. INDEPENDENT. AS. HELL. AND. JUST. BECAUSE. HER. ECHOES. WERE. BORN.TO.SAVE.THE. DOCTOR. DOES. NOT. MEAN. THAT. SHE.HERSELF.WAS.

Other little tidbits and things we know about Clara because there’s still a lot of stuff there:

  • She gets scared. A lot. But tends to hide her emotions from the doctor because she’s eager to impress and eager to prove herself as a competent heroine.
  • She’s in love with the doctor, but realises that it’s dangerous for her to be and so doesn’t dwell on it
  • Her go-to Karaoke song is ‘Hungry like the Wold’ by Duran Duran
  • She hates whiskey
  • She likes to cook/bake.
  • Specifically loves baking soufflés
  • She uses her mother’s soufflé recipe specifically.
  • She loves telling stories
  • She Loves the Lake-District
  • She is a natural leader, and enjoys leading a group
  • She’s great with putting on accents.
  • She’s incredibly observant. She’s the first person to notice that the ghost in Caliburn House was always in the first position. She’s the only person to notice the attraction between Emma Grayling and Alec Palmer. She’s the first person to notice that Sweetville’s chimney didn’t blow smoke. (not to mention again her noticing the doctors loneliness back when she was 9)

AAAND SOME MORE STUFF FROM CANON OUTSIDE OF THE TV SHOW

  • She is a fan of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit
  • She isn’t a very good runner – but appreciates that her time with the doctor has made her a better runner
  • She hates the rain and mud
  • She enjoys sketching
  • She Loves Apricots
  • Had a rebellious stage when she was 14
  • She would like to be an English teacher if she could earn the credentials.

So there you have it. Clara Oswald is an incredibly detailed and three dimensional companion. She hides stuff from the doctor, hides her emotions, hides her thoughts, hides her view because she’s out to impress. But more importantly, she’s independent. The most independent companion that we’ve ever seen in Doctor Who. She may have said she was ‘born to save the doctor’, but she really truly wasn’t. Clara Oswald is a normal girl. Completely and utterly wonderful, but normal. She is not ‘the next in a long list of sassy Mary Sue Moffat women whose life revolves around the doctor’. In fact in my whole research, I never once read or heard a Clara line which I would establish as ‘sassy’.

I guess my closing statement is that Clara isn’t what she appears to be. Her era and her arc isn’t one that can be taken on face value. It has to be thought about, be digested, be analysed. For it to work it’s important to open up to the symbolism and implications that are ever so present in Steven Moffats writing. From an initial watch, it seems that the series 7 arc surrounds finding out and solving the mystery of the woman twice dead. In retrospect, it seems the true arc of series 7 is about a simple, nanny from London and her blossoming attempts to prove herself to the world. My fellow Whovians, I give you Clara Oswin Oswald. And isn’t she fabulous

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