The Problem With Rorie Williams

Overly Devoted Archivist Uncategorized adventures in strange meta, amy pond, doctor who, rory willians 9 Comments

[This essay has fallen from an alternate universe where Amy and Rory’s genders are swapped- timey-wimey-spacey-wacey eh? They are now Andy and Rorie.]

There is much to admire in the characterisation of Rorie Williams. She kicks all kinds of ass, she is pragmatic and kind- and, most noticeably, she is the one who wields the sword while the man stays with the baby, in A Good Man Goes To War. Indeed, the importance of the pregnancy arc in Doctor Who Series Six cannot be understated- a man kidnapped, duplicated and used as an incubator, while a woman fights to save him! It was a bold and impressive move for the show, even if it wasn’t really mentioned again.

But despite all this, there’s something bugging me. And that’s the simple fact that Rorie’s entire life revolves around Andy- we have never really gotten to know her as a person the same way we have her husband.

Granted, things might change in Series Seven, as we will get to meet her father. (Although that’s another man. Where’s her mother?) But why has it taken two series to get to that point, when we met Andy’s parents in Series Five? And it’s not just that- why isn’t Rorie allowed the little snippets we’re given about Andy? We know Andy’s favourite school subject, what sport he played at school, what his middle name is, what his favourite book was- we don’t know any of those things about Rorie. Indeed, you could say there’s only really two aspects to her character- she’s desperately in love with Andy and she’s a nurse. (Oh, and she likes cars I suppose- although that’s only mentioned once.) Why don’t we ever find out, really, what her nightmarish 2000-year wait was like for her? Why don’t we see her bond with her daughter the same way we see Andy do?

Indeed…eventually, you begin to wonder if the writers just plain don’t care about her as much as they care about Andy and the Doctor. As feminist a character as she looks- swords, armour and all- she’s never made an important choice that didn’t involve her husband. Never! She chose to wait 2000 years for him – she chose to travel with him (what’s happening to her career while she’s doing that?) – she chose to marry him. And is Andy even worth this when you consider the disgusting domestic violence ‘joke’ in The God Complex?

Then there’s the things Rorie doesn’t choose. She doesn’t choose what last name to have- the Doctor does call Andy ‘Mr Williams’, which I appreciate, but everyone else calls her ‘Mrs Pond’, and calls them ‘The Ponds’ as a unit. She doesn’t choose her daughter’s name. She doesn’t choose when she leaves the TARDIS- she makes remarks about the time being over, but it’s the Doctor who makes the choice and Andy who seems to accept it.

The differences in how the writers treat the pair is nicely illustrated by the episodes Andy’s Choice and The Boy Who Waited. (Both of them are named after Andy, for a start.) In one of them, Andy has to choose between a life with the Doctor or a life with Rorie: as it is, he pretty much gets both. In the other, Rorie has to choose between two versions of her husband. One of them dies, leaving her devastated. She never gets to choose anything that isn’t about Andy. Her whole life (not to mention all her deaths! This girl’s been fridged multiple times!) revolves around him. And that’s really unfair.