Overly Devoted Archivist Uncategorized doctor who, feministwhoniverse, rory pond, rory williams 0 Comments

cyruspotnoodle:

I just saw this essay and… well, it’s really made me think about the idea of Rory Williams/Pond as the archetypal Nice Guy.

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Ah, Rory Rory Rory.

Regarding Rory’s Gary-Stu-ness, I direct you to this magazine scan here (ignore the bit about the Doctor ‘encouraging Amy to embrace being Mrs Williams’ that’s something the interviewer added in and it annoys me too)-

“Rory Pond is everything I could never be- brave enough to show when he’s scared, man enough to take his wife’s name, and so steadfastly in love that he’ll wait 2000 years and not complain once. Everyone needs a Rory in their life.”

So I suppose Rory is what Moffat wants to be, which seems fair enough. It also explains why Rory doesn’t often get criticized for his flaws in-show, if they’re Moffat’s flaws as well. (Is Moffat jealous/insecure about things? I dunno, I don’t know the man.) And why Rory is frequently set up as the proactive hero who gets to do plenty of stuff, up to and including saving the damsel in distress who is usually Amy.

In a way Rory has all the trademarks of a classic Gary Stu- most people love him in-universe (Amy, the Doctor, Jen), he gets to do cool stuff like punch Hitler, and he gets, on the whole, everything he wants (Or does he- he’ll never know his daughter as a baby and Arthur Darvill’s said in interviews that Rory will miss travelling). Yet I think he works as a character- maybe because, I suspect, everyone can relate to the feeling of feeling second-best, or feeling like the person you love prefers someone else. Or maybe because, dude, Rory is played by Arthur Darvill, possibly the coolest guy in television. (Seriously, I think Arthur is a huge part of what makes Rory wonderful.)

But I think Moffat could do far worse than try to emulate Rory, because on the whole Rory is a good person. He has moments of selfishness and pettiness, sure, but everyone does. Plus…well, Rory isn’t running a beloved TV show and adding squicky things into it at will and you areeeeee, Moffat, dammit.

As for that original Rory article, I don’t like it (big surprise.) I can see why people might find Rory unattractive*, but that article sort of takes it to extremes, like the author assumed that just because she didn’t like Rory no-one else did either. Plus she writes that:

Earth-based plots were set in major cities, queer characters and characters of color served as Companions, and women — here’s the fun part — were encouraged to want more from their lives than marriage and children. In fact, fan-favorite Donna’s learning to want more from her life than marriage to a man, ANY man, was pretty much the central theme of her plot.

Yes, Donna did want more from her life, and achieved it, and then it was taken from her. Last we see of her, she’s…getting married. In an article like this, you have to mention that! Donna got majorly screwed over in a way no other female companion ever was. Steven Moffat’s Who has problems, but so did Russell T Davies’, and it annoys me a little that everyone forgot that. I mean, let’s look at RTD’s females:

Donna: Starts her story getting married to a man who doesn’t care about her- is portrayed as being kinda shallow and obsessed with marriage. Throughout The Runaway Bride, and Series Four, she grows into a hero, saving the world several times and growing in confidence. Then she loses all her memories, and that’s kinda it, she’s back to square one. She gets married, gets set up financially thanks to the Doctor, and that’s it. We don’t even know if she carries on being a temp or what.

Martha: Was wonderful. But she was a) the only female companion of colour and b) the only recent companion to be treated as second-best…apart from the other companion of colour, Mickey. Hmmm.

Rose: Gives up most of her life for the Doctor. When she’s seperated from him, describes the experience as “that’s how I died”. (Unless she’s just referring to her being ‘dead’ on Earth, I dunno.) Eventually ends up ‘married off’ in everything but name to the clone Tenth Doctor. Which isn’t entirely what she wanted- she wanted the real Doctor.

(On another note, does it really matter if Doctor Who is set in major cities? London and Cardiff aren’t the only places in Britain- in fact, I’ve seen people complain that the BBC is too London-centric. I love seeing London on-screen, but most of British drama is set in London these days.)

Also in the article:

He complains about being emasculated by his wife! Who used to be his girlfriend! That he whined about being rejected by! But never mind: Now that he has her, he is super-emasculated! So he whines about that, too!

He’s never, ever done that. I’m sure of it. He’s upset that she cheated on him, but…there’s no-one in the world who wouldn’t be. And when he’s completely sure that Amy loves the Doctor instead of him (in Day Of The Moon), he doesn’t whine. He’s devastated, but all he does is droop his head a little. Then he gets angry with the Doctor…for not saving Amy. Like he’s saying, “If she loves you, you have to be worthy of her. She wants saving, so save her.”

AMY (over the nanorecorder) I love you. I know you think it’s him. I know you think it ought to be him. But it’s not, it’s you. And when I see you again, I’m going tell you properly, just to see your stupid face. My life was so boring before you just dropped out of the sky. (RORY hangs his head) So just get your stupid face where I can see it. Okay? Okay?
(The DOCTOR comes into view.)
DOCTOR She’ll be safe for now. No point in a dead hostage.
RORY Can’t you save her?
DOCTOR I can track that signal back. Take us right to her.
RORY Then why haven’t you?
DOCTOR Because then what? I find her, and then what do I do? This isn’t an alien invasion. They live here. This is their empire. This is kicking the Romans out of Rome.
RORY Rome fell.
DOCTOR I know. I was there.
RORY So was I.

And then when faced with Amy, all he cares about is getting her to safety, he doesn’t even bring up the fact that their marriage might be over.

RORY I can’t get her out!
AMY Go, just go!
RORY We are not leaving without you!
AMY Will you just get your stupid face out of here?!
(RORY stares at her in realisation)

I’m positive Rory’s never complained about being emasculated by Amy. He doesn’t complain when Amy names her daughter Pond instead of Williams (and why should he) , he’s happy to be called Mr Pond, he never throws his 2000-year wait for her back in her face, he trusts her to save his life…hey, she called him ‘stupid face’ and he doesn’t mind!

DUDE THAT BIT IS JUST. NOT. TRUE. I’m sure of it, I’m sure there’s nothing I missed.

gone are the central characters of color and the major queer characters.

Agreed about the central characters of colour, although we did at least get Liz 10 and (briefly) Mels. But what about Canton and Madame Vastra and Jenny? All major queer characters, especially Canton.

Amy is surrounded by killer robots, in possession of a life-saving tool that can do anything she can think up, and Rory actually has to instruct her to “think” something. But even this isn’t condescending enough, apparently. Because Amy then turns to Rory, and asks him: “What do I think?”

…and then, clearly panicking the same as her, Rory says “I don’t know!”. And Amy isn’t saying to Rory “Please feed me my opinions because I am a woman,” she’s saying “How do I control this complicated space-time device without getting us into further trouble?” Because Rory has actually used it before, and she hasn’t! And if I was in Amy’s situation there- holding a device of serious power (that thing could be a nuke in the right hands), inside a robot, surrounded by robots, minitaurised and freaking out- I’d be saying the exact same thing. If anything, that scene reflects badly on Rory, because he can’t remember how to use the screwdriver when he’s used it before at least twice.

…and then, Amy and Rory get trapped in the Tessalecta, which is torturing River, and Amy doesn’t know what to do- so she looks around and thinks and then raises the screwdriver and tells Rory she’s “pointing and thinking!” and then she promptly saves River by doing something clever.

Of all the moments to use to point out sexism in Doctor Who…that one? The one specifically designed to show how clever and quick to learn Amy is? That could have been an interesting article, it really could, but the author way overdid it and ignored an awful lot. And how can you miss the awesomeness that was Canton, Madame Vastra and Jenny?

*How it works: (I think this is true of a lot of people) I relate to Rory, sharing a lot of both his flaws and good qualities- so any hate directed towards him (or insert character of your own here- Amy, River, Rose, whoever) – it sort of makes you think, well, is that me in there, is that me they’re on about on some level? Which is why emotions run so high when it comes to characters, I think.