When they announced today which actor would be playing the part of the 13th Doctor on Doctor Who (1963 - ), it turned out to be a controversial choice. Many were thrilled with the selection of Jodie Whittaker, who is perhaps best known in this country for her flawless and spellbinding portrayal of the mother in Broadchurch (2013 - ), which stars David Tennant (who was also the tenth Doctor on Doctor Who) as a detective trying to solve the murder of Whittaker's son. Others, however, were upset or even angered that a woman had been selected to play the role of the Doctor.
Of course, if you are unfamiliar with the show, it's hard to understand the controversy, so for those readers here is a little background:
Doctor Who is a science fiction television show about a humanoid alien "Time Lord" (referred to simply as the Doctor) who travels through space and time, often with a human companion or two in tow, saving the universe. Over the years, many different actors have portrayed "the Doctor," much like how many different actors have portrayed James Bond.
The different actors who have all been one man: James Bond
Unlike Bond, however, Doctor Who came up with a unique and cleaver explanation for how this is possible. When mortally wounded, the Doctor can "regenerate" into a completely different human form with a completely new personality (seriously -- just look at how they're dressed). Therefore when it is time to recast an actor, the Doctor simply "regenerates" into a new actor's form.
The Doctor can do this because it is simply something his race can do. But he is (supposedly) limited to 13 forms. Actor Peter Capaldi portrayed the 12th Doctor, and at Chritsmas he will regenerate again, this time -- much to the chagrin of some fans -- as a female. The Doctor has never before been female in the franchise, and as the 13th version of the Doctor (who is limited to 13 forms) it may never happen again. Because of this, many people have taken to Twitter to express their arguments for thinking why a female Doctor is not a reasonable choice.
Argument #1: Characters shouldn't change gender
Tweet: "So you think superman, batman, Sherlock etc... should be a woman too? It's just mad."
As a matter of fact, it's far from mad. We have had characters based around the idea of changing the gender of our male superheroes since at least the 1950s. Examples include Supergirl (1959), Batgirl (1961), and Ms. Marvel (1977). Granted, in these cases the female versions aren't replacing the original male characters, but rather are in addition to them. But never-the-less, someone somewhere did in fact think "we should totally make Batman a girl," which is how we ended up with Batgirl in addition to Batman.
In other more modern examples, however, the males have been replaced by their female counterparts. The 2004 film Connie and Carla is a reimagining of 1959's Some Like It Hot, with Nia Vardalos and Toni Collette playing the musicians (originally played by Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) on the run from the mob. The 2016 film Ghostbusters replaced the four main males characters from the 1984 movie by the same name with four females.
Meanwhile, Dr. Joan Watson on the 2012 - 2016 television series Elementary replaces Dr. John Watson as Sherlock's companion. Viola Davis plays Major Anderson in the 2013 film adaptation of the book Ender's Game, where the role was male. Similarly, in the original television show Battlestar Gallactica (1978 - 1979) both Starbuck and Boomer were male, but in the 2003 - 2009 reboot, they are female.
Starbucks Dirk Benedict and Katee Sackhoff
In general, I sympathize with those who dislike this sort of recasting of men's roles. This is not because I don't think that women can play the types of roles that are written for men, but rather because I think women deserve to have their own characters, rather than hand-me-downs.
That's not to say that women can't play roles originally written for men, with fantastic results. For instance, all of the roles in Alien (1979) were written for males, but the script had a note stating "the crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men and women," leading director Ridley Scott to feel free to cast Sigourney Weaver instead of a male lead. Salt (2010) was written for a male lead, but after selecting Tom Cruise for the part it was ultimately rewritten to suit Angelina Jolie. Same for Flightplan (2005) where the male lead was rewritten for Jodie Foster. And in Our Brand Is Crisis (2015) Sandra Bullock played the lead that was initially written for George Clooney.
But at the end of the day, these are still women taking over male parts, which isn't really what's happening in Doctor Who. To find the closest approximation, we have to look to Marvel's Thor, not from the movies, but from the comics.
In the Thor comic books, only someone worthy can wield the God's hammer Mjolnir and have the power of Thor. This person, however, doesn't have to actually be Thor. In fact, in the comic books the main character changes depending on who is worthy to wield the weapon. In 1983, an alien called Beta Ray Bill proves himself worthy, and in 2014 Jane Foster is proven worthy and takes up the mantle of Thor.
In Marvel's Thor mythology, it is the hammer (and the intrinsic goodness of the person holding it) that bestows the God-like powers. Beta Ray Bill and Jane Foster aren't Thor because they've replaced him, they've acquired the title of Thor because they possess his virtues.
Similarly, in Doctor Who, the regenerations of the Doctor aren't in fact just one person. They each have their own looks, their own styles, their own personalities, and their own likes and dislikes. Each time the Doctor regenerates, he has to rediscover who he is.
When the ninth Doctor first comes on screen he notes his new looks, saying "Ah. Could have been worse. But look at those ears..."; the eleventh Doctor has difficulty deciding what he likes to eat -- "I love yogurt. Yogurt's my favorite. Give me yogurt. (Eats yogurt) I hate yogurt. Just stuff with bits in it. (....) New mouth, new rules. It's like eating after cleaning your teeth. Everything tastes wrong."; and the twelfth Doctor first notices his new physiology -- "Kidneys! I've got new kidneys!"
But it is the tenth Doctor who best sums up how each regeneration really is their own person:
"See, that's the thing. I'm the Doctor but beyond that...I just don't know. I literally don't know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy? Right old misery? Heart and soul? Right handed? Left handed? A gambler, a fighter, a coward, a traitor, a liar, a nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob!"
Yet, despite the fact that fans know each Doctor is a completely different being with different character traits and physiologists, some continue to go on Twitter and compare the Doctor to characters like James Bond, who is literally one person being portrayed over the years by different actors.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but "some random executive" has definitely already thought of this. In fact, actresses Angelina Jolie, Gillian Anderson, and Priyanka Chopra have come forward over the years saying they'd be interested in playing the part, so it's definitely something that's already crossed a few people's minds.
Argument #2: The Doctor has been a male for more than 50 years
Twitter: "The Doctor has always been male call it sexist but its how it's always been."
This is undoubtedly the same sort of argument some people have made regarding ending slavery, against women's suffrage, against limiting the work week to 40 hours, against ending child labor, and probably about using electricity in the home. If you're only going to do things that have long standing traditions, it's time to give up your iPhone, your internet, your cable television, and while you're at it your indoor plumbing.
For anyone who feels that sticking to tradition only applies to gender and the entertainment industry, it's time for two quick reminders: 1) traditionally, male actors used to don women's clothing and play all the female parts on stage, so if we're sticking with tradition it's time to cast a male actor to play the Doctor's female companion, and 2) again, Elementary replaced Dr. John Watson with Dr. Joan Watson, and John had been by Sherlock's side for more than a century (since 1887), while Doctor Who has only existed since 1963. If networks are brave enough to go against 130 years of tradition, it seems silly to suggest a measly 54 years will stop them.
Argument #3: The gender is in the name
Twitter: "The clue is in the name 'Time Lord'..."
Except that Time Lord refers to the Doctor's race, not name or title. Humans aren't only male just because the word "man" is in it, so presumably Time Lords aren't only male just because the word "lord" is in it. And even if it was a title, that would hardly prove that the bearer has to be male.
Plenty of fictional (and real) women have used honorific titles traditionally reserved for men. For example, a number of high ranking females on Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and Mystery Science Theater 3000 are called "sir" by their subordinates.
So it stands to reason that honorific titles on this show -- such as the Master, Time Lord, and yes, even the Doctor -- would also be used as a matter of respect regardless of whether the bearer of the title was male or female.
And let's not forget that the Master, a Time Lord who first appeared on the program as a male in 1971, regenerated as a female in 2014, and that apparently didn't bother the viewers who are only now saying they're leaving the Doctor Who fandom because of the show's most recent gender change.
Despite the outpouring of tweets with these arguments, the choice of Jodie Whittaker for the new Doctor clearly isn't outrageous or out of line when one considers the show's history and storylines, and the changing of genders which has occurred in books and on screen since the 1950s. There is precedent for the gender change, both in Doctor Who and in pop culture in general, and considering the Doctor is an alien from a fictional world, it's hard to say whether such changes are normal. After all, the ninth Doctor explains Captain Jack Harkness's omnisexuality to Rose by saying "Relax, he's a 51st century guy. He's just a little more flexible when it comes to dancing." Maybe it's time we all take a page from the Doctor's book and learn to relax.
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