Rosita and the real next Doctor
Friday, 26 December 2008 11:11![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
strange_complexHaving had a few hours to think about it, I've become more concerned than I was yesterday about the treatment of the character Rosita in yesterday's Christmas special.
When the story began, the opening scenes in the market showed at least one little black kid running around with the other urchins in the snow, and I thought "Ooh! It's not just Rosita, then. We have total colour-blind casting here. Exciting!" Except that the way Rosita was treated then made me wonder if colour-blind casting is really possible in Doctor Who, or indeed if the BBC have actually managed to achieve it here.
Apparently, it says somewhere on the official site that Rosita's name was meant to be a reference to both Rose and Martha. But as people in the thread I've linked to have pointed out, '-ita' is not really very much like '-tha'. So if the character is meant to be reminiscent of Martha in some way, and her name doesn't really convey that, we're left with the uncomfortable possibility that her resemblance to Martha actually rests in: the fact that the actress is black. Because all black people are clearly the same, yo. Would the BBC have suggested that Astrid in last year's special was meant to be a reference to Rose because they are both white? I don't think so.
Add onto that the fact that this character, who is played by a black actress, is a prostitute (not in the script, but also stated by the actress herself in clips on the website), gets to do precious little on her own initiative throughout the story, and at the end is conveniently slotted into the role of nursemaid and (implicitly) sexual partner because it suits the needs of the white man, and you're really treading on very thin ice indeed.
The problem at the end of the story, of course, is that the historical setting means that, if the actress' black skin-colour is taken into account, there is no other way to suggest a romantic happy ending for her and Jackson Lake. A white middle-class man of that era would never have dreamed of marrying a black woman - and the script-writers clearly felt that they could not carry colour-blindness far enough to have him do so. The result is that she is condemned to the racist Mammy stereotype.
And that's shoddy enough where Velile Tshabalala is concerned. But the reason this really worries me is because of the rumours flying around connecting Paterson Joseph with the role of the next Doctor. Currently, Who's production team are trying to be ethnically inclusive by casting black actors in the roles of characters who, ten or more years ago, would almost certainly be played by white actors. But they are still falling into the trap of then writing racist stereotypes into the portrayal of those characters.
If a black actor is truly to be cast as the next Doctor, a major leap forward needs to be taken first if these issues are going to be resolved. Are the Who team really ready to take such a step? On the basis of last night's special, Ah hae me doots.
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When the story began, the opening scenes in the market showed at least one little black kid running around with the other urchins in the snow, and I thought "Ooh! It's not just Rosita, then. We have total colour-blind casting here. Exciting!" Except that the way Rosita was treated then made me wonder if colour-blind casting is really possible in Doctor Who, or indeed if the BBC have actually managed to achieve it here.
Apparently, it says somewhere on the official site that Rosita's name was meant to be a reference to both Rose and Martha. But as people in the thread I've linked to have pointed out, '-ita' is not really very much like '-tha'. So if the character is meant to be reminiscent of Martha in some way, and her name doesn't really convey that, we're left with the uncomfortable possibility that her resemblance to Martha actually rests in: the fact that the actress is black. Because all black people are clearly the same, yo. Would the BBC have suggested that Astrid in last year's special was meant to be a reference to Rose because they are both white? I don't think so.
Add onto that the fact that this character, who is played by a black actress, is a prostitute (not in the script, but also stated by the actress herself in clips on the website), gets to do precious little on her own initiative throughout the story, and at the end is conveniently slotted into the role of nursemaid and (implicitly) sexual partner because it suits the needs of the white man, and you're really treading on very thin ice indeed.
The problem at the end of the story, of course, is that the historical setting means that, if the actress' black skin-colour is taken into account, there is no other way to suggest a romantic happy ending for her and Jackson Lake. A white middle-class man of that era would never have dreamed of marrying a black woman - and the script-writers clearly felt that they could not carry colour-blindness far enough to have him do so. The result is that she is condemned to the racist Mammy stereotype.
And that's shoddy enough where Velile Tshabalala is concerned. But the reason this really worries me is because of the rumours flying around connecting Paterson Joseph with the role of the next Doctor. Currently, Who's production team are trying to be ethnically inclusive by casting black actors in the roles of characters who, ten or more years ago, would almost certainly be played by white actors. But they are still falling into the trap of then writing racist stereotypes into the portrayal of those characters.
If a black actor is truly to be cast as the next Doctor, a major leap forward needs to be taken first if these issues are going to be resolved. Are the Who team really ready to take such a step? On the basis of last night's special, Ah hae me doots.
Click here to view this entry with minimal formatting.
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Date: Thursday, 1 January 2009 01:33 (UTC)While I thought the nursemaid line appropriate, since I dislike seeing racism of past eras swept under the rug in modern day fiction, I'd rather she'd taken a more proactive role in her own ending rather than having the men discuss it (even if Jackson had picked up on the doctor's marriage implications, doesn't the lady get a choice?). Really, I was all the more perplexed that she was left behind, since I'd come to the conclusion that she was destined to be the real doctor's next companion, so this was a token introduction for her and she'd get some proper storytime later. Eh.
I liked the episode in general, but I thought a lot of it was a bit contrived. Particularly the save the son bit at the end. It's probably my least favourite of the Christmas specials, which was a shame considering it made such a refreshing change visually.