Not only does this entail a re-essentializing of people along biological lines – something that emancipatory movements, from female to black to gay liberation, fought long and hard to get away from – but it is also, at root, unradical.
Posted on 02/02/2017 8:31:26 PM PST by MNDude
Predictable as ever, Doctor’, says the Master in the Doctor Who episode ‘The Deadly Assassin’. In a similar vein, the Guardian has followed the announcement that Peter Capaldi is leaving the series with not one but two articles about how the new Doctor must be a woman, black or preferably both. Because white males are boring! After all, it’s 2017. As the Hitler Youth said to the 19th-century humanists: ‘We don’t think like that anymore.’
Of course, there is nothing wrong with having more women and black people cast in mainstream roles. The more the merrier. But when cultural representation of diversity becomes an end in itself, then it becomes meaningless, a box-ticking exercise that distracts from exploring what stories we want to tell and why.
Moreover, when on-screen diversity is seen as the pathway to a more just society we’re in trouble. Not only does this entail a re-essentialising of people along biological lines – something that emancipatory movements, from female to black to gay liberation, fought long and hard to get away from – but it is also, at root, unradical. Diversity of representation is embraced by cultural elites as a gesture that suggests change, but which in fact does nothing but reinvent the ideological status quo to be more palatable. In the end, it is simply the cultural version of capitalist logic: equality will trickle down to the disadvantaged by their representation in culture.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiked-online.com ...
Sure, if you want to kill the series altogether. Bad enough the “Missy” character.
Why not make Dr Who a jihadi? That would be so “today”.
Would she also be a disabled lesbian or a transgender type?
Hahaha, they’ll promptly lose all the millennial snowflake white girls who think they’re ever so “woke” and unbiased. Hot Topic will suffer a huge blow on tee shirt sales alone.
Isn’t it cultural appropriation for a black female to star in the role of a white male character?
Regards,
“Gone With the Wind” starring Halle Berry as Scarlett,Denzel Washington as Rhett,and Meryl Streep as Mammy.
Coming soon to a theater near you.
.
How about a homosexual black Muslim? That should make everyone happy except the white Christians who don’t matter to England anymore.
Not a disabled Latinx genderqueer pagan?
‘Twould be best if ze had no uterus. Those taunting pregnancies are anti-trans. Or something, so I’ve read.
Nothing against blacks, but lets get real here.
Blacks are about 3.5% of all Brits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_England#Ethnicity (I am OK with Wikipedia as a source since it references the underlying source).
Based on Dr. Who, it is more like 25-30%. And pretty much every single cute/hot chick in Britain has a black significant other.
Dr. Who’s primary demographic is white young males. They can probably overlook the note I just made above, but make Dr. Who a black female? They won’t complain in large numbers (The Trump Poll Effect), they will just stop watching.
Not only does this entail a re-essentializing of people along biological lines – something that emancipatory movements, from female to black to gay liberation, fought long and hard to get away from – but it is also, at root, unradical.
It would be very weird seeing a female Dr. Who. But Dr. Who is a science fiction character who is periodically reborn in a new body anyway - weird doesn’t mean it might not be interesting.
I'd actually consider watching the show then.
Ben Whishaw. ( the current “Q” in the 007 series). Maybe Idris Elba.
CC
... and Chelsea Clinton in the Butterfly McQueen role, “Prissy.”
Hillary can coach her in authentic patois, being the acknowledged expert that she is.
He’s already gay.
I hope they do it. That would ruin the show. Awesome!
Dr. Who after Tom Baker left? Meh.
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