Unlucky Thirteen?

 

As promised, my thoughts on Doctor Number 13, Jodie Whittaker.

In my experience, whenever any group of mixed gender gathers for any length of time, one person--usually female--will emerge as the social leader: the organizer of parties, the consoler in times of trouble, the one the others look to for guidance. I have seen this phenomenon in science-fiction circles and in theater casts. I call this person the "den mother".

That is Doctor Number 13's role--"den mother". It is signified by her decision to call her traveling companions a family. And I think it is one of the reasons some fans dislike her characterization....it is distinctly female.

I think that some fans, when they heard the new Doctor would be played by a woman, expected someone who would portray this new incarnation as simply "a guy in a dress". She would have all the typical masculine traits of her predecessors....but Jodie Whittaker (and the writers) chose a different path. Number 13 is female all the way through...affectionate (given to hugs), maternal, sharing--even sharing decision-making. This has been the most democratic of all TARDIS teams; Number 13 is not given to barking orders to her family.

And she is at the same time dependable...and dependent. Imprisoned, she knows her family will rescue her, even as she knows she has to stay strong because they depend on her. I saw complaints on line that this was not "heroic"....that a true hero would have rescued herself. (I guess they never saw the Errol Flynn Robin Hood, in which Robin is saved from the gallows by Maid Marian's plan, not his own.)

I applaud Whittaker, Chibnall et al for taking this controversial direction.