So….Doctor Who is going to be a woman. So what? To me it’s just another reincarnation. I guess what I’m saying is I don’t care who plays The Doctor, so long as they play to the true euthos and stylings of the character. If we have to have a change in Doctor yet again, I can handle it being a woman.
Why?
At the hearts of The Doctor is someone who wants to change the universe, to make it better, safer, and embrace the diversity it offers. Why would that be any different if they were black, white, grey, pink with yellow spots….or god forbid, a woman?
I know there’s been much debate on the interwebs, and “true fans” have turned their noses up at the very idea of a female protagonist. “The Doctor must be male” they shout. But why? In a series where the weird, wonderful, the extraordinary and the downright absurd are explored, where accepting change and ending violence, hatred and division is done so with peace and understanding, why can’t fans get behind this new concept?
As The Doctor said during a speech in “The Zygon Inversion,” “If you will not change your mind….then you will die stupid.”
So, now that we’ve established that I’m ok with The Doctor being a woman, I do think it’s important that the character doesn’t take their newfound gender too far and make more than a couple of “feminine” jokes. The Doctor has been a man for a good number of years, and during that time there have been few male-centric jokes. My fear is that we’ll get the inevitable “feminine problems” and “boob” jokes, but honestly, they’d be unnecessary and distract from the genuinely interesting storylines that could result from having a woman at the helm.
I see possibility for The Doctor’s views on violence and pacifism to become stronger, and I do hope that rather than being a love interest for every single alien race encountered, The Doctor becomes more of a sympathetic mother-figure or doting aunt. It’s entirely possible that she’ll become that crazy aunt who drinks too much at parties, but I’d hate to see that happen. Instead, I’d settle for a strong independent woman who shows the girls watching at home that she can do anything without a man, and can maybe teach her previous incarnations a thing or two! Whether I get that remains to be seen. One of her new friends will be the older male companion, (played by Bradley Walsh) and there’s speculation that he’ll try and tell Jodi Whittaker’s Doctor what to do. I hope not!