(no subject)

[grimorie]

Rosa as an episode shows exactly why diverse voices are needed and why a writer’s room type works too.

Doctor Who tackled racism before but never this sensitively, never this nuanced. Thin Ice was closest but that can only shade one aspect of it.

This episode tackled racism not only from the past but in present day too, and unfortunately, much as we love to think it, it might still be a thing in the future. The enemy wasn’t Krasko, he was a vehicle. The enemy was mindset and prejudice, the challenge was to let history happen exactly as it’s meant, despite how hard it is for people to let it.

I’ve wondered since I started watching Timeless how the Doctor would react, because the Timeless crew stumble into history and can’t stand to see terrible things happen and Rufus, rightly, challenges it and affect a change in history.

But now we know how the Doctor would react, as difficult it is to do, as heart wrenching and shamefully they feel, history must happen the way it should. It also emphasized Rosa’s agency.

She wasn’t inspired by the Doctor nor were the racist people around them affected by aliens or whatever. They were ordinary people who had prejudices and a system to enforce that.

And then the episode addressed how non-black people of color were treated too, which, I will admit surprised me because I don’t think a TV show has addressed that together with the ongoing topic. It’s like for Hollywood only one type of racism can happen at a time, but this episode showed the broader world. Shading and layering it in more. Especially when Yaz and Ryan spoke to each other and we can see the similar but different racism they still tackle on a daily basis.

I love how in the end, Rosa, as it meant to, decided to keep her sit, and it wasn’t because she was tired. The actress did such a brilliant job portraying Rosa’s steeliness under the genteel facade.

I am so, so glad for this episode and I had so much trepidation coming in too. I am so glad Malorie Blackman wrote this episode, and Mark Tonderai directed it.

Once again diverse voices and POV.

So, yeah, Chibnall isn’t perfect but at least he swings for the fences and pushes the envelope and creates pathways for people to enter the industry.

Comments

[jesuswasbatman]

Yes, I hated most of Chibnall's previous Who and Torchwood work because it often seemed outright misogynistic to me, which made me afraid what he'd do with a woman Doctor. But this one really does make it seem that he's serious about having diverse writers and respecting their knowledge. If only, say RTD had had someone to tell him that it wasn't a good idea to make Martha the first companion to be intentionally written as "the one the Doctor didn't like as much as the last one".

[grimorie]

I guess, I've been far away from Torchwood and some of his work in Doctor Who and started regarding him seriously with Broadchurch, where I thought he really improved.

It's also kind of why I was really interested when the first person we know he hired was Segun Akinola, and then in SDCC press conference they mentioned opening a workshop for writers from diverse backgrounds. Plus the rumors of a writer's room made me happy, again, since I'm not that plugged in with Doctor Who, I never really understood all the complaints about it. Writer's rooms aren't perfect but it does make it more likely for people to say: 'Hey, maybe don't do that.'

Also, about losing a writer's voice -- amidst a room is baffling to me since I know when my favorite writer is writing an episode of Person of Interest and what expect amazing things from them.

Chibnall's still not perfect, re: Grace (although, there's a brewing suspicion at the back of my head about that), but I do appreciate that he's finally getting new writers with varied voices in. One of the things that was noticeable in both RTD and Moffat eras was how often some writers keep appearing (*cough*Gatiss*cough*), and sometimes when new writers come in, they offer a lot of new and interesting stories.