#i wasn’t bothered that dt and ct were coming back for the anniversary

[raywritesthings]

Won’t lie, I am incredibly disappointed in Doctor Who’s choice to make Yasmin Finney’s new character be named Rose. The fact that in his post about it RTD defines her as just “another Rose” - like did he really not learn his lesson already?

I don’t care if she’s from a parallel Earth. I don’t care if she’s Rose Temple-Noble, and therefore Donna’s daughter like some people are speculating. I don’t care if it’s just a random fluke (though I doubt that). The fact is, Russell already went down this road in series 3, when he constantly had characters compare Martha negatively to Rose, and in the specials, when he named the Next Doctor/Jackson Lake’s companion Rosita, and had Ten remark “good name”.

Stop. Comparing. Black Women. To. A White Woman.

All people are going to talk about is Rose Tyler, and how this new Rose is like her or not like her, how much they miss the old Rose, how much they hate this new Rose compared to Rose Tyler, why couldn’t the “real” Rose have just come back instead, etc. If she is actually Donna’s daughter as some theorize, then plenty of other fans will just be talking about Donna, and her sad ending, and how her friendship with Rose was so amazing and profound it got through the mindwipe and so on. The point is, they will be talking about two white characters who have already had their time to shine instead of the new Black character, just like in 2007 with Martha’s run. The show had finally gotten to the point where it didn’t need to reference Rose Tyler every five episodes, and now that RTD’s back he’s just swinging the pendulum completely the other way.

Freema did not go through so much racist, sexist abuse for him to just get away with repeating this on another actress. And Yasmin will have it worse, because she is trans. People out there on the internet are already going to be posting or sending disgusting, vile things her way, and reigniting the “Rose Tyler vs New Character/Companion” debate is just going to make it so, so much worse. The fact that in the show’s canon, Rose Tyler treated the only trans woman she ever met (Cassandra, who was an extremely transphobic caricature written by RTD and portrayed by a cis actress) with derision and disgust, calling her “not human” and saying she “would rather die than live like [her]” is either going to embolden some transphobic fans or be desperately swept under the rug by the production team. If I see anyone on tumblr making transphobic or racist commentary about Yasmin Finney, whether blatant or a thinly-veiled dog whistle, I will be blocking on sight.

Some people are speculating that this Rose is going to be the new companion to Fourteen. And as amazing an actress as she is and as awesome as it would be to have a duo of Black actors headline Doctor Who for the first time ever, it would be an awful idea to kick off this brand new era with a companion who shares the same name as a previous one. A lot of folks have said it already, but this obsession with RTD’s first era as showrunner is frankly putting the show’s forward momentum in a chokehold. If people can’t get over the past and enjoy new characters and stories and themes (and they don’t have to enjoy all of them! I certainly haven’t over the years), then the BBC may as well have just canceled the show again. It’s running on the fumes of nostalgia, and David Tennant isn’t going to save the ratings by coming back once a decade. If people refuse to care about any other Doctor, then I say just let the show die.

Yasmin Finney seems genuinely excited to be joining the show and working with RTD, whether it’s for this one 60th anniversary special or for something longer-term is yet to be announced. But she deserved so much better, and Black women and girls both cis and trans deserved so much better, than to be overshadowed by a white, cis woman yet again.

#anti rtd #rtd salt #doctor who criticism #rtd criticism #criticism #would you believe it’s already come to this #i was so excited by last week’s announcement #so hopefully optimistic #that he had learned and grown and was ready to move on #and to treat Black characters with the respect they deserve #i wasn’t bothered that dt and ct were coming back for the anniversary #it’s always been that way #but this has sent my hopes sinking and i am just bracing for the worst again #some people will probably come on this post and say i’m being alarmist #or judging before we know the full story #but i don’t trust him #i was willing to give him a chance to see if he’d learned #but this does not say he has #i wanted to be excited and now i just feel dread #so that’s great #also still waiting for an official apology for his transphobic episodes and not something just thrown out there at a con once #never to be mentioned again #probably be waiting my whole life for that one though #i’ll still give it a try for 14’s sake at least #but don’t be surprised if i quit on this era too #emerson rants #yasmin finney #doctor who spoilers #spoilers