Reflection and Analysis

Doctor Who - What "Too PC" Means (6/1/20)

Today I read the following words in an article.

"The fans decrying the show as too PC have been lost – and it's a loss that should not be mourned. But the show has many loyal progressive fans, too. The Doctor may always have been a beacon of compassion and empathy, but too many of us are wondering where it's gone."

I personally, as one of the people the show lost when they introduced the newest Doctor – a female Doctor, honestly take great offense at this statement. In fact, I'd argue the whole problem is the fact the new showrunner tried way too hard at being PC – hence why we brought up the too PC issue in the first place. Every single thing Jack Hudson complains about in his article "Too woke? Nope – Doctor Who is more offensive than ever" is the result of being too PC.

More importantly, I want to discuss the fact people like Jack Hudson honestly don't understand what is actually meant by "too PC". When we talk about something being "too PC, we mean the show is simply adding in PC items only to tick off the PC checkbox, yet this also results in – you guessed it, people being so PC they don't realize they've crossed the line into being offensive because the PC label makes them blind to how offensive they are being.

The above quote – even the title of the article – is all deflective of the realization that those pointing out the work is "too PC" were right, because here's the truth. I was more than willing to give a female doctor the chance if done right, because the logic behind why – that they're heading into the next incarnation of the character makes major sense. However, with how everybody is trying to tick off that PC box, we were right to fear the work being "too PC".

Too PC means the show does things like add LGBT characters only to add to the death tole of underdeveloped LGBT characters whose introduction as an LGBT character suddenly seems pointless. I'm also hard pressed to claim those who were taking issue with the show being "too PC" aren't "progressive", because the shows already introduced quite a few PC topics over the modern run.

Actually, part of the warning sign a show is "too PC" comes from the PC nature of the show being a selling point of the show because way to often this means the people creating the show think that is the selling point. The fact the newest Doctor would end up being female was the marketing ploy for the newest Doctor, because apparently being a woman is a quirk.

Seriously, how else are we going to see this when the other Doctors – the successful ones were sold to the viewership based on their special quirk, so what am I – a female supposed to think the special quirk of the newest doctor is other than being female, given the fact said Doctor isn't ever talked about unless one counts how uncaring the newest Doctor comes across as the article points out.

Also important is the fact the first female Doctor needed to be done right as going from one female Doctor to another wouldn't make much sense for there to be two females in a row when most of his incarnations have been male, making the female Doctor a definite anomaly. The reason this is important lies with the fact past experiences with breaking the norm will effect future chances of breaking from the norm in the same manner – by this I mean there will be hesitation now to have another female Doctor.

Worse – because of all the issues going on with this Doctor's run, they may end the run with "not the Doctor after all" making it even harder to bring in an actual female Doctor.