Doctor Who: Peacemaker
Jan. 12th, 2008 01:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethDW books continue to be full of adventure and in character and all that good stuff, but there were a couple of notes that jarred in this one.
I liked finding out that no one is faster on the draw than a Time Lord. That was cool.
And Martha saved the Doctor and the world with her lips, again. As a theme I can live with that.
The only thing is...
This was the beating heart of the American Frontier, the West in all its vibrant glory. It struck Martha how lucky she was to be able to see it like this; how many people could say they had seen this country when it was still a blank page, with history being written upon it?
I rather thought there was a before, actually. Before white settlers got there it wasn't blank. Was it?
And then there's the bit where there's a character who gets described as 'the Pawnee' the way others are 'the boy' or something. And the Doctor doesn't say 'he seems like a nice guy' he says 'The Pawnee are an honest enough bunch,' the Doctor offered, 'What you see is pretty much what you get with their tribe.
... individuals are not fully described by their tribe. It's slightly better than calling him an honest injun, but...
I don't know, I just wrote an essay on race and racism and I may be overreacting. Plus I'm not as familiar with US history as I'd like to be to have a definite opinion here. But the strand in DW where Great White Civilised Aristocrat From Afar kind of overlaps with a whole colonial mindset is a vaguely troubling one, so *shrugs*.
I liked finding out that no one is faster on the draw than a Time Lord. That was cool.
And Martha saved the Doctor and the world with her lips, again. As a theme I can live with that.
The only thing is...
This was the beating heart of the American Frontier, the West in all its vibrant glory. It struck Martha how lucky she was to be able to see it like this; how many people could say they had seen this country when it was still a blank page, with history being written upon it?
I rather thought there was a before, actually. Before white settlers got there it wasn't blank. Was it?
And then there's the bit where there's a character who gets described as 'the Pawnee' the way others are 'the boy' or something. And the Doctor doesn't say 'he seems like a nice guy' he says 'The Pawnee are an honest enough bunch,' the Doctor offered, 'What you see is pretty much what you get with their tribe.
... individuals are not fully described by their tribe. It's slightly better than calling him an honest injun, but...
I don't know, I just wrote an essay on race and racism and I may be overreacting. Plus I'm not as familiar with US history as I'd like to be to have a definite opinion here. But the strand in DW where Great White Civilised Aristocrat From Afar kind of overlaps with a whole colonial mindset is a vaguely troubling one, so *shrugs*.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-12 04:53 pm (UTC)Yes, I'm being sarcastic. Seriously, it's a rather dated attitude for anyone these days, let alone a being who travels through time and space.
I love you all!
Date: 2008-01-12 06:05 pm (UTC)