Dear Who-Ever,
This is it, she's here, and I wonder if she is my Woman? The Woman I hoped Wonder Woman would be, a face for feminism in the 21st. century. There ought to be legions of faces of feminism, of course, and there will be, one day. Note her garb, and although you can't see them, she wears sensible work boots that mean business. She dresses for adventure. I hope you do too.
Last night, I saw her on the big screen, and I am happy to report that although there were only about a dozen viewers, one young woman was dressed exactly like this Dr. Who. I felt keenly the bonds of sisterhood.
See how they haven't made the mistake of dressing her as a sex object?* I send whoever was responsible my deepest thanks. True, she looks like a wasp and she's blonde and very pretty, and that isn't asking much of me as a viewer, but the character of the doctor has the card-carrying power of the sci fi alien- always a visitor; and never fully aware of canons like Western Feminine Beauty, so there will be opportunities (I hope) to examine our expectations and conventions through this stranger's eyes and ways.
As an example, I have been fretting about how much she looks like a bank teller since last year, but when I watched her be The Doctor last night, my assumptions of her appearance were subverted, and I am pretty sure that I Approve. Now, anyone who watches any of these shows knows that time will tell, because we are made aware of the character's complexity over many episodes and narratives. Which is really the glory of television: meeting in time, across seasons and years, to listen to some adventures of characters we have the chance to get to know well.
* Don't get me wrong, of course I want my cake and eat it too; if this 13th Doctor doesn't have or allude to many amorous encounters of the 'man in every port of the cosmos' kind, I will be greatly miffed. Try this for a song for today, and note the de Chirico set.
