Doctor Who: Is there a female Doctor just to lure in young fans?

In October 2018, series 11 of Doctor Who introduced a female Doctor for the first time in the fifty plus years of the television show being on air. Played by Jodie Whittaker, this move was seen as ground-breaking, with many celebrities and viewers celebrating the advent of a new role model for young girls. This review will explore to what extent the casting and characterization of the female Doctor caters to young fans, and how the decision overall contributes to the show. Is it really a progressive move, or can we just call it tokenism?

Although there wasn’t as much controversy as expected over the casting of Whittaker as The Thirteenth Doctor, there was some backlash nonetheless. As seen in the article by Cinema Blend, some fans believed that casting a female Doctor followed the ‘current Hollywood trend’ of being more inclusive, and that she wasn’t necessary for the show’s story. Yet, many were quick to defend the female Doctor’s arrival. A representative example is @TheJulieBenson's tweet: ‘This is huge. Little girls watching Doctor Who, just like Wonder Woman, will have heroes to aspire to be. Not just companions.' 

The female Doctor for a new young audience

In another article by Cinema Blend commenting on the real-world issues tackled in series 11, the new writer of Doctor Who, Chris Chibnall, is quoted to explain his vision for the show. He states that ‘when it comes to things that affect people’s lives – particularly things that children and young adults are going through – that feels really important. I think that the Doctor is a great conduit to discussing all that.’

Series 11 definitely, and quite overtly, focuses on real-world and social issues. The third episode, Rosa, is about Rosa Parks, and has commentary on racism still prevalent today. The fourth episode, Arachnids in the UK, exceptionally lacks any alien or other worldly intervention, and is about toxic waste mutating spiders. This is a critical remark on climate change and waste build-up, where the real monsters are humans themselves. The sixth episode, Demons of the Punjab, takes place during the partition of India in 1947. It sheds light on xenophobic sentiments among Hindus and Muslims, a practice that continues to plague conservative Indian and Pakistani population.

More than ever before, Doctor Who has an extremely diverse cast starting series 11. Breaking the pattern of a male Doctor with a female companion, the female Doctor is joined by three friends in her adventures: Yasmin, Ryan and Graham.

Chibnall’s vision to attract more young fans by talking about issues that affect them, and also through what I personally feel is a deliberate decision of casting a female Doctor, came to fruition on the day of series 11’s release. The Telegraph reports the results of the BARB (Broadcasting Audience Research Board) which concluded that more girls under the age of 16 watched Doctor Who that evening than boys. Whittaker also attracted more views than David Tennant and Matt Smith’s first appearances (the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor respectively). The rise in young fans, especially girls, was not just seen in Britain. Right before the series final aired, BBC America shared that the show was up 47% season-on-season with young female fans driving the growth, as explained in this Variety article.

More than ever before, Doctor Who has an extremely diverse cast starting series 11. Breaking the pattern of a male Doctor with a female companion, the female Doctor is joined by three friends in her adventures: Yasmin, Ryan and Graham. Apart from Yasmin and Ryan being people of colour, diversity is also seen in terms of age. Graham is much older than the others, and it is not often that an older person is a protagonist in a show aimed at children and young adults. In series 12, the episode Fugitive of the Judoon features Ruth Clayton, a forgotten reincarnation of The Doctor. Ruth is played by Jo Martin, a woman and a person of colour. A "forgotten reincarnation" which furthers diversity fits perfectly in place in the new socially-forward environment of series 11 and 12. 

Arguably another way of ensuring that there are new young fans watching Doctor Who is the use of millennial lingo. In the two latest series, the female Doctor calls her companions ‘fam’, which is a first for the long-running show.

Does the female Doctor really not conform to any gender roles?

As a Time Lord, The Doctor is known to not have any gender or sexual orientation. In fact, show frequently comments on the fluidity of the character. And yet, it took over fifty years of The Doctor being portrayed as a white man, who is often straight-acting (especially with female companions), to introduce a female Doctor. What first struck me was the Thirteenth Doctor’s explicitly gender non-conformative characterization. With her pixie cut hair, minimal makeup, and almost child-like clothing – suspenders with big flared denim pants, a colourful striped top and a long coat with a hoodie – Whittaker is almost rendered gender neutral. I say "almost", because she is not completely gender neutral if we go by conceived notions of what is assumed normtively as "masculine" and "feminine." If we go by stereotypes, there is nothing “feminine” about her demeanour. She is still stereotypically more “masculine”, and in the two seasons she has appeared on so far, she is reminiscent of her male predecessors. She embodies the emotionality of Ten (Tennant), the carefree nature of Eleven (Smith), and the directness of Twelve (Capaldi).

While introducing a female Doctor for the first time is indeed a progressive step, her characterization as not being typically “feminine” and having obvious traits of previous male Doctors is what I feel a carefully made decision. The move to cast a female Doctor can then be argued as partly tokenistic. It is true that because of gender representation, the new series attracted many young girls. But by not giving Thirteen a striking personality of her own and by showing her as leaning more towards the “masculine”, the showrunners perhaps wanted to keep lifelong fans still hooked. A lot of them are used to a certain (more male-oriented) portrayal of The Doctor, and Whittaker’s role doesn’t deviate much from that. This is not to say that being more “feminine” is what being a girl is; it is to point out even while The Doctor is a woman, steps may have been taken to explicitly undercut the stereotypes of her gender to play it safe. That is not to say that The Doctor is a misrepresentation of women - no person should be viewed through any societally-conceived stereotype - but to note that a portraying a less obviously "female" Doctor, not very different from her previous regenerations, was possibly done, I imagine, to keep fans watching.  

With her pixie cut hair, minimal makeup, and almost child-like clothing – suspenders with big flared denim pants, a colourful striped top and a long coat with a hoodie – Whittaker is almost rendered gender neutral.

The first episode of series 11 merely moves past the fact that The Doctor regenerated as a woman for the first time in history. Yasmin points out, ‘You’re a woman,’ to which the female Doctor says, ‘Am I?’, and that’s the end of that. This can be taken as a message of The Doctor’s gender being of little importance to the show. But completely disregarding the regeneration and the big step towards gender representation reveals, in part, tokenism rather than progressive decision. A similar instance is seen in Spyfall, Part 1 in series 12. On seeing Thirteen, the head of the MI6 says 'I've read the files, The Doctor is a man', to which she just replies, 'I've had an upgrade.' If it can so easily be brushed under the rug, what is the point of having a female Doctor at all? Not making a big deal about the show's first female Doctor in its 50 year history, in seasons that evidently have social progression in mind, is strange. Why not just stick to male Doctors, instead of potentially catering to new, young (and female) fans? 

Tokenism vs progressiveness: the female Doctor as a calculated choice

What I got from watching series 11 and 12 of Doctor Who was that Whittaker’s casting falls somewhere in between tokenism and progressiveness. Carolyn Cocca (2016), in the conclusion of her book dealing with gender representation in popular culture, observes that fans, especially young ones, are responsible for actively pushing for more diversity. The female Doctor did not appear in a vacuum: she comes in an era of increased female-led roles in the late 2010s media. With Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel gracing the big screens, and television shows like Killing Eve and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel depicting diverse female characters, a female Doctor couldn’t have been far behind.

Cocca (2016) says that fans are organized in demanding diverse representation in demographics and characterization among creators. Seeking such change in canonical content has been seen on online platforms. Being a fan today includes participation and creating a sense of community. One of the ways in which this is accomplished is fans being vocal about the kind of content they want to view and consume, particularly with the help of new digital technologies. Of course the response from big companies is to is to give fans what they want, and in turn, capitalize on these demands. 

This is what Cocca (2016) calls both affirmative action and capitalism. With the portrayal of Thirteen, it’s evident that there was no real need for a female Doctor for the plot of the show. The main incentive of big producing companies is always profit, and by listening to the growing need for diversity among fans, the gender representation created here is a calculated choice. Right now, pushing for equality is generating more money than pushing for inequality. The other side of this coin is affirmative action: while companies continue to capitalize on fans’ needs, it results in the speeding of diversity after centuries of systematic discrimination.

The female Doctor did not appear in a vacuum: she comes in an era of increased female-led roles in the late 2010’s in media.

That Doctor Who has always been influenced by fans’ input since its conception is remarked by Peter Booth (2016). He concludes in his findings that young fans especially have always been an active part of BBC’s industrial strategy. On top of that, the sheer number of fan celebrations shows the communal power of the fandom. The female Doctor will certainly bring in more merchandise for fans to consume, and have new followers flocking in to famous Doctor Who conventions. This is the capitalistic, profitable result of tokenism.

However, the affirmative action arising from casting a female Doctor does contribute to progressiveness. There’s evidence of not just more diversity, but also a break from conventional patterns. The scene where Yasmin, Nadja and The Doctor are talking around a big table making decisions while the rich, old white man stands around and complains in Arachnids in the UK is an example. Normally, male characters on television are seen to make decisions while women are pushed to the periphery. This scene subverts that trope. Moreover, the decision to not go down the route of a normative gendered portrayal to please fans in fact makes the role even more inclusive: the Doctor need not be necessarily "feminine" to "qualify" as a woman. It then helps in normalizing her position in a male-dominated role and in breaking assumptions related to gender.   

The female Doctor: worth the watch

Is Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor showcased in series 11 and 12 worth watching? The short answer is yes. I’ve watched every season of the revival series, and Thirteen was the easiest Doctor to get used to. The jury’s still out on whether that is because I am a woman myself, and that on some level I identified with her more quickly than her male predecessors. But overall, Whittaker does an excellent job playing Thirteen. The female Doctor is eccentric and loveable, and just like her previous regenerations, she cares about her friends, hates guns, is curious, passionate, righteous, and overall, empathetic. Thirteen apologises often to those who have been wronged, does everything in her power to save everyone involved, and is quick thinking when it comes to damage control.

Series 11 and 12, though more explicitly socially-forward than ever before, continue to follow the trend of exciting adventures in the past, present and future. The female Doctor sometimes also has a message. One of the notable ones is in Rosa, where she says, ‘tiny actions can change the world.’ She is no short of a superhero, battling aliens and intergalactic monsters to keep Earth safe.

The female Doctor is eccentric and loveable, and just like her previous regenerations, she cares about her friends, hates guns, is curious, passionate, righteous, and overall, empathetic.

Most importantly, after years of The Doctor demonstrated as male, she is a female superhero. While she may have indeed been cast to garner profit, progress in any form is always progress. It matters little to the essence of the show whether The Doctor is male or female; but it certainly matters to the fans. As Cocca (2016) rightfully points out, ‘there is no denying the importance, especially to children, of seeing characters who look like them’ (p.221). She states that female characters make more authentic stories. For the longest time, women have been underrepresented or stereotypically represented – like female companions for male Doctors – in media. Even if it is to feed consumer culture, a female Doctor is a step towards increasing representation, where underrepresented fans can identify with characters like them, and those from dominant groups can develop empathy in seeing protagonists who are unlike them.     

References

Booth, P. (2016). Doctor Who fandom: Bigger on the Inside. In Crossing fandoms: Superwholock and the contemporary fan audience (pp. 55-77). Palgrave Macmillan. 

Clarke, S. (2018, December 10). Jodie Whittaker to Return as ‘Doctor Who’ in 2020 Amid Strong U.S. Ratings. Variety.

Cocca, C. (2016). Conclusion: Gender, Power, and Representation. In Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation (pp. 215-222). Bloomsbury Academic. 

Joest, M. (2020, July 15). Why Do So Many People Dislike Doctor Who's Female Doctor? Cinema Blend. 

Joest, M. (2019, January 2). Why Doctor Who's Showrunner Focused On Real-World Issues In Season 11. Cinema Blend. 

Telegraph Reporters. (2018, October 9). Jodie Whittaker's Doctor Who draws more young, female viewers than ever. The Telegraph. 

TheJulieBenson. (2017, July 16). This is huge. Little girls watching Doctor Who, just like Wonder Woman, will have heroes to aspire to be. Not just companions. [Tweet]. 

Tokenism. (2020, October 2). In Wikipedia.