Hello Everyone.
So today is Tuesday 25th July. It's been eight days since the new doctor has been announced, we now know that Peter Capaldi's successor is going to be Jodie Whittaker. The first female doctor in the shows continuity (Not Joanna Lumley because she doesn't count)
And seeing as it's been a few days and I've time to fully absorb this news. I decided that now was the time to talk about this and express my thoughts and opinions on what I think of Jodie Whittaker being the doctor.
Now, before I begin, I think it's important to point out that what is said in this blog post are simply just my thoughts and opinions. I am only one fan of the show, there are thousands of others out there, and I do not speak for all the fans. Also, even if you don't agree with some of the things I say, please respect my opinion as being just that my opinion. You're allowed to think however you want to think, and I have my own thoughts, ideas, and opinions on the matter.
So, yes. It was announced on Sunday 16th July that the identity of the new doctor was going to be announced after the Wimbledon men's final where Federer won. It was all very exciting because it was something which I had been guessing at for a long time not really thinking who it could possibly be. I had a few suggestions in my head over who I would have liked it be, but still feeling very reluctant over the fact that there was going to be a new doctor. I still stand with not wanting Peter Capaldi to leave. I think it's such a terrible shame that he is leaving and I feel terribly sad that he's not going to get to play the part under new management. Especially seeing as his doctor has been absolutely incredible in this years series, the writers and the production team have really nailed his character. I still feel his doctor has so much more to give and just see the whole thing as being a wasted opportunity still.
My overall thinking was "I'm fine with whoever it is, just so long as it's not a woman". That was the thing I was most worried about and could almost take a sigh of relief when Peter Capaldi was announced back in 2013. I could rest easy knowing that the principal and tradition of the show that I love stayed the same. However, it would seem the possibility of it being a woman was never really ruled out this time around. I heard the BBC had ruled out, but that must have turned out to be hearsay.
When I heard it was Jodie Whittaker, I'm not too good at receiving things when I first hear them and I was in denial. I was like "This is a joke." "They pulling my leg, she's not the doctor" but no, as it turns out it was confirmed that it had happened, they had cast the first female doctor and my instinct was to go off the wall and rage about it, but I chose to stay calm about it and I was more calm about it than I thought I should be which felt strange to me. But yes, I was in denial I kept on saying to myself "This is not happening! This is NOT HAPPENING!" "I'm done!" "I'm done watching Doctor Who. This is the end for me" there were all sorts of things going on in my head and it was like my worst fears had come true and I felt like someone had punched me hard in the stomach. That's what it felt like, a punch in the stomach. "Why? Why did it have to be a woman?" I kept saying to myself "There are thousands of other actors out there who would suit the part splendidly".
I don't consider myself to be a sexist, I'm not a sexist. I treat all the woman in my life with kindness and respect, but this just seemed ludicrous. Basically, I think it's a manour of principal and a manour of tradition that the Doctor is a man. The last twelve have been, so it's just been a continuous thing regardless of what anyone thinks. The doctor stays a man. Before you start pointing the figure and calling me a sexist, I fully understand the principals of gender and gender equality in television, It was something which I studied as part of my university degree. I even wrote an essay on the forms of masculinity shown in James Bond, so before you start pointing the finger and accusing me of being sexist, I understand and know gender and gender equality of both male and female characters in film and television. There are hundreds of other fans who agree with me on that matter, people who have grown up watching the show and loving it for thirty, forty or even fifty years. And their almost rule of the show they love so much has been tampered with.
I got into a lot of arguments on Facebook trying to explain this to people, and my mum said "You shouldn't react to what they're saying, they're only doing it to get a reaction from you" but I just can't help getting involved in heated debates over it, because I know and feel that I'm right. But with all due respect, my mum was right. I didn't have much of an argument at the time, and everyone was coming back at me with clever responses which I didn't know how to respond back to, so I just didn't say anything.
Having had some time to reflect on what has happened and what's going to happen, I feel that I am just one fan, there are thousands of other all over the world now that Doctor Who has gone global who are really happy with this choice and are willing to embrace the change, why should my thoughts and opinions sh*t or in some cases crush on something they have in their own right to feel happy about just because I'm cross or annoyed by this, It's perfectly understandable for me to be scared or resistant of such a big change to a show that I love, but I can't hold up on the fact that I disagree with the choice of casting just because she's a woman, it's not fair on Whittaker as an actress.
Over time, my feelings towards it developed and changed and now I feel more okay about it than I did before, because what I realised was "It doesn't matter whose playing the part, as long as the scripts are good and the stories are good and it continues to be the show that I love, then that's all that matters" and to be fair this is first time we are going to be exploring Doctor Who in a brand new dynamic, this is going to be the biggest reboot since series five in a nutshell.
And it is historic, people are going to be talking about this for years to come. This will go down in television history. I just hope that Jodie Whittaker in collaboration with Chris Chibnall and the production team can work together to give us a great show because they have a lot of weight resting on their shoulders to take over from where Moffatt left off. They've got a big job on their hands, and I don't envy them in the slightest.
So overall thoughts are though I don't agree with this choice completely, I accept it, it's happened, it's done now, there is nothing that I can do about it, So I might as well wait and see what's to come.
