Moffat's Brand Of Feminism

Moffat's Brand Of Feminism-

I am a feminist. It's great to see more female-centric stories in the mainstream media. Even in geek culture, there are now movies which have female heroes, not as eye-candy but as a heavy hitter. 

"Is the future going to be all female?"

What's makes a good, strong female character? Or Better yet, what makes a good, strong character in general?

For me, it would their story, their hopes, ambition, their relationship with their family and their growth as a character.

For Moffat, a strong female character is sassy, knows it all, is very sexy, has sexual tension with the Doctor, know more than him, bosses him around, has a convoluted and messy but not properly explained backstory, with minimal character development.

I just described Amy, River, and Clara. 

Say what you want about Rose being annoying, Martha being a rebound or Donna being too loud, at least they are properly developed characters. We know about their lives, their hopes, and ambitions and even know about their family. They were proper characters, not just plot points. 

Amy and Clara, on the other hand, are basically the same character prototype as discussed earlier. 

Amy starts out as a sassy, loud character who bosses the Doctor around. This is her character. We don't see her relationship with her family or anything. Her dealing with her family and friends is usually left to quick montages, which don't add anything. Her character improved when Rory came aboard, we saw their interactions and her softer side. Even River added to it.

But Clara, on the other hand, has no Rory or River to help her character. Sure there was Danny Pink but he himself was such a dull and weak character. I mean if you had thought Rose/Mickey was bad, Clara/Danny is just on another level of bad.

Clara started as a plot device and then overstayed her welcome. The show focused too much on her and sidelined The Doctor. She didn't have a particular character, sometimes she loved the Doctor while other times she kept bitching about it, Sometimes she was bossy while other times she was a damsel in distress. There wasn't any consistency with her. It's like the writer had no idea what to do with her character. Her emotional death in 'Face Of The Raven' was completely fucked over in 'Hell Bent'.

The only way to describe River Song is Deus Ex Machina. Like that's her only role. Honestly, her knowing more than the Doctor was funny at first but after a while it became annoying. Also, the whole brake thing was stupid. I like her small doses, too much focus on her spoils her.

The only thing I would like to say in the conclusion is that Moffat doesn't know how to write proper female characters. Most of them are mary sues without any depth or faults. They are what the script needs them to be and are nearly perfect. 

Why I Don't Like Moffat's Era of Doctor Who

Why I Don't Like Moffat's Era of Doctor Who-

Steven Moffat

Steven Moffat is one interesting person. I really liked his work under RTD's era so I was really excited when he was announced as the new showrunner. But after watching the show under him, I was really disappointed.

Here are my problems with Moffat Era-

1. Lack of proper character development-

One of my main problem with his era is the companions. Bill was such a dull character who had nothing to her. Both Amy and Clara are essentially the same character prototype, strong, sassy woman who bosses the Doctor around. Rory had the best character development out of all them. Amy was more likable because of the trio relation as a family. She was essentially a prop for a character, where most of the episodes would be them going to an unknown place, Amy sassing someone and getting captured and Doctor and Rory arguing and trying to save her. Clara, on the other hand, is just annoying. She is a weird mixture of everything and anything, she is what the situation wants her to be. She is sometimes sassy in the face of danger and sometimes scared when facing danger. She is what Moffat wants her to be. Like if your character trait is that you hide your fear with sass then keep it consistent, don't change it. Also, her death and resurrection just spoiled her character further. By the end of her run, the show focused too much on her and her problems, rather than the Doctor.

And about River Song, I think they spent too much too much on her in later episodes. She was essentially deus ex machina. But they later spoil her mystery while trying to add more shit. Instead, they could've had her character like Jack Harkness, a sassy, badass person, who helps the Doctor from time to time. They could've given her a mini-series rather than shoehorning her in.

2. Too much build up not enough pay off-

Moffat has this same problem with Sherlock too. He sets up all these crazy new ideas but doesn't properly deliver. He will set up various references, teasers, and plot points but won't properly connect them. I don't know whether this is just bad writing or something else but Moffat isn't consistent. He makes up and changes things according to the episode which doesn't add up in the long run. Most of the time the episodes have plot-holes or very convoluted. Most of the conflicts in his work are solved by a sacrifice by an under-developed side character or the sonic screwdriver, which gets boring after a few times. 

3. Too many cope outs-

Resurrections completely destroy the impact of a character's death. Same for too many deaths. This is one of my biggest issues with Rory. I know that this is one of the running jokes about Rory being kind of like the Winchester. But his frequent deaths desensitized me to his actual death. Same for Clara, even though I am not her biggest fan, I actually felt bad when she 'died', but then they brought her back, even more annoying. For me, Clara should've died saving the 11th Doctor. Her story as the impossible girl was over, no point in trying to continue with that.

4. Overuse of certain villains-

I haven't watched Classic Who yet(trying to), so my first introduction to Dalek was the episode 'Dalek' in S1. I felt a whole whirl of emotions. At first, I was interested, then I was terrified and finally, I felt bad for it. The writing along with Eccleston's brilliant acting cemented it as one of the best episodes of the revival. But then there more Daleks and even more Daleks, and soon they started popping out every episode or two. Not only that but the Daleks were nerfed, where earlier a single one took out a whole facility of human or even easily destroyed cyberman, now they serve tea and fall down like cans. The same problem with Cybermen, they were supposed to vicious soldiers, not Missy's toys. But I admit I was really interested in the idea of the dead being turned into Cybermen, but then they fucked it over.

5. Fucking over Capaldi-

After having two younger, 'lighter' doctor, I was actually very excited for a more mature and grimmer Doctor, kind off like John Hurt's War Doctor. Capaldi was fantastic as the Doctor, you could see how earnestly he tried. But Moffat's writing fucked him over. They should've left the sitcom vibes to 11TH Doctor and family, rather than dragging it over here. Instead of continuing the amazing idea of the Doctor searching for Gallifrey, the show focuses more on Clara and her love life.  After all the optimist vibes in the previous series, they should've gone for a more cynical one. The Doctor is always angry, but rather than slowly building up to a bursting point, he has small bursts over the episodes, mixed with more fun and happiness. He doesn't have to be family friendly. Both Smith and Capaldi portray very different Doctors, the writers should've written accordingly.

Honestly, I know I am coming across as extremely cynical, but I don' hate his works. I think Moffat works better with some restrictions, rather than going off freely in all directions. There were good episodes and there were bad episodes, but there weren't any particular 'great' ones. The series were riddled with plot holes and in general were very confusing. There was inconsistency in both the plot and the behaviour of the characters. The tone was all over the place. And overall I think the quality kept dropping. 

I won't say that his Era was completely horrible but I would definitely say that it's overrated.

Thank you for reading. If you agree or disagree, do comment.

Of Racism And Hotel Shampoo

Of Racism And Hotel Shampoo-

Halsey

So Halsey has recently gone on a Twitter rant about hotel shampoos and how they are supposed to be discriminatory against POC's. Now I don't mind Halsey, I like some of her songs. I don't consider to be alternative. She is biracial and can use her platform for so much good yet she focuses on stupid things like hotel shampoos.

Honestly, this is so stupid it hurts. Firstly, who the fuck uses the shitty hotel shampoos? that shit will destroy your hair. Also, Halsey's hair is not even curly, it's barely frizzy. Secondly, her tweet implies that POC cannot afford their own shampoo, which is even more horrible. Like, we can buy our own shampoo, thank you very much.

Halsey is the epitome of Tumblr feminism. She calls herself an activist and voice of both the POC and LGBTQ community, but rather than using her platform for focusing on actual issues, she wastes them on this kind of petty issue.

Does racism exist? Yes, it fucking does. Our society needs to deal with a lot of issues to help solve it. Is hotel shampoo, one of them? No.

Thank you for reading. Do share it and add your thoughts to it.