Discussing, Not Dismissing
The Perils of Talking Doctor Who
A while back I wrote a post about how shitty it is when non-Doctor Who fans bag on the show I love so much. I still stand by everything I said there. It sucks when people insult something you care about. It sucks even more when people insult you for caring about it. It’s stupid, really. We should be happy when others enjoy stuff. Does Joe Schmo’s enjoyment of Generic Program One really make the world a lesser place for you? No. It doesn’t.*
I’ve noticed a similar problem within the ranks of Doctor Who fandom. We all like the show (or claim to, anyway)—that’s a prerequisite. We don’t all like the same things about it. We have favorite Doctors and companions and stories and eras and even writers, directors, composers, and production designers. That’s all great. Diversity is fun!
On the other hand, we also have least favorites of all of those. And that’s where the trouble starts to rear its ugly head…
There are scores of nits to pick when it comes to Doctor Who. We have decades of poor effects, hole-filed stories, stiff performances, questionable directorial choices, and an unending list of other complaints. That’s the nature of the show, and we love it despite these things. That said, we all have different nits that we choose to pick. Again, that in itself is just peachy. Diversity—yay!
It’s when those differences—specifically, discussions about them—start to skirt the realm of personal attacks that things turn grim…
As Doctor Who grows in notoriety (as we all have to admit it’s doing), there are more voices clamoring about what they think. It’s easier than ever to get tugged into a discussion of the nuances of the show. All too often I’ve seen those disagreements turn ugly—or at the very least, snarky.
So Terry Televiewer liked aspect X of the classic show, and you thought it was puerile. Maybe you saw some sexism in the way a certain new series character was written. Jane Doh didn’t. I loved “The Angels Take Manhattan” despite a few plot inconsistencies that had to be overlooked in order to enjoy it thoroughly.
So is Terry a simpleton? Is Jane sexist? Am I a vacuous airhead because I’m able to enjoy something without asking too many questions?
Hell to the no.
Sadly, responses to Who-based disagreements** too often seem to imply that those types of things are true. Because someone disagrees with an opinion, they’re clearly a lesser person and often not even worthy of engagement for further discussion.
That sucks. Like I said in my previous post, it’s uncool to make me feel like a jerk for loving the show I love. It’s every bit as uncool (if not more so***) to make me feel like a chump for liking (or even just tolerating) aspects of the show.
Doctor Who is an amazing program. It covers a whole universe of issues and questions and emotions, and those deserve to be picked apart at length and examined and appreciated. I’m not anti-discussion. On the contrary, I’m very much pro-! I’m pro-discussion; I’m anti-dismissing. It’s not a discussion if all you do is put the other person down for not seeing things your way. You do both the show and fandom a disservice when you shoot someone down. Why not listen and explore why they feel the way they do? You might learn something or at least come to understand their point of view. If nothing else, you can agree to affably disagree. There should be no harm to your ego in that.
For the record, I’d like to state that there are plenty of wonderful, friendly, open-to-civil-discussion fans out there. I feel incredibly lucky that I’ve surrounded myself with some of the best of the best of Doctor Who fans and that I listen to some of the “friendliest” Doctor Who podcasts around. The phenomenon I cover here seems to happen most when I dip my toe into the larger waters of fandom. There are some cold bastards out there.
Try not to be one of them.
*And don’t give me crap about Joe’s annoying habit of pushing Generic Program One in your face. That’s a separate issue.
**I realize this phenomenon isn’t unique to Doctor Who fandom, but that’s the fandom with which I associate most, so I’m framing the argument in these terms.
***Because you profess to love it too.
