Femininity in Doctor Who: The Four Companions

So, I don't know if this is apparent to my readers or not, but I am a huge fan of Doctor Who. It's not that I cosplay a Gaga TARDIS or anything... *cough*.... but yeah...

So as a Chick that Digs Timelords, I found it fitting to look at Doctor Who and the lady companions in the show and discuss how their characters are portrayed. Each one has their own unique style and relationship to the Doctor, and each have their own strengths as women. I will focus on the companions in the sew series: seasons 1-5

Rose Tyler

For starting up with the new series of Doctor Who, Russel T. Davies needed a companion who would be the audience's eyes and mouth in order to bring them into the story, and he made Rose. Rose is a simple shop girl who is young and unsure what she wants from life, and then the Doctor comes into it, and becomes a sort of mentor for her as he takes her on his travels. He gives her meaning, purpose, and excitement; while teaching her to be con
fident in herself. Eventually, she finds herself falling in love with the Doctor, and he in love with her.

Now, Jaymie and I have talked about this a bit and we were a bit confused when we first watched it because we viewed Rose's and the Doctor's relationship as a student/professor one, or even a daughter/father one, and then all the sudden they are in love, and it weirded us out a bit. The Doctor thought highly of Rose and found something raw and human about her spunky curiosity, but their relationship didn't seem to harvest a romantic one as smoothly or as naturally as it could have. Don't get me wrong, I like Rose a lot, and my sister Jaymie adores Rose for than any other companion, however, I don't fully understand the Doctor's attraction to her. I think part of her appeal is that a lot of young people don't know their place in the world yet and wish a Doctor could swoop down and save them from the mundane shop-girl life, and this is why she is so relatable.

Physically, Rose is portrayed as a beautiful young blonde with the occasional dark roots in her hair to insinuate she does not have the time or money to dye her hair as regularly. She is quirky and fun and as a result wears her hair down and uses unique flirtacious gestures with her mouth as part of her character. She wears jeans and jackets- she's stylish but not overly so. She's casual and down to earth.

Martha Jones

Martha is my personal favorite companion. Unlike, Rose, she is more secure in her life and what she wants out of it... she's medical student, a little older, and more confident in her abilities and doesn't look to the Doctor as a mentor but as someone to show her adventure and learning on a brand new level. More so than Rose or any other companion, Martha finds herself in situations where she is completely on her own to save the Doctor and the Earth such as in Family of Blood and The Sound of Drums. The Doctor trusts her completely and puts his life and the fate of time solely in her hands. And even though Martha has gained the Doctor's trust and respect in higher way, she never gained his love.

She is the lovestruck fan girl that every girl who watches Dr. Who feels for because she wants to be with the Doctor, and although he has a deep rich friendship with her, it never evolves into love. But the cool thing about Martha is that once she realizes that the Doctor will never love her, she does not play the woman scorned, and she does not stay as a lovesick puppy following his heels, she gets out, and focuses on herself. She gets over the Doctor and falls in love with and marries a man with one heart instead of two. And in a way that delights feminists everywhere, she makes her name Martha Smith-Jones, keeping her last name as will as her husbands, and becomes deeply involved with Torchwood as one of their most respected agents. She continues to save the world and work with alien life, while using her knowledge as a doctor. Her experiences with the Doctor helped her become a better person and arrive at a place in her life that was better and richer than before, and she doesn't lament not being with him. She is happy and grateful for everything in her life, with no regrets. She is a strong sexy badass. And that is why I love Martha.

Physically, Martha is a curvacious, doe-eyed girl of African decent. She usually wears her hair up tight and slick out of her face to show her scholarly-ness and also later on, her warrior-aspect. Even though she has fun, she takes life seriously and her hair is a physical representation of that. When not in a lab coat, she dresses similarly to Rose with jeans and jackets... fashionable, but not outrageously so.

Donna Noble

Donna is a cool character because she has a relationship with the Doctor without any romantic tensions. In fact, unlike Rose and Martha, she does not look at the Doctor as someone superior to her, she views him as an equal... almost like a brother. Although she is amazed by what the Doctor can do, she is not enamored by him in a higher way and she does not feel herself as inadequate in comparison. She feels that if she's there, she has every right to add her input. The Doctor had to hand Rose and Martha the reigns and pretty much say, "no really it's fine, be wonderful" Donna just snagged the reigns out of his hands and said, "watch me!".

At first, Donna's character is extremely annoying with all of her jibbering and jabbering, both the audience and the Doctor don't fully know what to make of it. Then as the season progresses one starts to see parallels between the Doctor and Donna, and how they work together in a unique way. The show makes it a point to note that The Doctor needs Donna to stop him once in a while, and in the episode with the Racnoss and Fires of Pompeii, Donna is actually able to change the Doctor's mind and effect change. Rose and Martha viewed the Doctor's word as final. At the end of the season, Donna becomes Doctor Donna and shares his Timelord essence and for a view moments is completely equal to the Doctor. But she cannot live with such thoughts and memories, so the Doctor wipes her memories in order to save her, and this is one of the absolute saddest parts in the show for me. I cried just as much as when Rose and The Doctor where seperated, because not to be with the Doctor is sad, but to have been with the doctor, shared such wonderful adventures, and then never to have remembered any of it happening! That is the worst fate of them all... worse than dying.

Physically, Donna is older than the previous companions being middle-aged and of average curvacious build with a large chest. She is more average looking than bomb-shell attractive and that's part of the appeal of Donna. You don't have to be a young woman with a perfect figure to catch The Doctor's eye and respect. She's a ginger which works with her outspoken charisma, and she dresses in a lot of darker colors like purples and blues showing that she likes the way she looks and dresses nice, but does not draw attention to her body.

Amy Pond

Amy Pond greets the brand new season with the brand new Doctor. She has been enamored with the Doctor since a little girl almost in a Madame du Pompedour sort of way. She has an average middle class life, and is almost in the same spot that Rose was.... She's engaged to Rory but is not sure what she really wants out of life. Her fun sexuality, spunk and youthful charisma does not seem befitting for someone wanting to get married, but here she is engaged. And then the doctor swoops in and puts that all on hold for a while. I think a lot of people, not only women can relate to this scenario for there are many decisions we make in life where we wish we could just hit the pause button and take a long vacation and figure out if it's the right one to make.

Amy seems to have affections for both The Doctor and Rory, and the Doctor, doesn't really seem to like the idea of her getting married or Rory, yet he doesn't really want her for himself either. Amy disobeys the Doctor and will add her input and be part of the team, I suppose in a mixture of Rose, Martha, and Donna, but part of what makes Amy's relationship to the Doctor so easily casual and equal versus seasons 1-4 where the companions and audience had to build up to see themselves as equals with him, is that the character of the 11th doctor is so radically different fro the 9th and 10th in the sense that he is wrong a lot of the time. 9 and 10 where infallible... they were like Sherlock Holmes and saw the world in a way that other people could not. The 11th doctor is a bit chaotic and doesn't seem to have complete control over his brain or the knowledge within it, he will say one thing then change his mind, sometimes just start smacking machinery to fix it and hope that bam it will work. It's because of this more fallible Doctor that Amy Pond is able to have the confidence to add her input and help change history.

Physically, Amy Pond is the most attractive of the companions in my opinion. With pale skin, a flawless face, and fun red hair, she represents the young generation who don't know what they want out of life. She dresses in loose tops with tight skirts, leggings, and boots drawing attention away from her chest area to and to her legs. She's both tomboyish and extremely feminine at the same time.