About Amy Pond -A Doctor Who Video Essay
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- Опубликовано: 19 авг 2024
- In this video I discuss one of my most personally emotionally conflicting Doctor Who storylines and what it might be trying to say.
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Something else to consider in this reading is the ending of Flesh and Stone. Amy attempts to sleep with the Doctor after a scary but liberating adventure. She has an impulse to fully engage in this new life while abandoning Rory. This is akin to the experience of not feeling "queer enough" and feeling that you must divorce yourself from elements of your life that aren't totally queer (even if you love those things).
The Doctor sees through this as a short-sighted approach spired on by the moment so immediately invites Rory. This isn't to shutdown her queer thoughts, but to remind her that being queer doesn't mean you can't be related to all the things you loved before. It isn't a betrayal to connect with other things; it's a betrayal to abandon things you love to try and fit into this idea of being "queer enough"
Yesss!!! This is a wonderful comment and something I didn’t think to include, thanks so much :)))
The algorithm put this in my feed, probably because Doctor Who and gayness are two of my main interests. For once, the goddamned algorithm did me some good!
6:40 fair:
I'm tempted to bring up the end of their run.
Amy's _I'll throw myself to the angels, if that's what it takes to get back to Rory_
That was a good ending, that would not have worked the other way around.
Not just because Amy is the main companion and Rory secondary.
But indeed because that's what 'start of arc' Rory would already do without hesitation.
(the main episode in this video also fits. )
This is a really good point, although I think (as with Amy’s self sacrifice in Amy’s choice) Amy would have done the same thing had she been in that situation at an earlier point in the story, I just think she didn’t realise she would until she was actually in that position making the choice. She loved Rory right from the beginning and probably would’ve always been willing to sacrifice for him but she never had an opportunity to realise that until she was actually faced with a situation where he was in danger. After all that’s what it took for her to realise how much she cared about him in Amy’s choice, she’s VERY bad at self reflection lmfao. That girl needs a life threatening situation to realise she thinks things about the people in her life
This really resonated with me . This week I've been coming out as a trans woman to my closest friends and dreading the conversation with my family. Also I start t blockers in a week and a half. I'm excited I'm terrified I'm living my dream and my worst nightmare. lol Geronimo.
Hey, that’s a terrifying thing to start doing and I’ve definitely been there!! I’m glad my video was able to bring some comfort. Admitting to yourself that you’re trans is a feat in itself that some people never accomplish, so telling anyone at all isn’t something to be scoffed at. Take your time with telling people who might not be ready! I don’t know you but I’m very proud of you and I wish you the best ❤️❤️❤️❤️🐋🦑
@@mercurialrose much appreciated, look forward to whatever mad video you make next.
congrats!!!!
honestly thought the 144p version of the video was an aesthetic choice
In fairness that is definitely something I would do. Maybe in my next video I’ll do it again on purpose just as a power move
I think there’s an additional layer to this interpretation: I strongly believe Rory to also be queer. Specifically, he struggles with Compulsory Heterosexuality (CompHet).
It’s clear that, growing up, he was also not “normal”. His best friends were Amy and Mels. They assume he’s gay, which Rory finds absurd because he’s incredibly attracted to Amy. It turns out he does have a reasonably-sized group of straight male friends (as evidenced by his stag/bachelor party). The straightforward reading is that he’s insecure in his masculinity and is feeling the shame of homophobia directed at him, so much so that he’s tried making friends with other men to discourage the gay rumors. They even pressure him into acting more straight (the planned stripper in the cake which he didn’t seem particularly comfortable with).
I don’t think his “dream” is what he necessarily wants either. It feels more like a cover story he’s desperately holding on to. It reads as a bi guy trying to pass as straight. But as he starts letting go of his comphet, he actually enjoys life more. Like, he and Amy still want to live together and have a kid, but they’re *both* enjoying the queerness of the TARDIS and River as a daughter, much more than straight village life. Their relationship has major Bi4Bi vibes, even if they’re not necessarily bisexual (but like, they definitely are).
That’s just the vibe I get as someone who dealt with that flavor of CompHet (I’m also nonbinary so it’s equally likely I’ll read Rory as transbian lol)
@@janmelantu7490 this is a great reading too actually!! i didn’t really go into it because I wanted to focus on Amy, but I think a lot of the character traits of his that I pointed out could definitely stand as symptoms of comphet. I actually think straight men face a lot of the same pressures queer men do, they’re just less likely to be actually *forced* to confront them- so it makes sense that he could be read either way without much contradiction. I think either way he’s a guy struggling under the expectations of conventional masculinity, and whether that means he’s actually gay or bi or something else- he’s still queer to a degree in that he doesn’t naturally fit in with a heteronormative culture. I totally agree that his dream is more compensatory than it is what he genuinely wants, I just think he can’t really tell the difference because he’s so swamped by straight malehood lol. As I said in the video I’m not super interested in assigning labels to characters, but I think that Rory is definitely “queer” to a degree in a similar way to Amy.
I felt this way as well! What tipped me off was his long hair, which is not typically a "normal" thing for cishet british men. The comments surrounding it from the other characters sort of cemented that this is a thing rory deep down really wants, which I read as being some small expression of repressed femininity or queerness. And the decision to cut off his hair is done in the hopes that it'll make Amy happier, sort of sacrificing this little chunk of possible queerness in order to be more cishet and manly for amy. This is once again sort of brought up in the Girl Who Waited where they discuss Rory having a "rock band" haircut (which I presume means its long). Anyway, one mention of long hair is maybe a 'haha funny' gag, but twice i start getting interested. (I also can see rory as a transbian lol)
@@clotpole6483 transbian Rory is so amazing actually. Very real
i love this video! you actually made me like amy's choice, which is an episode i've staunchly denied liking for the past ten years lol. i also think the doctor representing queer escape is done similarly with nine, jack, rose, and mickey in series 1. obviously a different setup and ending there, but i think mickey and rose are together out of an obligation or a feeling that that's what they Should do, since they've been friends since childhood and society says that's how relationships should evolve, like how rory felt. mickey and rose are not compatible romantically, they take each other for granted, and don't really have a vested interest in growing together as people. society has told rose her whole life that because of who she is and where she comes from, she will never amount to anything, so she should accept what she has as the best it can get. but then the doctor shows her that she can be more, and she realizes she Wants to be more, and mickey resists that change because he was comfortable where they were (at least until discovering that he can be more, too). meeting the doctor (and later jack) shows rose that there's more to life and more that she can Be outside of what society expects of her -- in, i would argue, some explicitly pretty queer ways. obviously, like the amy and rory storyline, there's criticisms to be made there about how all this stuff was handled, but in both cases i think there's some really interesting and good stuff there. i've probably already written thousands of words about this on my tumblr by now lol so i'll stop monologuing in your comments, but i do really read the doctor and rose's relationship (and tbh relationships with the doctor in general, romantic or not) as inherently queer, and you've put my thoughts into words super well. so thank you! i love your analyses and always look forward to watching your videos :]
Yeah, there’s a lot to be said on how Rory pretty much occupies the exact same role in the show as Mickey. I tried to focus on just the one episode but the interpretation extends to most of the show honestly
it's interesting that rory's growth in getting more confident and comfortable in his relationship with amy happens pretty much in parallel with the doctor getting closer to river, which ends up kinda reinforcing the exact standards rory started off with, namely the idea that the doctor is no longer a competitor because he has his own relationship now, rather than because amy and the doctor's unconventional relationship is fine by itself. this is exemplified best in the final episode featuring the ponds, angels take manhattan, where the love triangle tension has been completely resolved, and (or because?) we have two married couples in the tardis. AND the other woman in the tardis is literally their daughter, putting amy back in the role of mother by the end. the attempt to drag these characters back into conventional heterosexuality at all turns is quite morbidly fascinating i think.
Yeah this is a super important point! Out of sheer cowardice I kind of just tried to stick to the one episode because the themes in doctor who overall are so often inconsistent and disjointed what with so many different writers and so many accidental potential metaphors, that trying to extract a coherent thematic undertone this niche that never once gets contradicted or muddled is kind of just impossible- at least for me.
I think what you mention could’ve been referenced as evidence of how accidental Amy’s queercoding is, but honestly I just didn’t feel like unpacking it in this video lol. I felt like accounting for all the things that contradict the themes of Amy’s choice later would’ve undermined its significance, and I don’t think it was particularly necessary. Maybe for a future video though wink wink
@@mercurialrose very true lol, the inconsistency is wild 😭
This is why i found rory and amy's final episode so dissapointing. Nothing about amy's characterisation showed she wanted a traditional lifestyle with kids. Then she gets trapped with rory in the past where she would be unable to live a "queer" lifestyle and ends up living the life Rory wanted all along. And to make matters worse it's portrayed as a happy romantic ending instead of the tragedy that it is.
omg i did a video complaining about how every episode with Amy is all about how straight she is... and tbh this video is helping me heal my view of Amy in Doccy Who. tysm
....ngl this is the first thing that has actually convinced me to properly appreciate Matt Smith's tenure on the show, as opposed to just kind of enjoying some standout episodes here and there. Like, I don't necessarily now think it's perfect or anything, but...yeah, I can *actually* appreciate what it's going for, and why it works for people. And the way you talk about friends and family mourning our queerness really hits; as someone whose relationship didn't survive my transition, yeah, that shit hits different 🥲 Reinventing myself and finding so much excitement and joy from becoming more and more myself was hindered by my partner wanting me to stay my old self, or at the very least slow down with the transformation, and that shit stings. So to see this reflecting that journey, it...makes so much sense, and is making me actively re-evaluate that trio.
So really what you're saying is that in the end Rory accepts that he married a FUCKING TRA--
After the daleks episode, DW was all about escapism and that is what is wonderful about it. DW woke, but the entire show was created by a woman, a homosexual and Canadian working for the BCC. Also, you can find articles about the doctor becoming a woman during 70's. Well, an English woman.
PS: Daleks re-wrote the DW, instead of becoming historical.
pretty hype about this. i was just randomly thinking about how underutilized amys lack of identity and other bpd traits (as well as just played for laughs) were in the show
I haven’t heard this interpretation before! Amy never struck me as having BPD traits probably just because that’s not my area of experience, but I can totally see it now you point it out. If you don’t mind I’d love to hear more of your thoughts about this as the officially appointed declarer of every doctor who characters neurodivergence!
I related to her a little through some of my own npd symptoms, I admit there was a little projection involved in my analysis of her behaviour. But considering npd and bpd share a lot of symptoms I was probably picking up on something similar to you! Doctor who has a long running tendency of accidentally writing neurodivergent characters and doing a bad job handling it lol.
@@mercurialrose haha well i dont have bpd myself but i know people that do. i do find it significant that she meets the doctor as a child and feels this intense kinship with him, he leaves, causing her intense abandonment issues and then when they reunite as adults she keeps trying to sleep with him. this might be a stretch, but idc, her job as a kissogram, where she dresses up as different archetypes (but always someone desirable) reminded me of my friends completely changing up their appearance when theyre feeling boredom or self hatered AS WELL AS MIRRORING HER IDOLIZATION OF THE DOCTOR like hes this guy whos life is so interesting and that she wants and every so often he gets to entirely become someone new almost as if misunderstanding that its not really about how he looks. and then her relationship with rory, her impulsivity and promiscuity would be much more interesting and serious if moffat wasnt actively objectifying her
@@zakourille that actually makes so much sense! Thank you for sharing I love that idea a lot
I really enjoyed this video! Amy was my favorite companion for a long time, but rewatching her run on the show as an adult has been a bit disappointing as far as her treatment goes. Videos like these spark a little bit of the excitement I once felt about her character and how she was able to juggle mystery and wonder with commitment and (somewhat) stable love. I'm also always here for a queer media reading. Can't wait to watch your other videos and get more of your awesome perspective on this series.
Interesting thesis. Can’t wait to watch this, I always felt like Amy was a bit of an underrated companion. Not as mistreated as Martha, but definitely a victim of Moffat’s habits and some unpleasant cultural conflicts.
Amy and Martha got the short end of the stick in different ways tbh. Amy definitely got it better but she was much more objectified than Martha. Arguably the only reason Martha wasn’t was because of the insane antiblackness from the writers and the fans, but I do feel a bit like Moffat being hetero played a part in Amy’s treatment in contrast to Martha, seeing as even Rose was never as aggressively sexualised as Amy either.
I love this! Keep it up!
I have never seen a full doctor who espisode before in my life, yet I have watched all three of your videos on the show in a single day. Do I have any clue who any of these characters are? No. Do I have any clue whether any of your points are even remotely accurate to the episode, let alone the show? No. Do I have any clue how I came across these videos? No. Did I subscribe immediately? Fuck yes.
i was literally just thinking about this! great analysis, youre completely correct
you need more subs your content is gold
I'm a autistic Doctor Who fan and Amy Pond is my favourite companion and I've actually met Karen Gillan.
Fantastic analysis! As a queer person I’d never considered a queer reading of Amy like this so I’m glad you brought it to my attention.
Im glad you ignored the common interpretation of Moffats preference for women because I frankly think its creepy that people psychoanalyze a complete strangers sexual preferences over some (imo) misguided readings of his work.
I didn’t exclude that criticism because I disagree with it, just because I don’t think it was relevant to the points I wanted to bring up. I don’t believe it’s that people are really psychoanalysing Moffat, more just pointing out how he has a tendency towards sexually objectifying female characters. People don’t care or know what he’s into sexually, his work is what’s on display and we’re judging that not whatever he hypothetically wants to do on his own time. We only know what he displays in his work, and in his work we know that there’s some misogyny present whether intentional or not.
Steven Moffat wrote all of my all time favourite doctor’s seasons, there’s no denying that he has talent. However it’s still important for people to acknowledge when someone’s biases appear in their work, even if I personally didn’t do so in this video!
(I’m aware there are people who speculate on the personal lives of writers based on what they create to invasive levels, I don’t wish to give people like that the time of day because there are many many reasonable criticisms to make of Steven Moffat that don’t involve writing spiteful fanfiction about his personal life, and most people criticising him do so for valid and sincere reasons).
Yo! Fellow queer, doctor who loving Aussie!! Fellow up and coming RUclipsr!!!
i love this analysis 💜
love what ypuve done here. the idea that the episode shows the rejection of dualism for a non-dual, non-binary outcome is excellent.
INCREDIBLE ESSAY I LOVE THIS SO MUCH AAAAAAAA
LIKE GENUINELY IT'S SO SO SO GOOOODD
thank you SO much for making this, I NEVER thought of things this way and its SO GOOD AAA, SUCH a good take on Amy as well!!! every single thing you say about her is SO right
ur opinions are all objectivelty correct
True
wish I could like this more as a queer doctor who fan as I love appreciation for Moffat era characters (especially Amy) and queer readings but i just find the whole "but don't worry guys! I complain about Moffat too" attitude in these types of videos is just kind of off putting for me.
That’s fair! I definitely love a lot of Steven Moffats writing. I’m not trying to impress anyone by criticising him, I think he’s very talented and anything negative I say about doctor who will always come from a place of love. I think you’re misinterpreting my attitude but I understand why because i definitely know what you’re talking about. As I said, Steven Moffat wrote all of my all time favourite doctor’s seasons! Two out of the three doctor who videos I’ve made are about his characters and his writing. In this video I made a few jokes offhandedly referencing some of the criticism he’s received, but I didn’t intend it to be taken seriously. All that being said though i definitely agree with a lot of the criticisms he’s gotten about the misogyny in his writing, but I truly just want him to listen to that feedback and take it on board, because I do love a lot of his work and I don’t think he’s a bad writer at all.
FIMALLY!!!!!!
this is so cool! i never thought about amy like this but youve completely sold me on it :] awesome video!!
Yayyy more doctor who content :)
oh hey a better mic quality
@@Snipbiit lolll my first doctor who video was recorded on my phones voice memos app in the spare bedroom of my grandmas house
YAYYY im so excited for this
I feel like "neuroqyeer" is probably the better term
Also Amy's choice kind of leads to narrative bisexuality if anything.
Where the false dichotomy says gay or straight. BUt she chooses a het relationship within queer community. Like taking her straight partner to pride or gay bars or even having a type of open relationship for at least the queerplatonic stuff.
At best bi. But I dont think fully gay abit of stretch
@@curtismckenley8706 watch the video before you comment!!!
You guys look way too bloody far into characters.
No disagreement there lol that’s the fun of it!
She has a husband.
As did and do many bisexual or pansexual women. And even Oscar Wilde and Elton John loved their wives dearly. Lesbian youtuber Diamanda Hagan's spouse came out as atrans man years ago. Sorry that queerness isn't as simple as you think.
I’d recommend watching the video before commenting! Much of my thesis revolves around Amy’s relationship with Rory and I never deny that she loves him romantically
I feel sorry for you, Queer theory is about as real as flat earth theory.
Hi! I’m interested to know why you say this, are you familiar with queer theory or what it means outside of this video? I don’t say this to be rude, just that you seem to be misinterpreting the specific way in which the word “theory” is being used. Queer theory is (for the most part) not “a theory” in the same way a scientific theory like flat earth theory is (to be fair though “scientific” is a bit generous there). It’s a much more abstract and broad field of media and social analysis which I very briefly explained in this video but would be happy to re clarify or recommend some resources if my explanation confused you. As for feeling sorry for me, I’m not really sure why you would, I enjoyed making this video thoroughly and it was about something I enjoy and love!
I'm quite happy listening to anything about this topic, I think you read to much into the script on this video. If you can actually provide me with imperical evidence that Queer theory is right I'll take another look at it but there's far to much evidence that it's just another DEI tool to fool people with your limited life experience into activism. I don't blame you for your opinion I just cannot find any scientific basis to back it up.
I wish you well regardless
@@juliandarch9278 Translation: * fingers in ears * La, La, La, I'm not listening!
I tried to say I would listen. You need to give me scientific evidence until I will
dont ruin doctor who, thanks
Chris Chibnall already did that years ago it’s fair game at this point