I’m not actually going to be talking about my likes and dislikes of Doctor Who in this blog (though that was the original intention when I added Galifrey to my list of fictional places). I’m going to be troubleshooting paper topics. Because, yes, I intend on writing a ten page paper linking Doctor Who to modern mythology. I just haven’t figured out how yet. [Note: this is a big problem because I need my general paper topic by tomorrow.]
What I really enjoy doing is talking about how mythology is reflected in newer things as a way of establishing its relevance. There’s something about myth that seems to be inherently lasting. Well, it’s not inherent, it’s that lasting aspect that allows something to become a myth. So modern works like to hook themselves to myth in order to stick in the minds of its audience.
My current problem is that I can’t pinpoint how Doctor Who links itself to myth. However, I can very easily see the way it does mythic linking to a whole bunch of sources (generally not considered to by myth). Doctor Who will often set an episode in a time period [--Heroic Biography--] or even in a specific event in time and retell the story coming from this fantastical world of monsters and space and science. The issue is that while this is a tool for building mythologies, it isn’t really making this myth. It doesn’t take from mythology. It doesn’t reflect mythology. However, it does reflect cultural views on how to handle situations and how to be.
But GAHHHHH!!!!
[editing note: SPOILERS!] Also, the Heroic Biography note was for me to remember to write this part. I could feasibly spend a paper talking about all of the heroic biographies in Doctor Who. What is a heroic biography? Essentially it is this motif-path laid out for a hero that nearly all heros conform to. The gist of it is (1) unusual birth, (2) exile from home, (3) making a name for oneself and subsequent return to home and acceptance at home, (4) and then they can go away again and then come back again but that part isn’t necessary.
This makes me think of traveling with the Doctor as the ultimate step of leaving home to go explore and grow and make a name for oneself and then return home, generally to have a new purpose. Unfortunately I only know the New Who companions, but they all fit. Rose has her father die when she’s young so is raised by her mom, goes off and falls in love with the Doctor and ends up in an entirely parallel universe (so a bit of a deviation). Martha has a lot of family problems, goes off with Doctor, comes back and becomes a ridiculously elite spy/alien fighter/doctor/marries Mickey. Rose is really interesting cause her main thing is that while she is with the Doctor she becomes half timelord and completely saves the universe. Amy has a very Heroic Biography. Her parents are completely out of the picture and we don’t know why. She goes off with the Doctor and really does a lot of saving and then we find out that she was pivotal to this crack in the world and the TARDIS exploding and everything. And she does end up saving the world by remembering at which point she gets her family back. So that’s the ultimate heroic biography.
Also, I could talk about heroism in Doctor Who and how it’s a very modern take on heroism.
This just means that I don’t really have a good definition for why Doctor Who is myth. But I’m not really arguing that it is myth, I’m arguing its mythic elements and how it relates to myth. I really, really hope this is okay.
Idea! So, one of our main definitions of myth is: “a privileged story that people within a group need to know; relevant stories; central to culture; vehicle for collective identity.”
I know this definition works spectacularly for Harry Potter and its importance to a culture but I wouldn’t know where to begin. However, I (for some stupid reason) find Doctor Who to be more manageable so I want to work with that. Also, I don’t feel as thought I could do Harry Potter justice. However, it still works for Doctor Who at least a bit and I can tie the Doctor’s ideals of justice and peace in to the ideals of this community.
Okay, I’m going to make this idea into a more formal proposal. Thank’s for being my rant area!
TTFN!
-Merr
Sorority Events: 6
Israeli Dances: 5
PS. I’m sorry I forgot this in the last post. Nothing changed though so it doesn't really matter :/
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