Doctor Who: Language and Representations

 Language and Representation: blog tasks


Create a new blogpost called Doctor Who: Language and Representation blog tasks and complete the following questions on your blog:

Language and contexts

1) Write a summary of the notes from our in-class analysis of the episode. You can use your own notes from the screening in class or this Google document of class notes (you'll need your GHS Google login). 

Camerawork and sound:

  • Music - theme tune to Doctor Who. Very science-fiction - sets genre from beginning.

  • Graphics on screen: title of show and episode. Simple text/font. 

  • Slow, clunky camera movement (due to technology in 1960s). 

  • Sound: hum of TARDIS (helps create science-fiction genre).


Mise-en-scene:

  • Susan - first introduced dancing and dressed as 1960s teenager (costume). Seems to be both typical teenager and alien.

  • Costume and hair typical of 1960s.

  • School - creates personal identity for audience. 


Narrative and genre:

  • Opening title sequence like a rocket taking off - sci-fi genre and links to 1960s space race.

  • Enigma codes: mystery of Susan’s home. French Revolution book - “I’ll have finished it” “That’s not right”... suggests time travel.


2) How can we apply narrative theories to this episode of  Doctor Who? 

Todorov's Equilibrium:
The episode starts off with something normal like a school setting and children walking through the hall ways, then the unusual part is where they find the police box and then go into the TARDIS, and finally they try escape and end up fainting. 
Propp's character theory: The heroes are seen to be Ian and Barbra the two teachers which try save the teenager. The p[princess is Susan as she is getting saved and the Doctor can be seen as the antagonist or villain.

Barthes's enigma and action codes: Enigma code: Police Box / TARDIS. “It’s alive!” Action code: some kind of conflict/threat linked to TARDIS. 

Levi-Strauss's binary opposition: Levi-Strauss - binary opposition. Light/dark - lost torch.

3) In your opinion, what is the most important scene in the episode and why?
I think the most important scene is the one where the teachers come across the Doctor and then find the TARDIS this is because this is the first time the audience has seen it and also the first for teachers.

4) What genre is An Unearthly Child and how can you tell? Make specific reference to aspects of the episode.
Science-fiction as the TARDIS is something unusual that includes things we haven't seen before and the fact that the Doctor is someone that id not known.

5) How does An Unearthly Child reflect the social and historical contexts of the 1960s?
Through the exploration of space travel, youth culture and the worries around the cold war.
Representations

1) What stereotypes of men are reinforced and subverted in Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child? How?
 Ian - “I take things as they come”. Boys harassing girls in school corridor.

2) What stereotypes of women/girls are reinforced and subverted in Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child? How?
Gender: “I feel frightened” - Barbara. Reinforces gender stereotypes. Age/teenagers - “She might be meeting a boy”. Stereotypical teenager representation (note: teenagers were relatively new in 1960s).

3) How do the representations of young people and old people in An Unearthly Child reflect the social and historical context of the 1960s? 
Saturday, November 23rd,  1963 on the BBC. The plot was a narrative arc (a story over several episodes) involving the Doctor and his companions voyaging 100,000 years into Earth’s past to help some cavemen discover fire. 
William Hartnell was the first Doctor, as an anti-hero who frequently put his companions in jeopardy for his own curiosity. Daleks made an appearance in the first series, as the arch enemies of the Doctor.

4) What representations of race/ethnicity can be found in Doctor Who: An Earthly Child? Is this surprising or not? Give reasons for your answer and consider historical / cultural context (the 1960s). Has this changed in more recent series of Doctor Who?
All of the actors in the show/majority white and this was very normal back in the day however as the series have gone on the people have gotten more inclusive with people from different ethnicity's. 

5) How is social class represented in An Unearthly Child? Think about how education and knowledge is presented in the episode.
Susan Foreman is the first of a long-standing tradition of Doctor Who companions.  It was felt improper in 1963 for an older man, such as the Doctor, to be travelling through space with a young 15 year old girl; so she was written as his Granddaughter.  She is a strong link to the young target audience and will often react in ways that the audience might in future episodes [e.g. screaming at aliens].  Classically relatable.

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