Very much agreed, Anchorhead.
This next episode will be a true test. They’re going to go visit Rosa Parks. Will they be historically accurate, or will there be a lot of revisionism? I’m going to guess a bit of revisionism.
What do you mean?
I’m guessing the show will greatly simplify the situation, playing into the great myth you’re taught in elementary school. The great Rosa Parks was the one who said no on a whim, and it is all because of her that buses were integrated here in the US. The historical context is a lot more complex and complicated, and interesting. I’m assuming the episode will have the Doctor try to convince her to go through with it, with no mention of those more interesting elements as they go against the prevailing legend.
Really, if we’re going to have an episode where Rosa Parks is hesitant to go through with it, I want a dialogue like this:
Rosa: “Well, they don’t need me, there are others–”
Doctor: “Yes, there are others, and there have been others. But your actions here will reach beyond them. Someone as well liked, someone so innocent, to go through the horrors of your society, will resonate far beyond Alabama. No one else will look as righteous to the nation.”Or something to that effect. Basically I want there to be some recognition that Rosa Parks was not the only one who was courageous in that situation, that she did not do it on a whim (She and Colvin were both active members of the NAACP), and that the black leadership in Montgomery, Alabama wanted her to do it for the reasons stated above, as they would not be able to gain the sympathies of the courts, whites, and the middle class with Colvin, a poor, pregnant teenager. This in no way minimizes the bravery and injustice Parks endured, but it is the way it happened.
“I’m not disappointed,” Colvin said. “Let the people know Rosa Parks was the right person for the boycott. But also let them know that the attorneys took four other women to the Supreme Court to challenge the law that led to the end of segregation.”
But maybe this is too much to ask for from Doctor Who.
So much for giving it a chance eh Warbler, Handman and co?
If you’re going to take every critical thought I have on the show as me not giving it a chance, you’d best leave the thread, because I’m not going to stop. I’ve quite enjoyed it, actually! And nothing I’ve said about the show has anything to do with what Warbler’s said.