![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Clara Meta: Schrödinger’s Companion
Good morning! Would you believe it, but I have FINALLY finished my Clara meta. I think I began talking about it at Christmas? I hereby declare the Meta Café open once more!
So far all my Clara meta has been mostly speculative, because we didn’t know who/what she was. This is the opposite. Trying to look at what we know, and how she works. What is her function within the ‘verse?
I’ve said that everything she is (or rather, everything in this meta) is summed up in my icon. So for the purposes of this post I made a bigger version with labels, so you can see what I mean. (Below the cut.) I shall go through all the different aspects one at a time. (Which is difficult because they’re all linked. But that’s Moffat Who for you. Everything is connected. Circles, circles everywhere.) Anyway - subheadings. Hope I've made it easy enough to follow. :)
As always, half of this is![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
promethia_tenk's. Thank you for... just being you! ♥
And there are SPOILERS for the whole of Eleven's era!
As prep, I'd suggest watchingpurplefringe's Never Look Away and niyalune's The State of Dreaming.
Manic Pixie Dream Girl
If you have never come across the term before, then the 'Manic Pixie Dream Girl' is a trope often employed by TV shows to get a broody hero to once more embrace life and love. From the TV Tropes definition:
And Doctor Who has its own entry:
At this point, you can go watch He Said, She Said, which touches on this exactly:
CLARA: One day you meet the Doctor. And of course, it's the best day ever. It's just the best day of your life. Because, because he's brilliant, and he's funny, and mad, and best of all, he really needs you.
~
DOCTOR: From the beginning, she was impossible. The Impossible Girl. Saved my life [twice], by giving her own. But now she's back and we're running together, and she's perfect. Perfect in every way for me. Except she can't remember that we ever met. Clara. My Clara. Always brave, always funny, always exactly what I need. Perfect. Too perfect.
You could say that Rose fulfilled this role after the Time War, and you’d be right. But Rose wasn’t a mystery in her own right - her strength was her very ‘ordinariness’. Her role was to stay grounded, an anchor for the Doctor and audience alike.
But Clara is different. It isn't just Clara's pretty face that drags him down off his cloud - and the first time they met, he of course never even saw her face - it's the fact that a) she is very insistent (he is a mystery, she wants to find out more) and b) he discovers that she is a mystery. So he in turn becomes insistent... Ouroboros. (As always with Moffat Who.)
But what does it all mean? Who is Clara? Because she is much more than just a girl with a million echoes scattered across time... Or rather, there is a reason this particular story had to be Clara's.
Quantum Leaf
I blew into this world on a leaf. I'm still blowing. I don't think I'll ever land.
Now leaves are not a new thing in Moffat Who. We all remember Amy’s prayer leaf, and ‘The only water in the forest is the river’, translating ‘Melody Pond’ into River Song.
Of course leaves tie in with trees, forests, books (and the pages in books are called leaves...) - the connotations are endless. But Clara’s leaf is something different.
Have some quotes:
DAVE (Clara's father): Because this exact leaf had to grow in that exact way in that exact place so that precise wind could tear it from that precise branch and make it fly into this exact face at that exact moment. And if just one of those tiny little things had never happened, I'd never have met you. Which makes this the most important leaf in human history.
~
CLARA: Well, I brought something for you. This. The most important leaf in human history. It's full of stories, full of history. And full of a future that never got lived. Days that should have been that never were. Passed on to me. This leaf isn't just the past, it's a whole future that never happened. There are billions and millions of unlived days for every day we live. An infinity. All the days that never came. And these are all my mum's.
~
CLARA: What's wrong? What's happening?
DOCTOR [OC]: I'm inside my own time stream. It's collapsing in on itself.
CLARA: Well, get out then.
DOCTOR [OC]: Not until I've got you.
CLARA: I don't even know who I am.
DOCTOR [OC]: You're my Impossible Girl. I'm sending you something. Not from my past, from yours. Look up. Look.
(A dead leaf comes floating down.)
DOCTOR [OC]: This is you, Clara. Everything you were or will be. Take it. You blew into the world on this leaf. Hold tight. It will take you home.
So what does the leaf mean? As you can see, it’s twofold...
1) Infinity/infinite possibility - all the days Clara's mother didn't live, and, tying into that, all the Clara echoes' lives. She is scattered across time and space - [almost] infinite, impossible.
2) A fixed point (in her own personal time) - her parents’ first meeting without which she wouldn’t even exist. Infinite possibilities narrowed down to a single moment. Without that leaf, the whole narrative would unravel.
So is the leaf one thing or is it the other? The two would seem to be opposites - infinity and fixed point. Well, it could be either, but it only becomes true when you look.
I’ll get back to this is a moment.
Which Leaf?
Because what’s been making me poke the show ever since ‘Rings of Akhaten’ is the fact that - as far as I can tell - the leaf changed. Please look at these images and tell me if I’m just imagining things:
The first leaf, the one the Doctor finds in Clara’s book in Bells of St John, strikes me as significantly different than the ones in Rings of Akhaten/Name of the Doctor.
And then we get this still from the 50th trailer:
It’s the original leaf once more. And considering that the fact that the Doctor wearing a jacket [in a single shot] after he had it stolen by the Weeping Angels turned out to be a big plot point, I’m hesitant to dismiss the leaf as ‘just production issues’. Here’s a cap of the leaf itself (the second leaf from Rings of Akhaten) on the tree. The other green leaves look a lot more like the first leaf...
And then there’s this:
That still looks far too much like a Time Beetle for my liking. A Time Beetle on a tree. Is someone manipulating/controlling Clara’s life? If so, why? Not to mention who. She is Souffle Girl, and the souffle is the recipe. But is someone interfering?
Although if the leaf is *her*, then it makes sense that someone would manipulate her through her origin.
But that's was a tangent. Let me get back to what the leaf means:
Schrödinger’s Companion
There could be two leaves? Are there two Claras? Oh yes.
Continually.
The thing that comes immediately to mind is quantum mechanics and the idea that things only become fixed when they are observed. There's this sense with Clara that her reality is unfixed and shifting and unknown: she's a girl and she's a Dalek, she’s a barmaid and she’s a governess, she’s a perfectly ordinary girl and she’s impossible, existing in a million pieces dying over all of space and time and she doesn't know it.
There is a duality to her, right from the start. This is wherepurplefringe’s vid (Never Look Away) really helped pinpoint the main issue - the Doctor looks at Oswin and sees the truth of what she is. Yet she is both - the Dalek, and the girl.
Similarly she is a barmaid, and a governess, existing in two worlds simultaneously.
Like the cat in Schrödinger’s box, that is both alive and dead... And the only way to find out is to open the box.
So she is unfixed, unless someone is watching. And even then - she is both, at the same time. So she is Schrödinger’s Companion - many things at the same time. Opposites existing simultaneously:
She is a leaf, flying, never landing, a million copies across time and space. Yet she is also just an ordinary girl. Infinity and a fixed point all in one.
So yes, the leaf is the perfect symbol for her. (This is why I call it a 'Quantum Leaf'. It is the physical representation of the idea, and takes symbolism to a wonderful new height.)
Now I’m going to step sideways for a bit, because here’s the thing - Clara has (just like in her Manic Pixie Dream Girl status) taken the Doctor’s usual MO, all the echoes moulding themselves to what they need to be/the Doctor they need to save:
"And one of the interesting things about writing the Doctor is that he's so responsive to the people around him. It's almost like left on his own his personality would slowly disintegrate. He becomes what people want him to be, a little bit. So he's Amy's Raggedy Doctor. With a different companion he becomes a slightly different man. He dresses differently."
Steven Moffat (x)
We saw that ‘disintegration’ in The Snowmen. The Doctor almost stops being the Doctor with no one around to observe him. (This can of course be tied in to Tinkerbell!Doctor and the War Doctor etc. etc.)
Then he finds Clara - and changes. We even see the process of him choosing who he is now when he finds her again. No more tweed, he is no longer Amy’s:
Because to be seen is to exist:
DOCTOR: Well, there's no point now. We're about to die. Just tell me who you are.
CLARA: You know who I am.
DOCTOR: No, I don't. I look at you every single day and I don't understand a thing about you. Why do I keep running into you?
CLARA: Doctor, you invited me. You said
DOCTOR: Before that. I met you in the Dalek Asylum. There was a girl in a shipwreck and she died saving my life, and she was you.
CLARA: She really wasn't.
DOCTOR: Victorian London. There was a governess who was really a barmaid, and we fought the Great Intelligence together. She died and it was my fault, and she was you.
(I witnessed it, therefore it is real.)
And it goes both ways.
It's all about identity. It's no accident that Clara is there for the reveal of the 'secret' Doctor. She says in DotD how the Doctor is 'always' talking about what he did. Because she has seen the War Doctor, and thus made him real - which means that the War Doctor is Schrödinger's Doctor! :)
Also, it of course ties back to the Library (everything ties back to the Library):
ELLA: Mummy, Joshua and me, we're not real, are we?
DONNA: Of course you're real. You're as real as anything. Why d'you say that?
JOSHUA: But, Mummy, sometimes, when you're not here, it's like we're not here.
ELLA: Even when you close your eyes, we just stop.
DONNA: Well, Mummy promises to never close her eyes again.
To be seen is to exist... But it's not just the fact of being observed. To have been seen is often enough...
Here both Clara and the Doctor break the fourth wall, watching us - and inviting us to watch *them*:
They are speaking to each other, but also to us. We watch, and they become real to us... Watch - and remember.
Of course the importance of memory is a long-standing one in Moffat Who:
Nothing is ever forgotten, not completely. And if something can be remembered, it can come back.
The Doctor remembers Clara, and so finds her again.
And all the Clara echoes remember:
I don't know where I am. It's like I'm breaking into a million pieces and there's only one thing I remember. I have to save the Doctor. He always looks different. But I always know it's him.
Memory is even a specific plot point in The Snowmen:
DOCTOR: Maybe it's snow that fell before. Maybe it remembers how to make snowmen.
CLARA: What, snow that can remember? That's silly.
All the Clara echoes are girls who remember - remember how to save the Doctor. They create themselves, just like the snowmen.
(Tangent: Briefly re. boxes... There have been a lot of boxes in Moffat Who, and a lot of people in them. River was defined by her boxes (TARDIS, Stormcage). But Clara is different. It’s not so much that there are no boxes, but - as I pointed out above - that she exists outside and inside the box simultaneously. And as a matter of fact the main box actively dislikes her. Now we don’t know why that is - yet - but she is almost defined by her lack of boxes. She’s a leaf, blowing. Infinite. And a blowing leaf can’t be put in a box. Clara is The Impossible Girl and can't be boxed in. *g*)
I hope all this makes sense. Because now we get to the heart of it.
Mirroring
I am using the word ‘mirroring’ very deliberately. Because Clara is not a mirror, she mirrors.
River was a mirror through and through, her life revolving around the Doctor from before she was born. His ‘bespoke psychopath’, the one who could outwit him, could fly the TARDIS - his equal. But Clara is just a normal girl, and (in many ways) the ‘ur-companion’. We see this very clearly in the trailer for the 50th anniversary. The image in the globe she holds (her mirror image) is Susan, the Doctor's original Companion. And she takes the place of/occupies the same spot as Sarah Jane, who is generally regarded as the Classic Companion.
So her *role* is that of reflecting things back. It’s the difference between what you are (River *is* a mirror), and what you do (Clara *mirrors*).
And she has done this since the very beginning. From Asylum:
OSWIN: Long story. Is there a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy?
DOCTOR: Doctor. You call me the Doctor.
OSWIN: I see what you did there.
We will later learn (Time of the Doctor) that all the Clara echoes blend in where they are, changing to fit the Doctor they are saving. Again, mirroring. (Which is a response to the Doctor mirroring/changing to fit her, as seen above. Like I have often said, this show is a hall of mirrors and endless refractions.)
RORY: Who killed all the Daleks?
DOCTOR: Who do you think?
The Doctor claimed the destruction for himself, but in the end it was Oswin who destroyed the planet - which was the task the Doctor had been given.
And again in The Snowmen:
DOCTOR: Clara who?
CLARA: Doctor who?
The mirroring theme starts in earnest with The Snowmen, and this is also the (re-)introduction of The Great Intelligence. The GI has no form, so it mirrors:
WALTER [memory]: I don't want to talk to them. They're silly.
SNOWMAN [memory]: They're silly.
DOCTOR: It just reflects back everything we think and feel and fear.
WALTER [memory]: I don't need anyone else.
SNOWMAN [memory]: Don't need anyone else.
~
DOCTOR: The snow emits a low level telepathic field.
CLARA: My snowman.
DOCTOR: It seems to reflect people's thoughts and memories and because it's unusual, somehow it carries a previous shape and-
CLARA: No, Doctor. My snowman.
DOCTOR: Ah! Interesting. Well, were you thinking about it?
CLARA: Yes.
(Another one appears, then others.)
DOCTOR: Well, stop. Clara, stop thinking about the snowmen!
(The nearest snowman breaths snowflakes at them.)
DOCTOR: Get down! Clara, listen to me. The snow's feeding off your thoughts.
CLARA: I don't understand.
DOCTOR: You're caught in their telepathic field. They're mirroring you. The more you think about the snowmen, the more they appear. Imagine them melting. Picture it. Picture them melted!
~
VASTRA: He's dead. What happened?
DOCTOR: The snow mirrors, that's all it does. It's mirroring something else now. Something so strong, it's drowning everything else.
We see the same pattern show up in the The Bells of St John (a great big sign that The GI was involved):
CLARA: Hello.
GIRL: Hello.
CLARA: Are you a friend of Angie's?
GIRL: I'm a friend of Angie's.
CLARA: What were you doing upstairs?
GIRL: I was upstairs.
CLARA: I know you, don't I?
GIRL: You know me, don't you.
~
CLARA: I did it. I really did. I did it. I did it. I found them.
DOCTOR: You found them.
CLARA: The Shard. They're in the Shard. Floor sixty five.
DOCTOR: Floor sixty five.
CLARA: Are you listening to me, Doctor? I found them.
DOCTOR: I'm listening to you. You found them.
We also see the mirroring in 'He Said, She Said', the two of them walking through near-identical cornucopia of items, both of them with the same questions. Well, almost. Going back to the quote I pulled out at the beginning:
The Doctor: But now she's back and we're running together, and she's perfect. Perfect in every way for me. Except she can't remember that we ever met. Clara. My Clara. Always brave, always funny, always exactly what I need. Perfect. Too perfect.
Always what he needs. Because she mirrors him. Becomes what he needs. The echoes of course do this to a much greater degree, fitting into whatever narrative they’re thrown into, although usually keeping their core Clara-ness. (= the recipe). Original!Clara is a nanny, and becomes a teacher. Oswin is a Junior Entertainment manager, Victorian!Clara a Governess. And they're all going places.
She reflects back what others project - or what they need her to be, rather.
It's not just that she is only 'fixed' when she is observed, it's that she mirrors back what's needed. To the Daleks, she was a Dalek, able to hack their pathweb without them realising. To the Doctor (until he saw her, although he had a hunch), she was Oswin Oswald... To the barkeep she was Clara, the barmaid, to Capt. Latimer she is the perfect nanny - to the Doctor, she is the perfect Companion. I would go so far as to say that it's a fundamental part of how she functions. (And not always the strength it might seem - see how carefully she avoids falling in love.)
This mirroring is also important in the evolving story of the Doctor.
River is a contrast, something that pushes back, in many ways a dark message - she is the consequence of his actions; he created her and so she can point out where he is going wrong:
RIVER: Doctor. The word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know. But if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean? To the people of the Gamma Forests, the word Doctor means mighty warrior. How far you've come. And now they've taken a child, the child of your best friends, and they're going to turn her into a weapon just to bring you down. And all this, my love, in fear of you.
But Clara merely holds up a mirror. Reflects himself back to himself...
He pauses before pushing the button in 'The Day of the Doctor', because he is watching her. Clara is not like some of the more forceful companions who would loudly voice their objections. But he watches her. And she watches him. And can help him to see himself clearly:
CLARA: Look at you. The three of you. The warrior, the hero, and you.
DOCTOR: And what am I?
CLARA: Have you really forgotten?
DOCTOR: Yes. Maybe, yes.
CLARA: We've got enough warriors. Any old idiot can be a hero.
DOCTOR: Then what do I do?
CLARA: What you've always done. Be a doctor. You told me the name you chose was a promise. What was the promise?
DOCTOR 10: Never cruel or cowardly.
WARRIOR: Never give up, never give in.
She doesn’t tell him what to do, or be. Instead she lets him answer his own question. And she does it again when she answers The Question in 'The Time of the Doctor':
CLARA: You've been asking a question, and it's time someone told you you've been getting it wrong. His name, his name is the Doctor. All the name he needs. Everything you need to know about him.
She holds up a mirror, answers the question by reflecting it back.
And so, if we want Eleven’s story through his companions, then Amy and River change him (heal him, help him to move on from the pain of the Time War, restore him), and Clara changes his world.
So, like I've been saying for... years now, Moffat has been rebooting the show:
"In Matt Smith’s final episode he spent a thousand years on a planet watching everybody else age to death, while he ages very slowly. The Doctor is being taught a lesson. He’s not a human being, however much he larks around pretending he is. He is different and it’s time to stop play-acting. He goes back to being the trickier version of the Doctor, the fiercer alien wanderer. He’s not apologising, he’s not flirting with you - that’s over. That’s what the Doctor was like after the Time War but he’s not like that any more. He’s gone back and he’s changed it. Now he can go back to being a bit more Time Lordy."
Moffat
What will the mirror now reveal? Eleven was created around Amelia/his Ponds, bright and new, ready to begin to let go [of Ten's regrets]. Twelve will be created around Clara, The Impossible Girl, someone with access to/containing/witness to everything he is, from Gallifrey to Trenzalore.
We're all different people all through our lives. And that's okay, that's good, you've got to keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be.
And we shall watch; and remember.
Please comment on the LJ post. Thank you
So far all my Clara meta has been mostly speculative, because we didn’t know who/what she was. This is the opposite. Trying to look at what we know, and how she works. What is her function within the ‘verse?
I’ve said that everything she is (or rather, everything in this meta) is summed up in my icon. So for the purposes of this post I made a bigger version with labels, so you can see what I mean. (Below the cut.) I shall go through all the different aspects one at a time. (Which is difficult because they’re all linked. But that’s Moffat Who for you. Everything is connected. Circles, circles everywhere.) Anyway - subheadings. Hope I've made it easy enough to follow. :)
As always, half of this is
promethia_tenk's. Thank you for... just being you! ♥And there are SPOILERS for the whole of Eleven's era!
As prep, I'd suggest watching
purplefringe's Never Look Away and niyalune's The State of Dreaming.Manic Pixie Dream Girl
If you have never come across the term before, then the 'Manic Pixie Dream Girl' is a trope often employed by TV shows to get a broody hero to once more embrace life and love. From the TV Tropes definition:
Let's say you're a soulful, brooding male hero, living a sheltered, emotionless existence. If only someone could come along and open your heart to the great, wondrous adventure of life... Have no fear, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is here to give new meaning to the male hero's life! She's stunningly attractive, high on life, full of wacky quirks and idiosyncrasies (generally including childlike playfulness and a tendency towards petty crime), often with a touch of wild hair dye. She's inexplicably obsessed with our stuffed-shirt hero, on whom she will focus her kuh-razy antics until he learns to live freely and love madly.
And Doctor Who has its own entry:
- The Doctor has been a (usually) non-romantic Manic Pixie Dream Man to all his companions. While all of the Doctors have been this to some degree, Eleven really takes this trope Up to Eleven. (Ha ha).
- The Snowmen saw this invoked by Madam Vastra with Clara. In the Cold Opening, Vastra claimed that by stopping to talk to Clara, the Doctor had inadvertently found a new companion, and that said companion might just bring him out of his slump. The Doctor denied and outright defied it for the most part, but it turned out Vastra was right.
- In fact, in a rare twist, Clara is the Manic Pixie Dream Girl towards the Doctor. Clara has come in to his life three times now, a mystery in itself. The Doctor can't resist a mystery.
At this point, you can go watch He Said, She Said, which touches on this exactly:
CLARA: One day you meet the Doctor. And of course, it's the best day ever. It's just the best day of your life. Because, because he's brilliant, and he's funny, and mad, and best of all, he really needs you.
~
DOCTOR: From the beginning, she was impossible. The Impossible Girl. Saved my life [twice], by giving her own. But now she's back and we're running together, and she's perfect. Perfect in every way for me. Except she can't remember that we ever met. Clara. My Clara. Always brave, always funny, always exactly what I need. Perfect. Too perfect.
You could say that Rose fulfilled this role after the Time War, and you’d be right. But Rose wasn’t a mystery in her own right - her strength was her very ‘ordinariness’. Her role was to stay grounded, an anchor for the Doctor and audience alike.
But Clara is different. It isn't just Clara's pretty face that drags him down off his cloud - and the first time they met, he of course never even saw her face - it's the fact that a) she is very insistent (he is a mystery, she wants to find out more) and b) he discovers that she is a mystery. So he in turn becomes insistent... Ouroboros. (As always with Moffat Who.)
But what does it all mean? Who is Clara? Because she is much more than just a girl with a million echoes scattered across time... Or rather, there is a reason this particular story had to be Clara's.
I blew into this world on a leaf. I'm still blowing. I don't think I'll ever land.
Now leaves are not a new thing in Moffat Who. We all remember Amy’s prayer leaf, and ‘The only water in the forest is the river’, translating ‘Melody Pond’ into River Song.
Of course leaves tie in with trees, forests, books (and the pages in books are called leaves...) - the connotations are endless. But Clara’s leaf is something different.
Have some quotes:
DAVE (Clara's father): Because this exact leaf had to grow in that exact way in that exact place so that precise wind could tear it from that precise branch and make it fly into this exact face at that exact moment. And if just one of those tiny little things had never happened, I'd never have met you. Which makes this the most important leaf in human history.
~
CLARA: Well, I brought something for you. This. The most important leaf in human history. It's full of stories, full of history. And full of a future that never got lived. Days that should have been that never were. Passed on to me. This leaf isn't just the past, it's a whole future that never happened. There are billions and millions of unlived days for every day we live. An infinity. All the days that never came. And these are all my mum's.
~
CLARA: What's wrong? What's happening?
DOCTOR [OC]: I'm inside my own time stream. It's collapsing in on itself.
CLARA: Well, get out then.
DOCTOR [OC]: Not until I've got you.
CLARA: I don't even know who I am.
DOCTOR [OC]: You're my Impossible Girl. I'm sending you something. Not from my past, from yours. Look up. Look.
(A dead leaf comes floating down.)
DOCTOR [OC]: This is you, Clara. Everything you were or will be. Take it. You blew into the world on this leaf. Hold tight. It will take you home.
So what does the leaf mean? As you can see, it’s twofold...
1) Infinity/infinite possibility - all the days Clara's mother didn't live, and, tying into that, all the Clara echoes' lives. She is scattered across time and space - [almost] infinite, impossible.
2) A fixed point (in her own personal time) - her parents’ first meeting without which she wouldn’t even exist. Infinite possibilities narrowed down to a single moment. Without that leaf, the whole narrative would unravel.
So is the leaf one thing or is it the other? The two would seem to be opposites - infinity and fixed point. Well, it could be either, but it only becomes true when you look.
I’ll get back to this is a moment.
Because what’s been making me poke the show ever since ‘Rings of Akhaten’ is the fact that - as far as I can tell - the leaf changed. Please look at these images and tell me if I’m just imagining things:
The first leaf, the one the Doctor finds in Clara’s book in Bells of St John, strikes me as significantly different than the ones in Rings of Akhaten/Name of the Doctor.
And then we get this still from the 50th trailer:
It’s the original leaf once more. And considering that the fact that the Doctor wearing a jacket [in a single shot] after he had it stolen by the Weeping Angels turned out to be a big plot point, I’m hesitant to dismiss the leaf as ‘just production issues’. Here’s a cap of the leaf itself (the second leaf from Rings of Akhaten) on the tree. The other green leaves look a lot more like the first leaf...
And then there’s this:
That still looks far too much like a Time Beetle for my liking. A Time Beetle on a tree. Is someone manipulating/controlling Clara’s life? If so, why? Not to mention who. She is Souffle Girl, and the souffle is the recipe. But is someone interfering?
Although if the leaf is *her*, then it makes sense that someone would manipulate her through her origin.
But that's was a tangent. Let me get back to what the leaf means:
There could be two leaves? Are there two Claras? Oh yes.
Continually.
The thing that comes immediately to mind is quantum mechanics and the idea that things only become fixed when they are observed. There's this sense with Clara that her reality is unfixed and shifting and unknown: she's a girl and she's a Dalek, she’s a barmaid and she’s a governess, she’s a perfectly ordinary girl and she’s impossible, existing in a million pieces dying over all of space and time and she doesn't know it.
There is a duality to her, right from the start. This is where
purplefringe’s vid (Never Look Away) really helped pinpoint the main issue - the Doctor looks at Oswin and sees the truth of what she is. Yet she is both - the Dalek, and the girl.Similarly she is a barmaid, and a governess, existing in two worlds simultaneously.
Like the cat in Schrödinger’s box, that is both alive and dead... And the only way to find out is to open the box.
So she is unfixed, unless someone is watching. And even then - she is both, at the same time. So she is Schrödinger’s Companion - many things at the same time. Opposites existing simultaneously:
She is a leaf, flying, never landing, a million copies across time and space. Yet she is also just an ordinary girl. Infinity and a fixed point all in one.
So yes, the leaf is the perfect symbol for her. (This is why I call it a 'Quantum Leaf'. It is the physical representation of the idea, and takes symbolism to a wonderful new height.)
Now I’m going to step sideways for a bit, because here’s the thing - Clara has (just like in her Manic Pixie Dream Girl status) taken the Doctor’s usual MO, all the echoes moulding themselves to what they need to be/the Doctor they need to save:
"And one of the interesting things about writing the Doctor is that he's so responsive to the people around him. It's almost like left on his own his personality would slowly disintegrate. He becomes what people want him to be, a little bit. So he's Amy's Raggedy Doctor. With a different companion he becomes a slightly different man. He dresses differently."
Steven Moffat (x)
We saw that ‘disintegration’ in The Snowmen. The Doctor almost stops being the Doctor with no one around to observe him. (This can of course be tied in to Tinkerbell!Doctor and the War Doctor etc. etc.)
Then he finds Clara - and changes. We even see the process of him choosing who he is now when he finds her again. No more tweed, he is no longer Amy’s:
Because to be seen is to exist:
DOCTOR: Well, there's no point now. We're about to die. Just tell me who you are.
CLARA: You know who I am.
DOCTOR: No, I don't. I look at you every single day and I don't understand a thing about you. Why do I keep running into you?
CLARA: Doctor, you invited me. You said
DOCTOR: Before that. I met you in the Dalek Asylum. There was a girl in a shipwreck and she died saving my life, and she was you.
CLARA: She really wasn't.
DOCTOR: Victorian London. There was a governess who was really a barmaid, and we fought the Great Intelligence together. She died and it was my fault, and she was you.
(I witnessed it, therefore it is real.)
And it goes both ways.
It's all about identity. It's no accident that Clara is there for the reveal of the 'secret' Doctor. She says in DotD how the Doctor is 'always' talking about what he did. Because she has seen the War Doctor, and thus made him real - which means that the War Doctor is Schrödinger's Doctor! :)
Also, it of course ties back to the Library (everything ties back to the Library):
ELLA: Mummy, Joshua and me, we're not real, are we?
DONNA: Of course you're real. You're as real as anything. Why d'you say that?
JOSHUA: But, Mummy, sometimes, when you're not here, it's like we're not here.
ELLA: Even when you close your eyes, we just stop.
DONNA: Well, Mummy promises to never close her eyes again.
To be seen is to exist... But it's not just the fact of being observed. To have been seen is often enough...
Here both Clara and the Doctor break the fourth wall, watching us - and inviting us to watch *them*:
They are speaking to each other, but also to us. We watch, and they become real to us... Watch - and remember.
Of course the importance of memory is a long-standing one in Moffat Who:
Nothing is ever forgotten, not completely. And if something can be remembered, it can come back.
The Doctor remembers Clara, and so finds her again.
And all the Clara echoes remember:
I don't know where I am. It's like I'm breaking into a million pieces and there's only one thing I remember. I have to save the Doctor. He always looks different. But I always know it's him.
Memory is even a specific plot point in The Snowmen:
DOCTOR: Maybe it's snow that fell before. Maybe it remembers how to make snowmen.
CLARA: What, snow that can remember? That's silly.
All the Clara echoes are girls who remember - remember how to save the Doctor. They create themselves, just like the snowmen.
(Tangent: Briefly re. boxes... There have been a lot of boxes in Moffat Who, and a lot of people in them. River was defined by her boxes (TARDIS, Stormcage). But Clara is different. It’s not so much that there are no boxes, but - as I pointed out above - that she exists outside and inside the box simultaneously. And as a matter of fact the main box actively dislikes her. Now we don’t know why that is - yet - but she is almost defined by her lack of boxes. She’s a leaf, blowing. Infinite. And a blowing leaf can’t be put in a box. Clara is The Impossible Girl and can't be boxed in. *g*)
I hope all this makes sense. Because now we get to the heart of it.
I am using the word ‘mirroring’ very deliberately. Because Clara is not a mirror, she mirrors.
River was a mirror through and through, her life revolving around the Doctor from before she was born. His ‘bespoke psychopath’, the one who could outwit him, could fly the TARDIS - his equal. But Clara is just a normal girl, and (in many ways) the ‘ur-companion’. We see this very clearly in the trailer for the 50th anniversary. The image in the globe she holds (her mirror image) is Susan, the Doctor's original Companion. And she takes the place of/occupies the same spot as Sarah Jane, who is generally regarded as the Classic Companion.
So her *role* is that of reflecting things back. It’s the difference between what you are (River *is* a mirror), and what you do (Clara *mirrors*).
And she has done this since the very beginning. From Asylum:
OSWIN: Long story. Is there a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy?
DOCTOR: Doctor. You call me the Doctor.
OSWIN: I see what you did there.
We will later learn (Time of the Doctor) that all the Clara echoes blend in where they are, changing to fit the Doctor they are saving. Again, mirroring. (Which is a response to the Doctor mirroring/changing to fit her, as seen above. Like I have often said, this show is a hall of mirrors and endless refractions.)
RORY: Who killed all the Daleks?
DOCTOR: Who do you think?
The Doctor claimed the destruction for himself, but in the end it was Oswin who destroyed the planet - which was the task the Doctor had been given.
And again in The Snowmen:
DOCTOR: Clara who?
CLARA: Doctor who?
The mirroring theme starts in earnest with The Snowmen, and this is also the (re-)introduction of The Great Intelligence. The GI has no form, so it mirrors:
WALTER [memory]: I don't want to talk to them. They're silly.
SNOWMAN [memory]: They're silly.
DOCTOR: It just reflects back everything we think and feel and fear.
WALTER [memory]: I don't need anyone else.
SNOWMAN [memory]: Don't need anyone else.
~
DOCTOR: The snow emits a low level telepathic field.
CLARA: My snowman.
DOCTOR: It seems to reflect people's thoughts and memories and because it's unusual, somehow it carries a previous shape and-
CLARA: No, Doctor. My snowman.
DOCTOR: Ah! Interesting. Well, were you thinking about it?
CLARA: Yes.
(Another one appears, then others.)
DOCTOR: Well, stop. Clara, stop thinking about the snowmen!
(The nearest snowman breaths snowflakes at them.)
DOCTOR: Get down! Clara, listen to me. The snow's feeding off your thoughts.
CLARA: I don't understand.
DOCTOR: You're caught in their telepathic field. They're mirroring you. The more you think about the snowmen, the more they appear. Imagine them melting. Picture it. Picture them melted!
~
VASTRA: He's dead. What happened?
DOCTOR: The snow mirrors, that's all it does. It's mirroring something else now. Something so strong, it's drowning everything else.
We see the same pattern show up in the The Bells of St John (a great big sign that The GI was involved):
CLARA: Hello.
GIRL: Hello.
CLARA: Are you a friend of Angie's?
GIRL: I'm a friend of Angie's.
CLARA: What were you doing upstairs?
GIRL: I was upstairs.
CLARA: I know you, don't I?
GIRL: You know me, don't you.
~
CLARA: I did it. I really did. I did it. I did it. I found them.
DOCTOR: You found them.
CLARA: The Shard. They're in the Shard. Floor sixty five.
DOCTOR: Floor sixty five.
CLARA: Are you listening to me, Doctor? I found them.
DOCTOR: I'm listening to you. You found them.
We also see the mirroring in 'He Said, She Said', the two of them walking through near-identical cornucopia of items, both of them with the same questions. Well, almost. Going back to the quote I pulled out at the beginning:
The Doctor: But now she's back and we're running together, and she's perfect. Perfect in every way for me. Except she can't remember that we ever met. Clara. My Clara. Always brave, always funny, always exactly what I need. Perfect. Too perfect.
Always what he needs. Because she mirrors him. Becomes what he needs. The echoes of course do this to a much greater degree, fitting into whatever narrative they’re thrown into, although usually keeping their core Clara-ness. (= the recipe). Original!Clara is a nanny, and becomes a teacher. Oswin is a Junior Entertainment manager, Victorian!Clara a Governess. And they're all going places.
She reflects back what others project - or what they need her to be, rather.
It's not just that she is only 'fixed' when she is observed, it's that she mirrors back what's needed. To the Daleks, she was a Dalek, able to hack their pathweb without them realising. To the Doctor (until he saw her, although he had a hunch), she was Oswin Oswald... To the barkeep she was Clara, the barmaid, to Capt. Latimer she is the perfect nanny - to the Doctor, she is the perfect Companion. I would go so far as to say that it's a fundamental part of how she functions. (And not always the strength it might seem - see how carefully she avoids falling in love.)
This mirroring is also important in the evolving story of the Doctor.
River is a contrast, something that pushes back, in many ways a dark message - she is the consequence of his actions; he created her and so she can point out where he is going wrong:
RIVER: Doctor. The word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know. But if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean? To the people of the Gamma Forests, the word Doctor means mighty warrior. How far you've come. And now they've taken a child, the child of your best friends, and they're going to turn her into a weapon just to bring you down. And all this, my love, in fear of you.
But Clara merely holds up a mirror. Reflects himself back to himself...
He pauses before pushing the button in 'The Day of the Doctor', because he is watching her. Clara is not like some of the more forceful companions who would loudly voice their objections. But he watches her. And she watches him. And can help him to see himself clearly:
CLARA: Look at you. The three of you. The warrior, the hero, and you.
DOCTOR: And what am I?
CLARA: Have you really forgotten?
DOCTOR: Yes. Maybe, yes.
CLARA: We've got enough warriors. Any old idiot can be a hero.
DOCTOR: Then what do I do?
CLARA: What you've always done. Be a doctor. You told me the name you chose was a promise. What was the promise?
DOCTOR 10: Never cruel or cowardly.
WARRIOR: Never give up, never give in.
She doesn’t tell him what to do, or be. Instead she lets him answer his own question. And she does it again when she answers The Question in 'The Time of the Doctor':
CLARA: You've been asking a question, and it's time someone told you you've been getting it wrong. His name, his name is the Doctor. All the name he needs. Everything you need to know about him.
She holds up a mirror, answers the question by reflecting it back.
And so, if we want Eleven’s story through his companions, then Amy and River change him (heal him, help him to move on from the pain of the Time War, restore him), and Clara changes his world.
So, like I've been saying for... years now, Moffat has been rebooting the show:
"In Matt Smith’s final episode he spent a thousand years on a planet watching everybody else age to death, while he ages very slowly. The Doctor is being taught a lesson. He’s not a human being, however much he larks around pretending he is. He is different and it’s time to stop play-acting. He goes back to being the trickier version of the Doctor, the fiercer alien wanderer. He’s not apologising, he’s not flirting with you - that’s over. That’s what the Doctor was like after the Time War but he’s not like that any more. He’s gone back and he’s changed it. Now he can go back to being a bit more Time Lordy."
Moffat
What will the mirror now reveal? Eleven was created around Amelia/his Ponds, bright and new, ready to begin to let go [of Ten's regrets]. Twelve will be created around Clara, The Impossible Girl, someone with access to/containing/witness to everything he is, from Gallifrey to Trenzalore.
We're all different people all through our lives. And that's okay, that's good, you've got to keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be.
And we shall watch; and remember.
Please comment on the LJ post. Thank you
no subject
Thinking about the leaf ... it does change a lot the Series. The first leaf you show outs maple. I believe the second is ash. The one in the book ... I think that is paper made to look like the leaf, probably so it can be used without crumbling. The third leaf is like that second leaf but I don't think it is the same species. It's somewhere between the maple and the second pictured leaf .....
I have more thoughts ... but now I must identify the leaves.
no subject
LOL. We are all different, which is what the show needs, I think. Variety is good! :)
I have more thoughts ... but now I must identify the leaves.
Yay! It's such a simple thing, and yet... why would they be different?
no subject
Let's just say that two origin stories—perhaps due to Time Beetle, perhaps thanks to Clara's own interference in the time stream—would not shock me to the bone.
no subject
Same here. I'm also thinking about the fact that the TARDIS dislikes her - and the only other person she's behaved like that with (approximately) is Jack, on account of him being impossible. So if Clara was actually impossible, a person with two timelines, it would explain why the TARDIS dislikes her, and also add to her 'impossible girl' label. (Plus other things - I'm running off to work, but just wanted to leave that here.)
no subject
Oh, and mystically speaking, poplars apparently refer to victory, transformation, and vision.
It would be like Moffat to have the type of tree mean something, but I may be on the wrong track as to what. For all I know, it might be a really low pun that will take several years to pay off. It's not *cough*TheBigBang*cough* totally without precedent.
no subject
no subject
no subject
That IS the Time Beetle!! IT IS...O_o
*wibbles Madly*
I love it because for once, we are not seeing the Doctor through a Companion's eyes, but a Companion through the Doctor's eyes. Definitely gives a different feel, even as it is the same Who. Love that, you know?
*HUGS*
no subject
:D :D :D ♥
That IS the Time Beetle!! IT IS...O_o
It is, isn't it? (And you just reminded me that I forgot to credit that discovery - must go amend!)
I love it because for once, we are not seeing the Doctor through a Companion's eyes, but a Companion through the Doctor's eyes. Definitely gives a different feel, even as it is the same Who. Love that, you know?
Ooooh yes. Of course they couldn't do that initially, but now - oh yes. And of course now we get Twelve who'll be a mystery again and Clara will be the known quantity. ::draws hearts::
no subject
Very impressive :)
no subject
no subject
Also, I never noticed the leaves changed, lol. Nothing can slip past you! (And
no subject
*beams*
I've been complaining all this time about Clara not being fleshed out enough for my liking and just being used as a symbol, but this makes me think there's something more to it! Especially re: the Manic Pixie Dream Girl twistiness. I have much hope for next season.
I think Moffat deliberately went with 'Companion As Mystery' (as opposed to 'the Doctor as mystery' and we didn't find out the reason behind the Clara echoes until Name of the Doctor. And then we had Day of the Doctor and Time of the Doctor, both of which were Doctor-centric stories, so we haven't had a proper look at 'Just Clara', as it were. There have been all these symbols around her, however, so it'll be fun to see that play out. Also Clara is just a very private/introverted person, so it's often hard to tell what's going on in her head. Next season will be very interesting because Twelve will be a completely new thing for her to deal with.
Also, I never noticed the leaves changed, lol. Nothing can slip past you! (And me_llamo_nic.)
These Things Are Important! *firm nod*
no subject
-Largo Desolato-
no subject
no subject
no subject
I have a whole document full of stuff I cut...
no subject
no subject
no subject
(Sorry I've dropped off the planet. This week is killing me.)
no subject
(And no worries. I'm half-dead myself. Plz natter at me all weekend, I'll be back Monday.)
no subject
"And one of the interesting things about writing the Doctor is that he's so responsive to the people around him. It's almost like left on his own his personality would slowly disintegrate. He becomes what people want him to be, a little bit. So he's Amy's Raggedy Doctor. With a different companion he becomes a slightly different man. He dresses differently."
I didn't know this quote, it's fascinating—just like the idea of both him and Clara shifting in response to the person opposite them, the themes of reality and memory… You brought up many fascinating things regarding the mirroring all throughout the show. And in Clara, this neatly clarifies a point that bothered several people, me included—that she sometimes seems too perfect. But she's not a perfect person, which doesn't exist; she is perfect for one precise point at a time, in which she becomes what others need her to be. Infinite possibilities narrowed down to a single moment. Yes! Headcanon accepted. ^_^
Love that bit about Clara not giving the Doctor answers, but reflecting at him what he needs to see to find them for himself. And the ending about the implications of the Doctor on Trenzalore is fascinating! Gosh, this makes me even more eager for Capaldi ♥
Thank you for sharing the fruit of your wonderful thinky brain! ;) ♥
no subject
ONLY TOOK ME HALF A YEAR!
All the points you brought are really interesting—the pixie girl, the duality, the mirroring. The fact that the leaf might have changed is really intriguing!
And it's all interconnected. Crazy, crazy show. ♥
I didn't know this quote, it's fascinating—just like the idea of both him and Clara shifting in response to the person opposite them, the themes of reality and memory… You brought up many fascinating things regarding the mirroring all throughout the show.
I adore that quote, esp. the way it ties back to the Library... River's sadness at Ten not being 'her' Doctor - which is also touched on in The Stolen Earth where Rose is trying to contact the Doctor, but the 'former' companion turns out to be Martha... He has 'moved on', like he always does, changing to fit with new circumstances.
. And in Clara, this neatly clarifies a point that bothered several people, me included—that she sometimes seems too perfect. But she's not a perfect person, which doesn't exist; she is perfect for one precise point at a time, in which she becomes what others need her to be. Infinite possibilities narrowed down to a single moment. Yes! Headcanon accepted. ^_^
If I can help people get over that sticking point, then my mission is done. I know a lot people had issues with Clara because of this, but it is almost like not seeing the forest for the trees - she deliberately mirrors (as in, it's an inherent trait), where someone like Donna would force him to stop. Of course their meeting was very different to 'normal' - mostly he happens to just bump into people. But with Clara he turned up at her door, knowing her name, and she had to wonder how and why. What did he want from her? Why her? So, initially at least, I think she tried extra hard.
Love that bit about Clara not giving the Doctor answers, but reflecting at him what he needs to see to find them for himself.
It works beautifully. :)
And the ending about the implications of the Doctor on Trenzalore is fascinating! Gosh, this makes me even more eager for Capaldi ♥
Yes, it'll be fascinating to see! :D
no subject
Pshhh, never mind that, it's here now! :D
And it's all interconnected. Crazy, crazy show. ♥
♥♥♥
I adore that quote, esp. the way it ties back to the Library... River's sadness at Ten not being 'her' Doctor - which is also touched on in The Stolen Earth where Rose is trying to contact the Doctor, but the 'former' companion turns out to be Martha... He has 'moved on', like he always does, changing to fit with new circumstances.
That whole show is about change… ♥
If I can help people get over that sticking point, then my mission is done. I know a lot people had issues with Clara because of this, but it is almost like not seeing the forest for the trees - she deliberately mirrors (as in, it's an inherent trait), where someone like Donna would force him to stop.
Funnily enough, I started feeling that a lot/being bothered by it in the specials… I'm not sure why, since there wasn't much more reason than in the former episodes. Anyway, my problem wasn't so much that she was perfect for the Doctor, but the always seeming to save the day—but it remains about adaptation. She knew what to say to the Doctor, as she knew what to say to the Time Lords, as she knew what to say to Skaldak. So yes, it does help.
But with Clara he turned up at her door, knowing her name, and she had to wonder how and why. What did he want from her? Why her? So, initially at least, I think she tried extra hard.
Oh yes. She was so aware of him, both what he was about and what he expected of her…
♥
no subject
Yes, yes it is! And I can refer back to it whenever I need to. :)
That whole show is about change… ♥
Indeed.
Funnily enough, I started feeling that a lot/being bothered by it in the specials… I'm not sure why, since there wasn't much more reason than in the former episodes. Anyway, my problem wasn't so much that she was perfect for the Doctor, but the always seeming to save the day—but it remains about adaptation. She knew what to say to the Doctor, as she knew what to say to the Time Lords, as she knew what to say to Skaldak. So yes, it does help.
Good. :) There's a lot to this, but it was limited how much I could say here. So I'm glad it worked.
Oh yes. She was so aware of him, both what he was about and what he expected of her…
And she was right to worry...
no subject
Thanks for all the links! I'll get to reading that ASAP ;)
no subject
This is really well thought-out, and you catch so many subtle things I'd completely missed (Susan's face in the glass globe Clara's holding; the changing leaf; the time beetle on the tree). I have my issues with the writing in the second half of season seven, mostly because I feel like the episodes were being cut too short (Ragdoll's theory is that the episodes were shortened to allow for commercials on BBC-America, in which case, a pox on them), but all these things you point out show that Moff certainly had been thinking about Clara and her role on a deeper level. Some stuff may have been lost in translation (somewhere between Moff's brain, the script, and the finished episode), but clearly Clara is meant to be a lot more than "the Doctor's cute new friend."
I was a little "meh" about the character at first, but "Day of the Doctor" really made me love her, and by the time Matt made his exit, I was fully flying the Clara flag. It'll be very interesting to see how she meshes with Capaldi's Doctor. I'm so glad we're going to get a full, uninterrupted run of episodes, I can't even tell you. We haven't had that since season five! Last year, I was commiserating with Ragdoll that while Tennant and Smith had roughly equal runs as the Doctor, it felt like Tennant was around forever, but that Matt left almost as soon as he arrived. And I think a lot of that had to do with so much of his time on the show being cut into little pieces. I love the show, but it's felt increasingly disjointed to me since the sixth season. I'm hoping an uninterrupted run of episodes will restore some narrative "wholeness", if that makes any sense.
Anyway, sorry about the tangent--thanks so much for sharing this meta with us. It was definitely worth the wait!
no subject
♥ ♥ ♥
This is really well thought-out, and you catch so many subtle things I'd completely missed (Susan's face in the glass globe Clara's holding; the changing leaf; the time beetle on the tree).
That's because I'm crazy obsessive. *g* But also because it's so rewarding. The deeper you go, the more [connections] you see. (Also, that's what happens when something percolates for half a year...)
I have my issues with the writing in the second half of season seven, mostly because I feel like the episodes were being cut too short (Ragdoll's theory is that the episodes were shortened to allow for commercials on BBC-America, in which case, a pox on them
They shorten them on BBC America, yes. Which is evil. They're very tightly-written, and I have no idea how they manage to cut them, but apparently they do. Plus, adverts on the BBC is just wrong.
but all these things you point out show that Moff certainly had been thinking about Clara and her role on a deeper level. Some stuff may have been lost in translation (somewhere between Moff's brain, the script, and the finished episode), but clearly Clara is meant to be a lot more than "the Doctor's cute new friend."
She turns up twice before we actually see her - the writing is crazy clever. Turning the companion into the mystery is tricky though, as it's turning the viewer's normal reference character/avatar on its head.
I was a little "meh" about the character at first, but "Day of the Doctor" really made me love her, and by the time Matt made his exit, I was fully flying the Clara flag.
She sort of snuck up on me... I liked her, but can't pinpoint when exactly I fell for her. I just did. ♥ (Also, she's quite like me in some respcts. If the Doctor turned up on my doorstep I'd totally say 'Come back later'. I need to plan my spontaneity. *g*)
It'll be very interesting to see how she meshes with Capaldi's Doctor.
Uh-huh. He'll be a lot more difficult to handle... Eleven she had eating out of her hand, Twelve will not be so easy. ;)
I'm so glad we're going to get a full, uninterrupted run of episodes, I can't even tell you.
Oh yes, I hear you. A whole arc, all in one go. ♥
Anyway, sorry about the tangent--thanks so much for sharing this meta with us. It was definitely worth the wait!
Thank you! And tangents are wonderful things, that's generally how my brain works. :)
Splitting this into two comments because it got vvv long...
FIRSTLY: thank you so much for the vid rec! <333 I’ve said before and I’ll say again how completely delighted I am that the vid helped you clarify some of your meta thoughts. It’s also kind of funny, as the vid was largely inspired by your meta in the first place, and definitely wouldn’t exist without it – it’s a META OUROUBOROS. HELP.
Um anyway – some things I wanted to comment on:
- Your analysis of Clara’s leaf as representing both Infinity/infinite possibility and a fixed point at the same time is just *perfect*. Perfectly identified and perfectly expressed. <3 I have nothing to add, just wanted to flail.
- “The thing that comes immediately to mind is quantum mechanics and the idea that things only become fixed when they are observed.” – YES. Brilliant. My vid was absolutely trying to capture the continued scrutiny between the Doctor and Clara, their determination to figure each other out, and their duality/mutability - but this is a further step I hadn’t taken. (Ugh, like you with this meta, I had to cut a LOT of shiny parallels because they didn’t quite fit. It’s so hard!) But this is an idea that Moffat’s been obsessed with for a long time, isn’t it? You brilliantly link it back to the Library (fantastic quote from Donna’s children there) – but also, just think of the ‘quantum locked’ Weeping Angels, and the Silence who you only remember when you’re looking at them. And…the whole Schrodinger thing is kind of there in The Girl in the Fireplace, isn’t it? When the Doctor is on the 51st Century spaceship, Reinette could be any age, could be alive or dead, (or both) – it’s only when he ‘opens the box’ to look into her pocket of time that he has to face one set reality. MOFFAT. He is obsessed…
- …which makes me think of that quote I love so much – “The eyes are not the window to the soul, they are the doors. Beware what may enter them.” – Looking at someone, really looking at someone is a two way process – you risk opening yourself up to the same scrutiny, and to the possibility that you will be changed by what you see. As Clara is, as you so wonderfully point out. She changes to be who/what is needed by the company she keeps. And of course everyone does that to a certain extent, but in Clara it’s taken to the next level because as you discuss she literally becomes a different person for each of the Doctors she encounters throughout time and space. "That which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel". As you say at the beginning of your meta – Clara sees the Doctor’s mystery, and becomes a mystery herself. She takes on his role, after looking at him.
Re: Splitting this into two comments because it got vvv long...Part 2!
- “The Doctor almost stops being the Doctor with no one around to observe him. (This can of course be tied in to Tinkerbell!Doctor and the War Doctor etc. etc.)” - Yes, absolutely. See also The Waters of Mars. This is also one of the reasons I was convinced that Gallifrey was due to come back – the Doctor’s companions and friends observe him on a small scale, but without Gallifrey at his back there is no bigger picture to place him in. He is ‘running away’ from something that is no longer there for him to run from, he is a ‘rebel’ against something that does not exist and so cannot be rebelled against. I’ve seen people complaining about the Doctor’s seemingly changeable attitude towards the Time Lords, but for me it’s all quite easy to reconcile. He needs them to be there, so they can see him, to make him real and so he can rebel against them once again, with them all watching. Of course, something else might be watching and pulling strings… the Valeyard has been mentioned, and might be due to show up (I’m not as up on my Classic Who as I would like to be, but the 4th / 5th Doctor’s sort of equivalent to the Valeyard was called ‘The Watcher’, wasn’t it?)
Ok, this all got quite long, and I still think I didn’t say everything I wanted to. But I said the main thing, which is I LOVE YOUR BRAIN.
ETA: Remembered what else I meant to say! Your piece about Clara acting as a mirror, and the Doctor constantly looking at her to see how to act...it all ties in v nicely to Moffat's other major obsession (alongside eyes, boxes and memory) which is how to define a 'Good Man'. We see Twelve asking Clara in the trailer 'Tell me...am I a good man?'. It's been a theme of the last could of series, and looks like it's v much set to continue. And the Doctor doesn't know himself, so he looks to Clara to show him...looking forward to a lot more on this!
ETA 2: Re. The thing in my previous comment about how looking at someone is a two-way process that can change both participants: "The eyes are not the window to the soul, they are the doors" -> "A door, once opened, can be stepped through in either direction." (The Girl In The Fireplace) (...that's just struck me. I'll stop ETA-ing now. Probably.)
Re: Splitting this into two comments because it got vvv long...Part 2!
There is SO MUCH THERE. (Again, I had to cut so much. Endless layers.)
I’ve really enjoyed following all the parallels between Clara and Rose. But the idea of ‘I Create Myself’ is one that I really enjoy - not just in the wibbly-wobbly time-travel-paradox sense that Clara ‘Oswin’ and Bad Wolf Rose (and, I guess, River) embody, but also in the sense that all the Doctor’s companions ‘create themselves’.
Excellent point. The Doctor helps bring stuff to the surface that people would otherwise never access (just see Rory as a Centurion), but he doesn't make them what they are. It's all there already. (Davros can go jump in a lake. Although I am exploring a lot of these issues in my current WIP. If you have time to spare. *g*)
I’ve seen people complaining about the Doctor’s seemingly changeable attitude towards the Time Lords, but for me it’s all quite easy to reconcile. He needs them to be there, so they can see him, to make him real and so he can rebel against them once again, with them all watching.
That's an excellent point. The Church of the Silence of course in many ways filled the vacuum left (and many thanks to Moffat for that! The Doctor needs opponents/friends that are not evil, just have a different purpose), but Gallifrey has a thousand times more relevance, since that is his home.
(I’m not as up on my Classic Who as I would like to be, but the 4th / 5th Doctor’s sort of equivalent to the Valeyard was called ‘The Watcher’, wasn’t it?)
I'm even less clued up, so I can't help you... (But there was that hooded figure - I would love for someone to be pulling strings.)
Ok, this all got quite long, and I still think I didn’t say everything I wanted to. But I said the main thing, which is I LOVE YOUR BRAIN.
Long is good. And I love your brain too! ♥
Remembered what else I meant to say! Your piece about Clara acting as a mirror, and the Doctor constantly looking at her to see how to act...it all ties in v nicely to Moffat's other major obsession (alongside eyes, boxes and memory) which is how to define a 'Good Man'. We see Twelve asking Clara in the trailer 'Tell me...am I a good man?'. It's been a theme of the last could of series, and looks like it's v much set to continue. And the Doctor doesn't know himself, so he looks to Clara to show him...looking forward to a lot more on this!
Mmmmm, yes. And he stops existing on his own. (In The Snowmen, sitting on his little cloud...) Eleven was Amelia's, but Twelve will be Clara's - what will he be?
Re. The thing in my previous comment about how looking at someone is a two-way process that can change both participants: "The eyes are not the window to the soul, they are the doors" -> "A door, once opened, can be stepped through in either direction." (The Girl In The Fireplace) (...that's just struck me. I'll stop ETA-ing now. Probably.)
I was going to bring that up, and then you'd already thought of it! Great minds...
Re: Splitting this into two comments because it got vvv long...Part 2!
"The eyes are not the window to the soul, they are the doors, beware what may enter there" -> "A door, once opened, can be stepped through in either direction." (The Girl In The Fireplace)
I think we just saw the actual most literal possible interpretation of those two lines, particularly the first one :-D
Re: Splitting this into two comments because it got vvv long...Part 2!
(We were right - we are being hit over the head with bricks! With eyes on!)
Re: Splitting this into two comments because it got vvv long...Part 2!
Re: Splitting this into two comments because it got vvv long...Part 2!
Re: Splitting this into two comments because it got vvv long...
I know! But there is new show soon!
I devoured this beautiful, beautiful meta as soon as you posted it (right after sending the following text to such_heights: "ahahahaha oh f*ck elisi just posted the EPIC CLARA META she's been talking about since xmas. I was planning on getting some actual work done today...". I did not get any work done that day.)
That just totally made my day (week/month). ♥ ♥ ♥
but then I was too overwhelmed to actually say anything coherent. Last night's meltdown over the new trailer has finally prompted me into action :-)
Well it took me nearly half a year to finally get this written down, so you're still doing better than me!
FIRSTLY: thank you so much for the vid rec! <333 I’ve said before and I’ll say again how completely delighted I am that the vid helped you clarify some of your meta thoughts. It’s also kind of funny, as the vid was largely inspired by your meta in the first place, and definitely wouldn’t exist without it – it’s a META OUROUBOROS. HELP.
That vid can never be recced enough. I think it's part of my DNA now... And yes, Ouroboros. :)
- Your analysis of Clara’s leaf as representing both Infinity/infinite possibility and a fixed point at the same time is just *perfect*. Perfectly identified and perfectly expressed. <3 I have nothing to add, just wanted to flail.
I did go on at some length... I'd be surprised if anyone could add to it. *g* (And thank you!)
YES. Brilliant. My vid was absolutely trying to capture the continued scrutiny between the Doctor and Clara, their determination to figure each other out, and their duality/mutability - but this is a further step I hadn’t taken.
The Quantum stuff came from Promethia originally. It just kicked everything into another gear.
Ugh, like you with this meta, I had to cut a LOT of shiny parallels because they didn’t quite fit. It’s so hard!
I'm sure there will be other meta/vids where we can use all the cut stuff.
But this is an idea that Moffat’s been obsessed with for a long time, isn’t it? You brilliantly link it back to the Library (fantastic quote from Donna’s children there)
That quote kills me, every time.
When the Doctor is on the 51st Century spaceship, Reinette could be any age, could be alive or dead, (or both) – it’s only when he ‘opens the box’ to look into her pocket of time that he has to face one set reality. MOFFAT. He is obsessed…
Oooh yes, Reinette. And once he goes back and she's dead, that's it... Thank you.
Looking at someone, really looking at someone is a two way process – you risk opening yourself up to the same scrutiny, and to the possibility that you will be changed by what you see.
Oh that's excellent. Yes. (Also see Eleven and how he's Amy's Raggedy Doctor.)
As Clara is, as you so wonderfully point out. She changes to be who/what is needed by the company she keeps. And of course everyone does that to a certain extent, but in Clara it’s taken to the next level because as you discuss she literally becomes a different person for each of the Doctors she encounters throughout time and space.
Mirror, mirror. And original!Clara is more fixed, the Doctor changing around her... (I'm impatient for Twelve now.)
"That which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel". As you say at the beginning of your meta – Clara sees the Doctor’s mystery, and becomes a mystery herself. She takes on his role, after looking at him.
I love this.
no subject
ETA: I did notice the leaf, though. At the time I remember wondering if different leaves corresponded to different Claras that we'd seen through the timeline.
no subject
No worries. All I want is just to make people think! :)
I did notice the leaf, though. At the time I remember wondering if different leaves corresponded to different Claras that we'd seen through the timeline.
I want to know where they are going with that... Missy better deliver!
no subject
no subject
And yes, she very much seems to be his guide (teacher). I shall have to ponder more, but this is excellent! <3
no subject
I did not notice the Time Beetle on the tree at all and now I am tremendously excited. What does it mean?
I love the still from the 50th trailer: it's not just that Susan is reflected in the globe, but that the globe reflects back onto Clara. It's a two-way reflection. And yes, she doesn't just have a leaf, she is a leaf, the wind is blowing her hair the same way it's blowing the leaf.
Lovely thinky thoughts. Thank you. :)
no subject
Late responses ALWAYS welcome! And thank you for reading. <3
I did not notice the Time Beetle on the tree at all and now I am tremendously excited. What does it mean?
I'm sure it's a Time Beetle. But so far - NOTHING. *shakes show*
I love the still from the 50th trailer: it's not just that Susan is reflected in the globe, but that the globe reflects back onto Clara. It's a two-way reflection. And yes, she doesn't just have a leaf, she is a leaf, the wind is blowing her hair the same way it's blowing the leaf.
It's just so perfect, and it is all the things.
Lovely thinky thoughts. Thank you. :)
TOTALLY my pleasure. Looking forward to chatting more if/when you get caught up. :)