elisi: Playing poker (Girl Doctor)
elisi ([personal profile] elisi) wrote2014-12-15 06:53 pm

Well, that didn't last long...

Steven Moffat on Clara Becoming the Doctor in DOCTOR WHO Series 8.


"The thing about Clara is she thinks the show is called Clara. She really does. She has no idea she’s number two in the credits, which is why we did that joke in “Death in Heaven.” She’s got a high opinion of herself, not in a conceited way, but in a correct way. She knows she’s extremely clever and capable, and she doesn’t feel like she particularly fits in the world that she lives in.
[...]
When I first wrote Clara, I thought, “Oh, this is fun. If the Doctor were a young woman living in contemporary Britain, it’d be a bit like her.”
[...]
So, Clara’s not the Doctor; she’s not the same person as the Doctor, but – the traditional thing is to say the hero and the archenemy are mirrors of each other. Are they? Are they though? Not really. I think it’s more likely that friends are mirrors of each other. If you watch any close friendship, the extent to which they start to duplicate each other is quite interesting, even with Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes. While they’re different people, they have similar appetites.


So, that's my lovely theory out the window, but at least I wasn't far wrong...

[identity profile] purplefringe.livejournal.com 2014-12-15 07:10 pm (UTC)(link)
You weren't far wrong at all! (and hey, as we know Moffat is the trollingest troll to ever troll, so you could still be right!)


She knows she’s extremely clever and capable, and she doesn’t feel like she particularly fits in the world that she lives in. She’s a bit more like the Doctor in the first place. She’s not really very good at living a normal life. The other companions, like most people, like you and me, can be quite good at living normal lives. I’m very happy living my normal life, I’m sure you are too. Going to the shops seems fine for an adventure, but Clara’s not like that.

I think it's really interesting that Moffat says Clara is the one companion of recent times who really doesn't feel like she fits into the world she lives in - I would have said that applies much more to Amy. Certainly of the young Amy of S5, and even really of Amy in S6. She's so scared of living a domestic, 'normal' life, the Doctor has to convince her it will be an 'adventure'. She goes through a succession of very different jobs, almost gets a divorce due to S6-induced trauma, and even in her domestic bliss she always has one ear out for the Tardis engines. And then at the end, she DOES live a really great, happy, successful life….in a time period that is not really her own.

Meanwhile, Clara certainly DOES get addicted to the adventure, and certainly DOES see herself as the hero and not a secondary player (and good for her!) but she also has a small family she's close to, and family friends she will put herself out for (the Maitlands) and a job and her own flat (not one the Doctor has bought for her). Yes, it spirals out of control, and yes she lets her relationship fall apart because she wants the adventure more….but I see Clara as fitting in quite easily in this world. She may WANT more, she may be bored by the mundanity of daily life (and aren't all the Companions, at some point?! I remember Rose certainly was) but I don't think I interpret her quite the same way Moff seems to here.

[identity profile] claudiapriscus.livejournal.com 2014-12-16 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
It's an interesting question. I think maybe the difference is that Amy was more about not wanting to fit in, and when she was older, being afraid of settling down, committing etc. But when she finally does...I mean, look at The Power of Three. She still loves the Doctor, still enjoys the traveling, but she's no longer driven, the way she was before. She's not wanting to miss out on "real life". So Amy stops running...and the thing with Clara is that I don't think she ever was running from anything.

Clara also does seem to have a somewhat unusual approach to life (and other people). And just the fact that she's picked up traveling through all space and time as a *hobby* says a lot about her. For Amy, it seemed more like an escape (from making choices about her life)- you know, neverneverland- and eventually she no longer needs to escape. But Clara's motives...she does seem a lot more like the Doctor, just caught on the wonder and adrenaline and curiosity.

[identity profile] purplefringe.livejournal.com 2014-12-17 12:14 pm (UTC)(link)
So Amy stops running...and the thing with Clara is that I don't think she ever was running from anything.

Mmmmm. Yes, that is the key difference between them, you're right. Their journeys go in opposite directions. I just found some really great meta unpicking that a bit here: http://aflawedfashion.tumblr.com/post/105358530418 (you may have already seen it)

I think also possibly it's a matter of Moffat's perspective as an older, married, settled man vs the perspective of younger fans growing up in the economic crisis? Maybe? As a 20-something with no real idea of what I want to "do" with my life, I really strongly identified with Clara back in BOSJ - she had employment, of sorts, at the Maitlands, but was basically putting off 'real life' (getting a steady job, getting her own place, etc) and treading water. She was a bit bored, and procrastinating, but didn't feel so *completely* hopeless about it all that she had to ditch everything and run away, as Amy did.

To me, that feels absolutely accurate. It's not that she *doesn't fit* into the world she lives in, it's that she hasn't worked out HOW she fits into that world as yet...that's how I read it anyway. That's how I feel a lot of the time, and why I think she's such a great character.

Interestingly, by the time of the 50th anniversary ep, she's both more settled in the world - steady job, own flat, soon to get a boyfriend etc - and also LESS attached to it, as the adventure addiction is really starting to take hold and she always has one foot in the Tardis. By the end of S8 there's really very little holding her to her real life on Earth (besides her dad and her gran), and this is why I would love to see her ending up on Gallifrey...

[identity profile] purplefringe.livejournal.com 2014-12-17 12:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Oooh, and another thought, actually: Clara certainly doesn't think that going to the shops is an 'adventure' (do you REALLY think that, Moffat? Really?! I don't) but I don't think that makes her unusual. Again, perhaps a difference of perspective from Moffat, but I think most people get worn down at times by the mundane chores of daily life, and long for something more exciting. I don't think that makes Clara especially unusual.

What I DO think Moffat has got bang on is that Clara secretly wants to be the Hero Of The Story - we KNOW she grew up reading Amelia Williams books, we know she's genre-savvy as a result ('good guys don't have zombie creatures') and I can well imagine that she would have daydreamed as a child about being Harry Potter, or Frodo or Lyra Silvertongue or any other fictional character with an Epic Destiny to fulfill. (again, I did. my childhood dream was to be Aladdin. Or Harry Potter.)

Amy, by contrast, had her whole childhood warped by the Doctor's crash landing in her garden, and we know that SHE grew up playing at having adventures *with* her Raggedy Doctor. But the difference is - she made Rory be the Raggedy Doctor. She would have seen herself as the friend of the Doctor, and probably at some point when she was older, the girlfriend of the Doctor. Whilst I have no doubt whatsoever that it was Amy rather than Rory who made up the narratives and the rules in their games, and she probably rescued the Raggedy Doctor a great deal, but he always featured. Her was her imaginary friend and hero. Whereas I doubt there was any magic space hero in Clara's childhood daydreams - *she*, the literature-loving bossy control freak would be the hero. That's how she reads to me. And so when she gets the chance, through the Doctor, to actually BE that hero...it's no wonder she gets hooked.
Edited 2014-12-17 12:28 (UTC)

[identity profile] a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com 2014-12-15 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Arrrghhhh...

But at least we know he was thinking about it!

*BEAMS*

[identity profile] ragnarok-08.livejournal.com 2014-12-15 09:18 pm (UTC)(link)
At least you weren't that far off.

[identity profile] rustydragonfly.livejournal.com 2014-12-15 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooh wouldn't that be cool.

HELLO IF YOU'RE OUT THERE YOU'RE AWESOME AND ALSO MY WRITING HERO OK.

[identity profile] ever-neutral.livejournal.com 2014-12-16 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
N O. MOFFAT IS A TROLL. BELIEVE NOTHING.

[identity profile] shadowkat67.livejournal.com 2014-12-16 02:47 am (UTC)(link)
Well that explains why I didn't enjoy this season as much as others did.
Both characters grated on my nerves for well the same reasons. LOL!

[identity profile] flowsoffire.livejournal.com 2014-12-20 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Mmmm, interesting character thoughts. Gives a bit of a different perspective… Like [livejournal.com profile] purplefringe, I was a bit unsettled by this perspective on Clara, and the differences between her and Amy when it came to real life and adventures—but she and [livejournal.com profile] claudiapriscus made all the great points in that regard. Love all the clever debate in your comment threads. ^_^

It does seem like the key point is her standing as the hero rather than the companion… and come to think about it, that might have been one factor as to why I personally connected with Clara less this season, though I still enjoyed her. We all connect more or less with characters depending on what we see in them, and one of the traits I enjoyed most in s7!Clara, beside the sharpness, wit and resourcefulness, was… the nanny side. Her subtle, instinctive insightfulness, and the instant way she related to children, protected and comforted them and communicated with them. Those traits did not disappear overnight, but they got less of a focus as her focus shifted to different things. To being in control, for one part. Rather than a Doctor who easily went along with that he wanted, but that she observed a lot—as he observed her—she had a Doctor who was harder to keep her footing with, but it wasn't about figuring him out as much. With other characters, she had insight moments too, but they seemed to take a less prominent place as she moved closer to the hero's place—and the hero is still a person who sees and relates to other people, but mostly they have got a greater responsibility that takes quite a bit of their focus. And with Danny—I will admit that I winced a bit at the parts about Danny, both in the interview here and at some times of the show, because they didn't fit with that image I had of Clara, sensing things, understanding people. But it is somewhat more understandable in the context of a story. Because love stories, big romances don't seem to be her kind of story. And she wants things to go her way, she wants to make it work out, but in a relationship, no one is the hero. She wants to write this story, yet it just doesn't fit her very well, and all too often she just doesn't seem to consider there's another protagonist in her story who might have to get more of a word in how they reach a happy ending. She loves Danny, and she means well, but half the time it's like she's not seeing him properly…

Mmmm. I'll stop rambling there, but it's enlightening… And very much personality-centred rather than all about plot, so as far as I'm concerned, there could still very well be a big plot thing regarding Clara that he's lying about! ;P

[identity profile] claudiapriscus.livejournal.com 2014-12-20 10:03 pm (UTC)(link)
It has occurred to me a time or two that Clara has inverted the Doctor/Companion relationship in more ways than one. She's done to the Doctor what the Doctor did to Amy. (And River). The my Clara thing fits really well into that.

[identity profile] claudiapriscus.livejournal.com 2014-12-20 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
I think she /was/ an ordinary girl. Kind of like Rose and the bad wolf thing, I suppose. Or Amy dreaming the world back into existence. She becomes much more mythic once she jumps into the time stream (which now never happened, right? except that it did). And apparently each version of her is well suited to where she needs to be- I mean, it's not like the earliest version of her we saw just wandered on to Gallifrey. She belonged there. So I suppose that version of her *was* Gallifreyan, by some measure?

[identity profile] flowsoffire.livejournal.com 2014-12-21 08:14 am (UTC)(link)
Ohhh, quite true. Nice :D (And I'm always happy to be a random trigger to your epiphanies! ;P ♥)