Meta: Becoming Eleven

[elisi]

None of this is new, exactly, but a post by green_maia (and especially shipperx's comments) made me think. And my thoughts got a bit long, so I posted them here rather than there. Scattered musings on what makes Eleven Eleven and how he has developed:

ETA: Cross-posted to metatardis here. Some great comments, this one especially.

1. "Trust me, I'm the Doctor." How often do we hear this? How often has he picked up Companions, and destroyed their trust? Changed them through what they see and experience, until finally they leave/are left behind. What I love about Amy is that this is just the beginning of her story. The Doctor, quite literally, spends the whole season trying to earn back the trust he broke, trying to fix her, make her who she should have been. And, miraculously, he succeeds! Or rather... through his actions he enables her to reclaim what she lost. Which brings me to the next part:

2. Eleven is very paternal/teacherly, as many have noted. But not the kind that tries to impose his own teachings - right from the start he pushes people towards discovering things for themselves. Most prominently (and almost cruelly) in 'Amy's Choice', but it's something that runs through the season. We see it in 'The Pandorica Opens' when he pushes Rory into declaring that Amy is the most important thing to him, thus establishing his humanity; in 'The Lodger' when he gets Sophie to realise that all that's stopping her from realising her dreams is herself; in 'Vampires of Venice' when he takes Amy and Rory 'on a date', helping them bond... And, jumping right back to the start, in 'The Eleventh Hour' when he - quite simply through making the Atraxi answer questions for it/themselves - makes them run away.

3. And finally. At the beginning of the season, I think we are shown how Eleven, step by step, un-learns his bad habits from being Ten. (Bad phrasing, I know. Can anyone think of a better description? I'm not talking about overcoming his traumas, I mean getting rid of the patterns he was stuck in):

First (and most crucially) we have 'The Beast Below' where Eleven behaves very much like Ten: There is a terrible choice to be made and he (automatically) sees himself as the person to shoulder it, the one to carry the pain and the responsibility and guilt... Except Amy intervenes, showing him that a) He can be wrong (dangerously so - and not just in his actions but in his understanding of a situation), b) EVERYTHING isn't his responsibility and c) He is not a Lonely God, or an Avenging Angel - when she looks at him, she sees a kind old man, a man who came and chased away the nightmares when she was young. I honestly don't think the effects of this can be overstated.

After this comes 'Victory of the Daleks', which teaches him something else: It's possible to lose the war, but win the battles - and that's not too shabby. Life goes on even if he is not Victorious.

And then the Angel episodes which bring with them River... River who I love almost as much as a metaphor as a character. 'Water always wins' Ten said, but he still fought - fought so hard and so desperately that it broke him. (See this exquisite essay on 'The Waters of Mars'.) But over the course of these two episodes he learns to trust the water once more - to follow the river wherever it might lead him, to once more believe in fairy tales and happy endings. And he begins to truly live and not just survive.

(All of it leading to Eleven being someone who focusses on other people, rather than himself, culminating in his quiet sacrifice for Amy [and the universe], able to set aside any personal fears so he can reassure a frightened girl.)

Comments

[tempestas-inu.livejournal.com]

I really do love reading peoples thoughts and analysis's on episodes/series/characters because it gives greater insight to them. As such, I always look forward to your meta posts. This one was a very pleasant surprise since as of late Eleven's character and why the way he is, especially in relation to Ten, has intrigued me.

To be honest I never really thought about how Eleven acted like Ten in the Beast Below (I should really get to watching the episode again) so thanks for that. And I never get tired of hearing of how parental/metor-like Eleven is.

Random thought, but the ending paragraph on how Eleven is more "go with the flow" in contrast to Ten, who stubbornly hung on until he couldn't anymore, reminded me of a quote from an anime I watched awhile ago: "Those who accept their fate find happiness, those who defy their fate find glory". Whether or not you find this relevant to the Doctor depends on your views, but it certainly made me think of how Eleven, who resignedly walked through the crack into oblivion without hesitation, ended up being the one who got a happy ending.... at least for now.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It struck me at the time and again during these conversations that The Doctor is the whale in the new Britain ship -- very old and very kind and cannot stand to see children cry.

[bewarethespork.livejournal.com]

I would flail like a happy, flaily thing if you were to post this to metatardis. Just saying. :)

Eleven is very paternal/teacherly, as many have noted. But not the kind that tries to impose his own teachings - right from the start he pushes people towards discovering things for themselves.

That is such a Seven thing to do, by the way. One of the hallmarks of the Seven/Ace relationship was that he very rarely just told her stuff - he'd ask her questions and make her figure it out herself. I love that Eleven/Amy has that too.

After this comes 'Victory of the Daleks', which teaches him something else: It's possible to lose the war, but win the battles - and that's not too shabby. Life goes on even if he is not Victorious.

That's an excellent point that I'd completely missed.

[eviltigerlily.livejournal.com]

How often has he picked up Companions, and destroyed their trust?

Not very often, really. It is something they seem to harp on about quite a lot in New Who (going so far as bend past character's stories to fit the maxim, like with Sarah). It happens, but it's more the exception rather then the rule.

"Trust me, I'm the Doctor."

Feel free to kick me if this is too obscure, but it reminded of a quote of the Eighth Doctor from his first audio adventure "trust me Charley, I haven't a clue what I'm doing" (Charley becomes his companion). And that is why I love him.

[promethia_tenk]

Some interesting thoughts here.

Eleven is very paternal/teacherly, as many have noted. But not the kind that tries to impose his own teachings - right from the start he pushes people towards discovering things for themselves.
I assume you've read all of goldenmoonrose's exceptional episode reviews on this topic? I mean, she posted them in all the usual haunts, but just in case.

About Eleven pushing others. I'm not sure how well it fits with the examples you've quoted here, but it jumped into my head as I was reading. One of the most interesting things about "The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood" to me was the Doctor's interactions with Ambrose. I mean, she was a frustrating and flawed person, whom I personally found deeply realistic, and the Doctor perhaps had unrealistic expectations of her. She acts wrongly, of course, and the Doctor takes out a lot of his frustrations on her, but what makes the whole relationship for me is their final scene together: how much is said in that tiny little understated scene? While neither forgiving her nor making excuses for her, the Doctor speaks to her as another who has failed, over and over, to be the best of his kind. What do you do about it? Well, you go on, and you try to help others be what you could not. There was a good deal of humility in that scene, and while it wasn't quite an apology for the way he'd acted, it was a beautiful example of understanding and leading through example. It's one of my favorite moments showcasing Eleven's self-awareness.

I think we are shown how Eleven, step by step, un-learns his bad habits from being Ten.
That is an excellent point, and I have nothing to add.

After this comes 'Victory of the Daleks', which teaches him something else: It's possible to lose the war, but win the battles - and that's not too shabby.
Another important lesson that came out of that I think--which echoes what went on with the starwhale--is that it's possible to make a situation worse by forcing our own interpretation on it (I'm not sure if I'm saying that how I want to). Basically, he forced himself into a false choice with the starwhale and could have ruined everything. With the Daleks, what really brought about their victory and resurrection was the Doctor insisting that they must be evil. Had he not had his ranting hissyfit in which he had to lay down the lines of identity--"I am the Doctor, and you are the Daleks"--nothing would have come of the whole venture. Which is a strange inverse echo of his claim that he'll have to find a new name after lobotomizing the starwhale.

And, damn, I just realized that at the beginning of this season, he really is determined to make everything miserable, isn't he? Like the way he tried to get Bracewell to remember sad things to make him feel human. Talk about bad mental habits inherited from Ten. Contrast that with "life is a pile of good things and bad things" Doctor from later in the season. I wonder if we could pinpoint a turning point. Could it be during ToA/FaS? He's certainly never that angry again after those episodes, and it's also the point at which he decides he needs to fix Amy.

But over the course of these two episodes he learns to trust the water once more - to follow the river wherever it might lead him, to once more believe in fairy tales and happy endings. And he begins to truly live and not just survive.
The longer I think about the ending of "Flesh and Stone," the more I love it because the solution to those episodes was so entirely the opposite of imposing his will on the situation. In fact, he goes through the whole episode trying to impose his will on the situation and just gets things more and more screwed up as he becomes more and more tense. Then River saves Amy, proving 1) the Doctor can't boss her around and 2) this is a good thing. And then almost immediately the angels show up on the flight deck and the Doctor realizes what has to happen. Or rather, he realizes the inevitable and responds intelligently to the situation. Go with the flow. I remember a number of complaints at the time that the Doctor didn't do enough to overcome the angels, but that is the entire point.

[lizzledpink.livejournal.com]

Can't think of anything to say which hasn't already been said, but let it be known that yet again your meta is utterly brilliant. I half-swear Moffat is deliberately throwing it all back in RTD's face... /grins/ I love them both, but I have to say, Moffat has a certain flair when he does it with Eleven, teaching him how to be the Doctor all over again using Amy... ^.^

[icebluenothing.livejournal.com]

After this comes 'Victory of the Daleks', which teaches him something else: It's possible to ose the war, but win the battles- and that's not too shabby. Life goes on even if is not goes on even if he is not Victorious.

..... And then he turns around and teaches the same thing to Amy, in Vincent and the Doctor.

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

I think I already commented on this over at metardis, but as BBC America is slow I have just finally seen the finale, and that made me think of something else.

When Eleven is preparing to step into the cracks, and he's saying his final goodbyes to Amy, he says that he thought that he could hold on if she could hear him, but that that was just the old him and that he realizes that it's time for him to go. He seems very sad and resigned as he tells her that last story. But later, when Amy remembers him at her wedding, he's already dressed up in a coat and tails, and seems to have expected her to remember him all along.

My question being, do you think when he told her that story about him and the TARDIS, did he know that she would bring him back?