Doctor Who: Amy's Choice...

[fajrdrako]

Maybe because I was half asleep when I was trying to write about it, I was having trouble articulating why "Amy's Choice" failed to make an impression. Other fans were talking about the distastefulness of Amy's suicide when Rory died - which had hardly made an impression on me, perhaps because it made so little sense that I could write it off as dream nonsense. The Doctor's dream, or her choice? Which was it? I was happy to take it metaphorically, as the discovery that she didn't want to live without Rory, which meant she did want to live with him, which she hadn't been sure of before.

And I'm not sure I buy it on that level, but that's another subject.

It wasn't till I started thinking about "The Forest of Trees" and comparing it in my mind to "Amy's Choice" that the juxtaposition of ideas made it clear to me what I didn't like. I pretty much hated "The Forest of Trees", because of what Steven Moffat did to Donna. Then he partly redeemed himself by giving me the last few moments with the TARDIS, which I loved. But I've held a grudge about Donna's fate in "The Forest of Trees" ever since.

But this is the sort of thing Steven Moffat does that terrifies me. He can show such insight in one episode, and such cluelessness in another.

What cluelessness? It shows more with Amy than with Donna or River, but it's valid for either. You have a woman who doesn't want mundanity in her life, who wants to travel space and time and have adventures with the Doctor, who loves danger, who is exceptionally resourceful and intelligent. Amy's not a conformist: the girl's a kissogram. It was set up in the first epiosde: she loves Rory, but isn't sure how much she wants to marry him.

So: put her in a dream world. In "The Forest of Trees", for Donna, it was the fabricated world of the librarian-child; in "Amy's Choice" it was the dream-world of the Doctor's subconscious. And suddenly for both of them the most idyllic existence they can imagine is domesticity: a house, children, an attentive and mild husband who is not a world-shaker or a superhero, who actually offers them no challenges whatsoever. And in each case, whatever other aspirations they might have in their lives are so irrelevant they aren't even mentioned. As if personal growth ends at marriage.

This isn't real life, and it looks horrible to me for a number of reasons. I'm in favour of love and babies, but not in favour of it being the only happy outcome for a female protagonist. The Doctor himself avoids domesticity and loves travel and adventure: I'd like to see the Companion offered this as a choice, too. Because it isn't an either/or thing. Amy can have a life with Rory and a life with adventure and accomplishment. She can choose both.

And I'm bothered that she doesn't even think of this, or that the story doesn't raise it. The suicide scenario might imply it isn't even there to be raised, and I'd rather not think about the implications of that.

Perhaps it's possible to say that this, being a dream-vision, was meant to be totally unreal, and Amy's reality will be much more interesting. But I didn't see anything in the story that implied that.

We'll see what next week brings.

Comments

[beccaelizabeth]

You do not mean "The Forest of Trees" because there isn't an episode called "The Forest of Trees". There is one called "Forest of the Dead".

I agree with you about the weirdness of the only dream future for these women being husband+baby+quiet. Could it be a weird meta about how that 'dream' is an empty trap?

I need to be doing college and have few brain cells for this thought.

[fajrdrako]

You're right; I was mangling the title, and yes, I meant "The Forest of the Dead". The sequel to "Silence in the Library". I think I have a brain cell problem, too. I need more sleep.

I like the idea about the dream being an empty trap!