Thoughts on The Zygon Inversion
Nov. 19th, 2015 05:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scripsiThen - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will!
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.
This is not, of course, from The Zygon Inversion, but the final speech in Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. Because after watching this episode of Doctor Who, the Doctor’s speech reminded me a lot of this one. And as the movie also plays with body doubles and mistaken identities, I believe the similarity is intended.
If you haven’t seen The Great Dictator, then I think you should. It’s a classic and, sadly, still relevant today, 15 years after it was made. And it’s also, still, very funny. You can read a transcript of the speech here.
And here is the relevant snippet from the movie.
I saw this movie as a very small child and it made me completely mix up Chaplin and Hitler. I wondered a lot if he had first been a kind man who did those funny movie and then became evil, or if it was the other way around. In the end I decided he had been evil first and then regretted his actions and made the movies to show everyone he had become nice. I was quite heartbroken when I realised they were two separate persons and that Hitler never redeemed himself. Children often don’t want the bad guy be punished, they want the baddie to regret his deed and change.
One of the reasons I love Doctor Who so much is his ability to give second chances. To provide a way out, to offer redemption. The bad guy rarely takes it, but the possibility is there. But here, in this episode, we got it and I loved it. All in all I thought they handled the subject of terrorism very well, even more relevant after last week's terrible attacks than when they episode was written.
I’m sure there will be people who will find the Doctor’s speech over the top, or too full of cliches, or whatever, but I really liked it. Capaldi is a great actor, and I loved the insight in what we the readers probably often forget; that when he was the War Doctor, he did unspeakable things in the name of righteousness. Even if he doesn’t have to carry the burden of killing his people anymore, he still lives with his actions before that point.
I wasn’t surprised that it was the real Kate all along- sheäs the Brig’s daughter, after all. Of course she would be sufficiently armed. I have a theory that the reason she is so trigger happy, which for such a smart woman sometimes feels a bit strange, if because that’s how she bonded with her father. i can imagine she never got so much fatherly approval as when she made a perfect shooting score, or blew something up. It was pretty awful when her hand hovered over the buttons, but I really loved that she was the first to back down.
Also loved that it was Harry who made the gas.
Loved, loved, loved the Osgoods. Particularly when Osgood 1 still refused to answer the Doctor if she was human or zygon. Not many stands up to him like that. And I agree with her, it isn’t important, the important bit is that she is Osgood. Or Osgood’s now. I’m very happy for it. I would still have loved her to become a new companion, but I don’t think she ever will. Partly because she has said no, but mostly because the new companion always is a new character. I can’t recall any character who has been around for some time before becoming a companion.
What I liked less was the whole idea of Clara being such a special person she makes terrorists change their mind. I don’t dislike Clara, but she’s a bit like a heroine in a romance novel. The reader/watcher is constantly told how great she is, but her actual actions don’t really tell that story. I find Clara rather self-centred and callous at times. In fact the only companion whose actions always was sprung from compassion and kindness, then it would be Donna. I would have bought Bonnie’s conversion whole if it had been Donna’s mind she had been in.
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.
This is not, of course, from The Zygon Inversion, but the final speech in Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. Because after watching this episode of Doctor Who, the Doctor’s speech reminded me a lot of this one. And as the movie also plays with body doubles and mistaken identities, I believe the similarity is intended.
If you haven’t seen The Great Dictator, then I think you should. It’s a classic and, sadly, still relevant today, 15 years after it was made. And it’s also, still, very funny. You can read a transcript of the speech here.
And here is the relevant snippet from the movie.
I saw this movie as a very small child and it made me completely mix up Chaplin and Hitler. I wondered a lot if he had first been a kind man who did those funny movie and then became evil, or if it was the other way around. In the end I decided he had been evil first and then regretted his actions and made the movies to show everyone he had become nice. I was quite heartbroken when I realised they were two separate persons and that Hitler never redeemed himself. Children often don’t want the bad guy be punished, they want the baddie to regret his deed and change.
One of the reasons I love Doctor Who so much is his ability to give second chances. To provide a way out, to offer redemption. The bad guy rarely takes it, but the possibility is there. But here, in this episode, we got it and I loved it. All in all I thought they handled the subject of terrorism very well, even more relevant after last week's terrible attacks than when they episode was written.
I’m sure there will be people who will find the Doctor’s speech over the top, or too full of cliches, or whatever, but I really liked it. Capaldi is a great actor, and I loved the insight in what we the readers probably often forget; that when he was the War Doctor, he did unspeakable things in the name of righteousness. Even if he doesn’t have to carry the burden of killing his people anymore, he still lives with his actions before that point.
I wasn’t surprised that it was the real Kate all along- sheäs the Brig’s daughter, after all. Of course she would be sufficiently armed. I have a theory that the reason she is so trigger happy, which for such a smart woman sometimes feels a bit strange, if because that’s how she bonded with her father. i can imagine she never got so much fatherly approval as when she made a perfect shooting score, or blew something up. It was pretty awful when her hand hovered over the buttons, but I really loved that she was the first to back down.
Also loved that it was Harry who made the gas.
Loved, loved, loved the Osgoods. Particularly when Osgood 1 still refused to answer the Doctor if she was human or zygon. Not many stands up to him like that. And I agree with her, it isn’t important, the important bit is that she is Osgood. Or Osgood’s now. I’m very happy for it. I would still have loved her to become a new companion, but I don’t think she ever will. Partly because she has said no, but mostly because the new companion always is a new character. I can’t recall any character who has been around for some time before becoming a companion.
What I liked less was the whole idea of Clara being such a special person she makes terrorists change their mind. I don’t dislike Clara, but she’s a bit like a heroine in a romance novel. The reader/watcher is constantly told how great she is, but her actual actions don’t really tell that story. I find Clara rather self-centred and callous at times. In fact the only companion whose actions always was sprung from compassion and kindness, then it would be Donna. I would have bought Bonnie’s conversion whole if it had been Donna’s mind she had been in.
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no subject
Date: 2015-11-19 04:56 pm (UTC)As for the rest, I do have my issues with resolving it like this, so simply. I have to agree that Peter Capaldi really outdid himself with that whole speech, but it really proves how fictional it is when one person makes the decision to shut everything down in a second, and everyone else just stands down. Doesn't work that way usually. This leader capitulates... well, there are dozens just waiting in the wings to take over. Maybe it was, as you said, Bonnie/Clara, that just wouldn't let me believe it could be so simple. I really would have preferred if the Zygons (and humans) who want to continue the status quo, in peace, would have spoken out forcefully and forced the stand-down. It would have meant much much more and given a stronger message that peaceful people need to speak out, consistently and constantly. But that doesn't seem to happen in real life either, does it?
And it doesn't seem to be so simple at all, as the Doctor mentions that he's already had to do this 15 times before.... so we're still at an impasse. It's just a truce until the next time it happens, and it will.
Oh, there was one typo: [like a heroin]. I think you forgot the "e" at the end of heroine; otherwise Clara is like a drug! OK, so maybe she is....*snorts*
no subject
Date: 2015-11-19 06:51 pm (UTC)LOL, no, that wasn't quite what I meant. :)
I don't expect more complex solutions from TV-shows, so I wasn't so bothered, though I agree with you that it was way too simple to be real. :)
Clara does seem to be the "special flower" this time around, doesn't she? If we have to constantly be told how special, perfect and great she is, well... you know. Actions speak louder than words in this case.
Exactly. And I really don't mind Clara's flaws, it makes her rather interesting, but there is a discrepancy between what the shows seems to make of her and what it actually do make of her. :)
no subject
Date: 2015-11-19 07:03 pm (UTC)The thing is that sci-fi, in particular, is known for tackling tough issues, not making pretty solutions, and it did bother me because the situation is all too real.
Flaws are one thing; everyone has them, but these "special flowers" are just too much!
no subject
Date: 2015-11-19 09:16 pm (UTC)Awww. That makes me a little sad, too. I always want people to be able to redeem themselves -- that's why I like A Christmas Carol so much. You couldn't really come back from being Hitler, to the point where people would trust you again or want to watch your movies, but maybe you could make them and have someone else take the credit, or make them and let them sit in a vault for a few generations, or just sit quietly somewhere not organizing genocides; anything would be an improvement.
I'm still not totally sure where I come down on the Zygon Invasion/Inversion. I feel like it's too openly topical (maybe clumsily and shallowly, maybe not) for me to trust my own judgment, whatever my immediate feelings may be. I think I'd have a similar mix of feelings about The Great Dictator (which I also love) if I'd seen it in 1940 -- impressed by its audacity but not willing to assess whether it "worked" as a story because I can't quite trust anything that yanks so shamelessly on my sentimental socialist heartstrings. I wouldn't be surprised if I felt more uncomplicatedly positive about TZI in a decade or two. Which is optimistic of me, I guess. :/
Clara is callous and self-centered at times, and it's part of what I like about her. She's a difficult person who tries to do the right thing -- like the Doctor, who has no answer to the question "am I a good man?" except to try to be. No more than any of us, really. I think I don't mind a bit of unearned companion praise -- I can buy that the Doctor thinks his companions are the best and kindest people in the known universe simply because they are his companions, and he depends on them so much.
Donna, though: <3 <3 <3 <3 Will you be listening to the new Big Finish Audio productions featuring Donna? I'm really hoping they take this golden opportunity to fix her brain. It would be so easy to handwave! My fingers are crossed.
(I don't always love the writing for Kate, but I do like Kate a lot. Never mind that she infuriates me every time she shows up; I'm always happy to see her anyway).
no subject
Date: 2015-12-05 03:55 pm (UTC)True, but I was a very small child and didn't yet know about the most horrible horrors of it. :)
Clara is callous and self-centered at times, and it's part of what I like about her. She's a difficult person who tries to do the right thing -- like the Doctor, who has no answer to the question "am I a good man?" except to try to be.
One of the reasons I love DW so much is because even important characters are allowed to be flawd. I like Clara because of it too, but I feel she wasn't Always consitently written. :) But a lot of character's in Who tries to do the right thing and still manage to not really doing the right thing even if they have the best intentions. Like Harriet Jones. And I love that the Doctor Always gives people a chance to do better.
I can buy that the Doctor thinks his companions are the best and kindest people in the known universe simply because they are his companions, and he depends on them so much.
Me I Think he can see their faults but loves them anyway. :) And Clara isn't selfish when it comes to the Doctor- she did save him on Trenzalor thinking she would die. :)
Donna, though: <3 <3 <3 <3 Will you be listening to the new Big Finish Audio productions featuring Donna? I'm really hoping they take this golden opportunity to fix her brain. It would be so easy to handwave! My fingers are crossed.
I haven't really got into Big Finish yet, though I Think they would be great to listen to when I sew. But yes, a fixed Donna would be great!
(I don't always love the writing for Kate, but I do like Kate a lot. Never mind that she infuriates me every time she shows up; I'm always happy to see her anyway).
I agree and it's actually a lot on how I feel about the Brigadier. Maybe it runs in the family. ;)
no subject
Date: 2015-11-19 09:59 pm (UTC)Gabrielle
no subject
Date: 2015-11-23 10:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-11-20 08:58 am (UTC)I love the Doctor's speech and I think this is a big part of what the Doctor is at his core. I do like that they acknowledge that this is not a final solution, that it's something that they went through a couple of time before and will go through again UNTIL the day that it really wouldn't matter which of the Osgoods is human or Zygon. They will be back in that room again when the next leader tries to take over.
Osgood really was amazing and I'm glad she's this new amazing entity now.
I agree about Clara though. I like her much better now than I liked her when she was the big mystery, but the narratives tend to present her as too perfect and compassionate and that's not always supported by the characterization and her actions. I get that she's supposed to be Twelve's human conscious, but that doesn't really work that way. I agree very much about Donna being the companion who could have made this work much better.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-05 04:01 pm (UTC)I agree!
Osgood really was amazing and I'm glad she's this new amazing entity now.
I really hope we will see them many times more. The Doctor needs someone who stands up to him now and again. :)
I agree about Clara though. I like her much better now than I liked her when she was the big mystery, but the narratives tend to present her as too perfect and compassionate and that's not always supported by the characterization and her actions.
That's how I feel too. I like her and I like that she isn't perfect- who is, really? Donna was a much better charater to serve as the Doctor's moral Compass, but she had her flaws too; she could be loud and tactless and insecure. I Think I wouldn't have liked her as much if she had been this angelic person through and through.
no subject
Date: 2015-11-20 07:22 pm (UTC)This is a perfect review. And I do love that it was Harry who made the gas, but that the Doctor lifted it anyway. Because as much as he loves humans, we are children, but not in the best ways. We still don't think it through and we do things we regret. Better to not do them, than regret them.
The Osgoods are the best. And their answer was even better...
*HUGS*
no subject
Date: 2015-11-27 12:08 pm (UTC)Redemption is always nice, isn't it? I was a very small kid, so I didn't know about the more horrible things of WWII, so I just hoped he got nice. :)
The Doctor has very strong paternal instincts, hasn't he? :)
no subject
Date: 2015-11-21 07:24 pm (UTC)I haven't seen The Great Dictator (but it's been added to my watch-list) so I cannot comment on similarities, but I did love the Doctor's speech a whole lot and I from the quote you posted I see a similarity.
I agree with everything you said (except the Clara part), and I loved how political the episode was and yes, sadly, it is very relevant to what is happeneing many places today.
It would be interesting though if Osgood was the new companion and that they did choose a compantion we have met before. We did meet Donna before she became an companion, but only the once...we'll learn soon enough who it is.
no subject
Date: 2015-11-23 10:02 am (UTC)True, Donna did, but I think Osgood declining and being two again is a pretty safe marker fro a brand new companion. Not that I wouldn't love to have Osgood...