Time and Relative Discrimination in Space: Racial Representation in 'Doctor Who' Then and Now

Yaz, The Doctor, and Dan - Flux (Chibnall, 2021)

The unbound limits of all of time and space allow BBC’s Doctor Who (Newman, 1963-present) to explore a plethora of cultures and identities. This scope, as is the case with an abundance of science-fiction media, often implies a societal progression from more conservative politics and breaks free from the restrictive roles ethnic minorities, women, and other groups traditionally have in society. Through the analysis of two serials in particular, The Talons of Weng-Chiang(Hinchcliffe, 1977) and Flux (Chibnall, 2021), the representation of Eastern cultures and identities come into question. Contrasting the two ‘eras’ of the series, defined as the ‘classic’ (1963-1989) and ‘revival’ (2005-), allows for an in-depth perspective of how the politics and viewpoints have changed over time. The classic serial can be seen to represent Chinese characters as misogynistic criminals, whilst the revival appears to honour the heritage of people of colour (POC). That being said, in Flux, the implications of the alien war-race known as ‘Sontarans’ can arguably be interpreted as racially insensitive, suggesting that there is still progress to me made in terms of representation as a subconscious form of racism is still ever-present. The Talons of Weng-Chiang (TTOWC) is a six-episode serial in the fourteenth season of the ‘classic’ era of Doctor Who and follows the fourth incarnation of the Doctor (Tom Baker), and companion Leela (Louise Jameson), investigating a Chinese cult known as the Tong of the Black Scorpion and their connection to a series of missing women. Flux is the thirteenth series of the ‘revival’ era of the show and takes place across a six-chapter serial in which the universe is being eradicated by the mysterious ‘Flux’ event, led by the thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), alongside companions Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Dan (John Bishop). Firstly, focussing on the representation within TTOWC, there are a multitude of narrative decisions that arguably perpetuate derogatory stereotypes directed towards those of Chinese descent. For example, the antagonist known as ‘Magnus Greel’ is impersonating the fictional Chinese God ‘Weng-Chiang’. The decision to depict an alien from the 51st century masking himself as a Chinese God, and to have him, along with a cult entirely comprised of Chinese men, be the predominant villain of the serial can be interpreted as racially insensitive. Additionally, the protagonists of this serial are all portrayed by white actors, through Tom Baker and Louise Jameson as The Doctor and Leela, but also Christopher Benjamin as Jago and Trevor Baxter as Litefoot. This construction of a binary between the Eastern and Western world in these texts can be associated with the concept of ‘Orientalism’, in which the West creates media with the intention of “dominating, restructuring, and having authority over” the East, resulting in a “cultural hegemony” (Said, 1979). Through the producers antagonising Eastern cultures through the Tong of the Black Scorpion, an attempt to instate domination over the East is apparent. The Doctor himself defines the cult as “one of the most dangerous political criminal organisations in the world”, and as the moral voice of the piece, his opinion is likely to be interpreted as gospel by audiences. The cult’s criminal acts of kidnapping women and using them to sustain the life of Magnus Greel is formed in a way to have “European superiority over Oriental backwardness” (Said, 1979), in which the producers are implying their treatment of women is superior to that of the East.

Mr Sin - The Talons of Weng-Chiang (Hinchcliffe, 1977)

Moreover, a further derogatory stereotype that infiltrates TTOWC is drug abuse and addiction, in which Magnus Greel refers to his henchmen as “opium addicted scum” on several occasions. This is reminiscent of the ‘Opium Wars’ that occurred in the mid-19th century, in which China was fighting a “huge addiction problem” (Dikötter, 2016) due to mass amounts of opium being exported into the country. Due to the serial being set in the 19th century, Greel’s insults do contextually correspond to the time period. That being said, as TTOWC was released in 1977, many years after the most severe point of the opium crisis, it could be argued that including these derogatory insults are again an attempt at “having authority over” (Said, 1979) the Eastern world and utilise outdated generalisations as propaganda against them. This ignores the fact that the opium crisis within China was largely perpetuated by Britain, with “primarily British” foreign traders regularly “illegally exporting” (Pletcher, 2015) opium from India to China during the mid-19th century. The producers deciding to incorporate these lines into the script may not only serve the purpose of characterising Greel as an unruly and unkind leader, but also further the antagonistic portrayal of the Chinese cult. Ignoring Britain’s role in the opium crisis conforms to the idea that “the messy details of Western violence need not complicate the story of Western purity” (Tchen, 2014), as well as Said’s aforementioned claims of “restructuring”, maintaining the illusion that the West has continually been both morally and intellectually superior compared to the East. TTOWC reflects a generation of bigotry and the belief of Western superiority going unquestioned. The resentment the West holds against the East, and China specifically, still find their way into the media despite this serial being produced over a century after China’s opium crisis. Furthermore, Said’s notion of Orientalism is heightened by the character of Li H’Sen Chang, a Chinese man, who is portrayed by white-British actor John Bennett. This is an example of ‘yellowface’, a practice which involves “Caucasians yellowing their skin with makeup and tightly taping their eyelids to appear Asian” (Winfrey, 2013). According to producer Peter Hinchcliffe, the Eastern elements of the serial were inspired by the fictional character Fu Manchu (Sullivan, 2021), who is perceived as villainous due to his aim to “destroy Western civilisation” (Tchen, 2014). On top of this, Fu Manchu has been portrayed by white actors in the media, thus showing how engrained a mockery of his identity is to the character. Hinchcliffe formulating the character of Li H’sen Chang from the racially insensitive scaffold of Fu Mancha highlights how the intentions behind this character were purely founded upon the grounds of having authority over the East. From conception, Li H’Sen Chang was intended to be a caricature of Chinese identities. Featuring the racist practice of yellowfacing also implies “Asians aren’t good enough to play themselves (Winfrey, 2013), othering them not only in the fictional realm but discriminating against them in the acting world. In effect, the exclusion of the identities the producers wish to represent therefore characterises “what their impression of an Asian person is” (Aoki, 1997) and becomes the West’s stereotypical view of Asian people. Plus, in the first part of TTOWC, the Doctor offers to assist in the police investigation of the Tong of the Black Scorpion by acting as translator in an interview. He claims to speak Cantonese, however, the audio description and camera script for his dialogue simply state “speaks Chinese”, thus suggesting no effort was made in learning the language, and assuming that compiling a handful of stereotypically sounding Asian phonetics would suffice. A sufficient lack of research or care for the language or the culture shows a fundamental level of malicious intent was made in the production of this story, and the deliberate choice to exclude producers of Asian descent highlights this.

Li H'sen Chang - The Talons of Weng-Chiang (Hinchcliffe, 1977)

In contrast, in part two of Flux, entitled ‘War of the Sontarans’, the British-Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole plays a very significant role. The decision to cast British-Jamaican actress Sara Powell is emblematic of a progression in the media. Through Chibnall choosing to incorporate Mary Seacole and depict her in a positive manner by having her be a protagonist who is beneficial to the outcome of the story, the opposition to Li H’Sen Chang being both villainised and portrayed by a white-British actor exemplifies the advancements the series has made between eras. Seacole’s skills as a “doctress to the fallen” are vital to the plot, in which she documents the routine of the Sontarans, thus informing The Doctor of when the best time to break into their spaceships was. Not only this, but she also assists in tending to a wounded Sontaran, which pays tribute to the fact that Seacole is said to have treated soldiers from both sides of the Crimean War, stating in her memoir that “several” Russians were under her care at her ‘British Hotel’ (Seacole, 1857). Additionally, the decisions regarding Seacole’s costumes also highlight an attempt to be more racially conscious and considerate. In a behind the scenes video, costume designer Ray Holman stated that they wanted to avoid turning her identity on screen into a “caricature of what people thought Mary was” (Doctor Who, 2021). Plus, Holman also professed a desire to “reference Caribbean colours” and thus paying even more tribute to her heritage. This contrasts against the portrayal of Li H’sen Chang, who is not only played by a white actor, but also uses a fake, stereotypical ‘Chinese’ accent which in effect mocks the Cantonese dialect and culture by not considering the accuracy. The decision to portray Seacole not as a one-dimensional caricature but a humorous, brave, intellectual, honouring her incredibly perilous role in the Crimean War by using her skills for the greater good and overcoming the antagonists. This is a prime example of the progress that has been made in terms of representations for POC, no longer being restricted to villains or the laughingstock. Consequently, a trope that has formed in recent years through the process of the media becoming more inclusive of ethnic minorities is the idea of “colour-blindness”. Colour-blindness in the media is defined as the “theatrical practice of casting actors from different racial or ethnic backgrounds in roles haphazardly” (Newton, O. 2021), which “effectively erases race and suggests that ‘we are all the same’” (Turner, 2014). This practice subsequently makes Said’s concept of ‘othering’ become obsolete. Colour-blindness implies a unity between cultures rather than a binary forming between them. Applying this to Mary Seacole’s role in Chapter Two of Flux, although her heritage does not play a significant role in the story, there are many appropriate signifiers of her ethnicity throughout the episode. For example, Powell’s Jamaican accent is conclusively more appropriate than Bennett’s generalised attempt at Chinese. As opposed to the expressionless, nasal intonation of Li H’sen Chang, Seacole authentically speaks with rounded diphthongs and elongated vowel sounds specific to the region she was born in, showcasing a thorough level of research into the character. Therefore, it can be said that due to the more appropriate accentual representation, and Holman’s creative decisions for her costume, Powell’s Seacole is not an example of colour-blindness.

Mary Seacole - Flux (Chibnall, 2021)

On the other hand, however, the narrative implications of War of the Sontarans could suggest the perpetuation of similar harmful stereotypes. In the episode, the Sontarans travel back in time to the 1850s to invade from the present day, and as a result conquer and colonise China and Russia. They then proceed to replace the Russian army in the Crimean War. The history and motives of the Sontarans could again reflect upon the “European superiority over Oriental backwardness” (Said, 1979), depicting Asian nations as warmongering and “demonised as deceptive and duplicitous” (Boer & Yan, 2021), with The Doctor stating war as “what they’re bred for, it’s their entire history”. Although it can be argued that these binaries form because of "opposition between acquired power and innate power" (Lévi-Strauss, 1963), the literal alienation of the East in both TTOWC and Flux could instead reflect a self-consciousness. Representing a fictional parallel of Chinese and Russian warfare as powerful, bloodthirsty, and scheming, indisputably implies power on their behalf. Instead of viewing Chinese culture as regressive, similar to how Hinchcliffe represented the nation as through their treatment of women, Chibnall appears to take an opposite but still defamatory approach through depicting them as a powerhouse. If a binary such as the one created between East and West "always progresses from the awareness of oppositions towards their resolutions” (Lévi-Strauss, 1963), then the West’s awareness of the power the East holds in terms of militarisation or otherwise creates a self-consciousness of being threatened by them, thus causing western media to depict such attributes as a force to be feared. Therefore, it could be argued that despite the passage of time the biases the West holds against the East are still present and have just taken the form of a more nuanced and subconscious discrimination, linking to the sentiment that “the industry’s improving but… we haven’t come far enough fast enough.” (Rothman, 2015). In conclusion, although it can certainly be argued that a significant difference in representation and inclusion has been made across the class and revival eras of Doctor Who, it still to some degree perpetuates derogatory stereotypes towards those of Asian descent. The executive decision to cast white-British actor John Bennett as Li H’sen Chang, a Chinese man, not only mocks but actively excludes the inclusion of ethnic minorities in the media. Flux, on the other hand, does actively aim to be more respectful in regard to their ethnic minority characters such as Mary Seacole, whose Caribbean heritage is honoured in her costume. This, however, does not erase the fact that parallels to the Western fears of Eastern militarisation can be seen in War of the Sontarans that can as a result continue to misrepresent Chinese culture. In the future of the series, and the media as a whole, based upon the inclusivity and aims to do better in terms of representations suggests that further progress will be made. It is unlikely that bias and discrimination will be eradicated from both television or society as a whole, however, it will likely continue to improve as is the case with Doctor Who.

Sontaran Commander Skaak - Flux (Chibnall, 2021)

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