I... am not quite sure how to feel about Rita's death, honestly. The one thing I can say unequivocally is that there is a wider pattern of characters of color getting fridged on Doctor Who (though IIRC Moffat's track record isn't nearly as bad as RTD's), and in that context Rita's death looks pretty gross. But if Who were generally better about representation I'm not sure I'd have a problem with it?
And the reason, I think, is that the episode was about faith in many ways, and they could've gone the one-dimensional "don't put blind faith in anything, kiddos, or you're monster food!" route but chose to go nuanced instead, and Rita was the one case where faith was shown as something 100% positive and to be respected. As something that, far from robbing her of thought or reason, allowed her to stay calm and cope with stressful situations rationally. And that made it far less offensive to me. In fact I think that if they'd chosen a Christian for that role I would've eyerolled hard, because wow guys the majority religion in your culture really needed to be propped up some more, way to select it as the default.
So basically I am pretty unhappy that she got killed (both because of representation issues and because goddammit, Rita was awesome), but the way it happened was about as well-executed as it could've been. She dies on her own terms as much as she can. Refuses to let the Doctor assume responsibility or appropriate her pain to feed his guilt complex or otherwise turn it into a fridging. And that scene gives us the critical element of nuance--that faith isn't right or wrong or a good or bad thing, it's what allows her to die with dignity, but it happens to be what this particular monster feeds on. Rita is fucked, not because she has faith but because she's trapped in the goddamn Hotel California with a creature who thinks her faith is a tasty meal.
Not sure how I feel about aforementioned fridging/appropriation/responsibility issues--on the one hand, she herself calls Eleven out on that shit and the plot supports her by making her death a refutation of that trope. On the other hand, she still gets killed off. And I am sick of that shit.
no subject
And the reason, I think, is that the episode was about faith in many ways, and they could've gone the one-dimensional "don't put blind faith in anything, kiddos, or you're monster food!" route but chose to go nuanced instead, and Rita was the one case where faith was shown as something 100% positive and to be respected. As something that, far from robbing her of thought or reason, allowed her to stay calm and cope with stressful situations rationally. And that made it far less offensive to me. In fact I think that if they'd chosen a Christian for that role I would've eyerolled hard, because wow guys the majority religion in your culture really needed to be propped up some more, way to select it as the default.
So basically I am pretty unhappy that she got killed (both because of representation issues and because goddammit, Rita was awesome), but the way it happened was about as well-executed as it could've been. She dies on her own terms as much as she can. Refuses to let the Doctor assume responsibility or appropriate her pain to feed his guilt complex or otherwise turn it into a fridging. And that scene gives us the critical element of nuance--that faith isn't right or wrong or a good or bad thing, it's what allows her to die with dignity, but it happens to be what this particular monster feeds on. Rita is fucked, not because she has faith but because she's trapped in the goddamn Hotel California with a creature who thinks her faith is a tasty meal.
Not sure how I feel about aforementioned fridging/appropriation/responsibility issues--on the one hand, she herself calls Eleven out on that shit and the plot supports her by making her death a refutation of that trope. On the other hand, she still gets killed off. And I am sick of that shit.