The Heroine's Journey

[scarfman]

I was made uncomfortable by River Song's assertion in The Wedding of River Song that she was willing to destroy the universe on account of her love for the Doctor. This was in the context of the backlash against Rose Tyler before her, of critics attributing to Rose willingness to destroy the universe over the Doctor; because of a stray line on the beach, in Doomsday, and because of the mistaken inference that she actually risked destruction of the universe over the Doctor for no other reason, in the season arc of Season 2008. Particularly in that context, it disturbed me that River was unequivocally, inarguably willing to destroy the universe over the Doctor. Until someone here on LJ (I wish I remembered who) persuaded me that that's not exactly wrong, it's exactly backwards.

When my dad saw Star Wars in the early 70s, he came home and said it was exactly the same as all the westerns he saw when he was a kid. He then went on to summarize, though he didn't realize, nor I at the time, Joseph Cambpell's Hero's Journey (which, if you've read anything about Lucas, you know is putting the horse before the cart): the hero is presented with the task, the hero refuses the task, the hero accepts the task, the hero makes one or more attempts to complete the task, the hero is changed as a result of the task.

I may not then have heard of Joseph Campbell yet, but in theatre class I'd learned about "static" characters, who aren't changed by the events of a story, and "dynamic" characters, who are changed.

It was kateorman who noted that Grace Holloway was the Campbellian hero of Season 1996. Sure, the Doctor regenerated, but he came out of Season 1996 basically the same person as he went in - same as every other season.

More people than I felt that what was too far a departure from format for Russell Davies' Doctor Who was that Davies made of the Doctor too dynamic a character, a tragic hero even, a Campbellian hero where he'd never been one before. That at least was something Matt Jacobs didn't do.

So, yesterday afternoon I was asking myself, "If Grace was the Campbellian hero of Season 1996, and the Doctor was the Campbellian hero of Davies Doctor Who, then who's the Campbellian hero of Moffat's Doctor Who?"

And the answer is River Song, whose story is backwards: with her self-involved destruction of the universe for love in the season finale, and her insistence to Amy and Rory that time cannot be rewritten in the season premiere.

Comments

[pedanther]

In other words, "The River who was willing to destroy the universe was young impulsive River and we've seen that she grows up later"?

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Ding! You get a cookie.

Brilliant analysis, Paul.

[scarfman]

Thank you. I just wish I remembered who it was who pointed out the obvious to me.

[steamshovelmama.livejournal.com]

And not just young and impulsive but young, impulsive, damaged and brainwashed with an background of at least mental abuse throughout her childhood.

Refusing to kill the Doctor - the man she has been *programmed* her *entire life* to kill - even at the expense of the entire universe, is the first truly independent act River makes in her life and what she is doing is rejecting her training, even though she has every good excuse to carry it out.

Is it emotionally healthy? No. Is it reasonable and sensible? No. Would any other character make that choice? No. But in the single, singular context of who and what River is it is an assertion of freedom and independence. She will act in accordance with her own feelings and priorities and damn everbody else.

That leaves her with a lot of growing to do until she gains a measure of perspective and responsibility - but isn't that the mark of a good character, that they have to grow and evolve during the narrative?

[viomisehunt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, on the surface River seems selfish, but this is a woman who has been raised since she could speak to think she was a sociopath, only to discover that she didn't have stomach or act to commit this act with knowledge. She didn't have the will to murder an innocent man, let alone the man she loved. She was forced to murder because evil beings stacked the deck and no other reason.

River's choice wasn't quite the same thing as Rose willing to destroy the universe to get her man back. (On the other hand, had that been the Doctor willing to go any lengths to get back to the woman he loves (Daniel Day Lewis __ I will find you) I wonder if he would have been reamed for his devotion as easily as either female character.)

Is it emotionally healthy: Refusing to murder and asking for help is very healthy and expected. The alternative to refusing to murder and asking any and everyone for help is acceptance that the people who kidnapped her as an infant, and then cheated time and fate by setting up a murder in a place that fixed events would be triumphant. River was forced to go through with the act, coming out of that lake and murdering the man she loves, in front of her parents.

Killing the Doctor wasn't the RIGHT thing to do-- how could a murder be right? The Silence and that eye patch woman didn't plan the Doctor's murder to save the universe, but plotted a wanton, willful act of revenge against the Doctor--and they used a child to do it. Therefore, the alternative to refusal, to giving up hope that someone could find a way to change things, hardly represented nobility or courage, or River doing the right thing, but River conceding defeat and surrender to the evil purpose of evil people.

[steamshovelmama.livejournal.com]

"had that been the Doctor willing to go any lengths to get back to the woman he loves (Daniel Day Lewis __ I will find you) I wonder if he would have been reamed for his devotion as easily as either female character.)"

Word!

I do find that at least some of the objection to River is that she is an awesome female character who is the equal of the male characters. She's also used to create a false dichotomy with Rose - if River is awesome, Rose can't be, if Rose was awesome, River mustn't be. Etc. Then there's the whole, "the Doctor loves Rose, so he can't love River!" OTP kind of thing that buys into the fantasy that there's only one true love out there for any of us and loving again is betrayal... to which I make loud raspberry noises! (Some people need to watch "School Reunion" again and think about what the Doctor says about his life. Do folks really want to condemn an effectively immortal being to only ever loving one human with an 80 year life span? Seems pretty cruel to me!)

And, of course, if River were written by a woman she'd automatically be called a Mary Sue...

[viomisehunt.livejournal.com]

Maybe the Doctor gets too much concern with it comes to the Pond/Williams. Amy makes that call at the beginning of the season about her baby; had he already stopped looking for Melody? He gives them a house and a new car? A male certainly wrote that. Your baby melts in your arms as you are nursing her and you're not ready to go to war? I love Eleven but when it comes to the Pond/Williams, I'm a little miffed for them. Doesn't do any good to become angry at the Doctor, because actually the Doctor was victimized by the Silence - twice because they use his best friends and the woman he loves as a weapon-- as if they don't matter--and he doesn't seem to be able to do anything about it but make the best of a very wrong situation.

However, it could be that he did find Melody and as soon as he did, time went wrong. We don't know how many times the Doctor tried to rescue Melody before he realized that he couldn't change her path -- she had to be at a certain point in time. I think Mel's presence in Amy and Rory life was timey wimey-- she couldn't have been there before.

But usually it is the Hero who sacrifices-- but really other than Amy's faith, what does the the Doctor give up? He's able to move about the Universe free now that people think he is dead. Amy and Rory lose the chance to be proper parents to their baby. River has to accept being one of the most notorious criminals in history and she turn's Peter-Peter-Pumpkin Eater's wife -- she's kept in a cell where the Doctor take her out at HIS leisure and we know she ends up as data in a library, and actually the Doctor can visit her there. River is a strong, accomplished, female and she is contained for the hero's pleasure. River struggles to be her own person her entire life but that is stolen from her. I was particularly moved by her building that beacon, because that is how we first see Melody -- calling the President of the United States because someone powerful had to hear her and help. And help never really comes. The monsters stay in her life. Everything is written and she can't divert from the path.

[owlboy]

>>she's kept in a cell where the Doctor take her out at HIS leisure

She breaks out of her own accord, actually, whether the Doctor asks her to or not, and she's there by her own choice. She also seems to treat the idea of prison, including her notoriety, as a total joke, so I don't think it's a massive burden on her.

The Doctor has to give up Amy and Rory, his best friends- and the possibility of visiting any of his other companions- if he wants to maintain the illusion that he is dead. That's not a sacrifice?

[viomisehunt.livejournal.com]

We have just seen the min_sodes today so he is not giving up Amy and Rory, ut is actually seeking off to have adventures with River while they're aspeep. So he hasn't given Amy and Rory up. And river Doesn't. Appear to get a pardon as we can see she is still breaking out on their Last night.

[alienfish.livejournal.com]

What? What min_sodes?!

[viomisehunt.livejournal.com]

These (http://doctorwho.livejournal.com/8188607.html) mini-sodes.

[alienfish.livejournal.com]

Well dangit, does that mean we won't see River when he's #12? I suppose it might not mean that.

[viomisehunt.livejournal.com]

No, remember, the Doctor that shows up at Lake Silencio is 200 years older, so it appears that Eleven will live another 2 centuries.

[alienfish.livejournal.com]

This is the Doctor who's 200 years older (at least the one who was inside the Tesselector).

[scarfman]

The Doctor in The Wedding of River Song is the 200 year older version. He lived those years between the one with the hotel minotaur and the one with the department store Cybermen; there's dialog to that effect at the beginning of Closing Time.

[viomisehunt.livejournal.com]

I always wondered. And the Doctor in the first part of the Impossible Astronaunt. It seems that although River will not regenerate again, she will have decades of adventures with the Doctor, but sadly the older she gets, the younger he gets. But the mini-sodes suggest that he doesn't give up the Ponds right away. That last mini-sode broke my heart.

[scarfman]

That depends more on whether Moffat outlasts Smith (or whether Moffat's successor likes Kingston as much as Moffat does), I suggest.

[scarfman]

Links to YouTube files can be found here, at least for the moment.

[scarfman]

she is still breaking out on their Last night

That's not how I remember it. We see the TARDIS land at the Stormcage at the beginning of First Night for First River to board, but after that he moves it to the place with the mountain with the stars, and that's where Middle River and Last River board.

[viomisehunt.livejournal.com]

Nothing suggest that the older River had been pardoned. And remember that kiss? His first time? It was suggested it was close to her last time.

[scarfman]

Nothing suggest that the older River had been pardoned.

That's true. I'm only saying there's no hard evidence either way.

(I feel compelled to qualify it "hard evidence" because it occurred to me as I typed the above sentence: it's strong circumstantial evidence River is no longer a convict at the end of her life that she was recruited to lead the expedition to the library. Rich men don't recruit archaeologists from prisons.)

[viomisehunt.livejournal.com]

They do if she is the most qualified person available. And it was rather a suicide mission. I however, hope your guess is right; that sometime in that 200 years she spends with the Doctor she was pardoned--if for no reason than I hope their is some kind of Justice for her parents -- having their child stolen and River herself. But life is pain, and like the man says, anyone who tells you differently is trying to sell something.

Either way, it's a true heartbreaking story, with them traveling in opposite directions. It must break Eleven's heart to think that the last time his beloved River looks at him, she's looking into the eyes of a man who thinks of her as a stranger and who is just more than a little hostile. I think what Anne Rice wrote of the Vampires,(Louis, Claudia, and Lestat), it has to be a rare blessing for someone that long lived to share their life over a decade with one person, let alone a couple of hundred years, is true of the time Lords. (I think it is very unlikely that the Doctor didn't at least give River one of her lives back.)

[jesuslovesbono.livejournal.com]

that is a very good point.

[alienfish.livejournal.com]

"How do you solve a problem like Maria?"

You marry her off to a man pretty much old enough to be her father.

As a point, River fairly clearly is in that cell only because she's willing to be. As the key players including herself are aware that she did not actually kill the Doctor, it really does not matter to her what people say. She will get out officially, for she is a Professor when we first meet her, leading an expedition to the library planet.

[sensiblecat.livejournal.com]

My problem with all Moffatt's characterisations is that we are told, not shown. I never find his characters convincing - they exist as the sum of their tropes and there is nothing organic about their growth. Also, a problem with telling stories out of temporal sequence is that huge, important chunks are omitted. For example, we don't ever really find out if the Doctor becomes personally involved in young Melody's welfare - possibly intervening to get her from New York to Leadworth, for example. So, lacking that information, River's actions invariably come over as the product of blind trust and faith in the Doctor, and that gives her an intrinsic lack of self-determination which, in my case, even her turnaround in LKH fails to erase.

I can usually see and indeed admire the perfect structure of SM's plots. It's the execution that's lacking - in that he is the mirror opposite of RTD.

Thanks for the shout-out, BTW.

[scarfman]

No problem - I only had to check my tags for when I first linked there ...

[owlboy]

I have to disagree with your entire assessment, there. There's plenty of characterization if you pay attention.

River *doesn't* have blind faith in the Doctor. We know this, because Melody as a child was critical and cynical about him [she believes that the rise of Hitler and the sinking of the titanic is *his fault*]. As an adult, she sees him as a daft old bloke who needs to be saved from his own idiotic actions, where others see him as an infallible god [like Amy]. She rolls her eyes and sighs at his hubris and challenges him to the point he rages at her, and then keeps on challenging him. That is the opposite of blind faith.