Doctor Who

This paper presents the implementation of Health Cycle using Virtual Reality (VR) and Internet of Things (IoT). A prototype system is developed for interactive indoor cycling. The methodology will inspire the people to experience and visit different places while exercising, improving their health and stamina. In our fast forward lives, we need to have some sort of physical activity. The manuscript is presenting a developed methodology and it is possible uses for everyone to take care of themselves in an interesting manner. The methodology used is the combination of software and hardware to work efficiently and to provide an immersive experience. The methodology is conducive to the health of the community without being monotonous.

Mental disorders tend to co-exist together and anxiety is likely to co-morbid with depression. The aim of this study is to discover a safe and natural herbal source of remedy with minimum side effects in the form of Tamarindus indica. As rodents are neuro-anatomically and neuro-pharmacologically parallel to human, so Tamarindus indica was administered orally in 3 different doses of 50mg/kg, 75mg/kg and 100mg/kg to 3 different groups of mice having equal sex distribution and  n=7 for 21 days. The CNS acting potential evaluated by behavioral responses, head dip method, cage crossings and force induced swimming test. The results revealed that Tamarindus indica is a potent anxiolytic agent even at low dose of 50mg/kg without sedative effects but showing low mood and week muscle tone whereas dose dependent antidepressant activity was also seen which is prominent at the high dose of 100mg/kg showing CNS alertness, elevation of mood, increase in learning behavior and overall improved performance of mice.

This study aims to consider how science fiction television series Doctor Who (Sydney Newman, 1963-1989, 2005-) has undergone changes in representations of ethnicity since 2005. The Doctor, who is a representation of immigrants from the very beginning, was embodied in white, heterosexual men until the 11th season. Last season is the first season since 1963 when a woman is the Doctor. In addition, this season, the Doctor's three companions are Ryan who is a black man, Yaz who is an Pakistani-British woman and Graham who is a middle-aged white man mourning his wife Grace who was black. In this study, it is aimed to analyze the features that make this season different from the others in terms of representations of ethnicity by using visual data analysis techniques and Smith's national identity theory. In this study, it has been proposed that the previous episodes of the Doctor Who television series were problematic in case of  representations of ethnicity, and the ongoing representations of ethnicity are changing under the leadership of the female Doctor and his ethnically diverse companions during the era of Chris Chibnall and the episodes are examined using this framework.

In recent years, numerous cult franchises – once the purview of small communities of devotees – have been revived and adapted in order to draw mass audiences. Fans of these texts are left to puzzle out the question of communal and personal fan identity as fandom rapidly expands. This article focuses on the fandom of the science fiction classic Doctor Who, relaunched in 2005 as a ‘mainstreamed’ version, and examines how the introduction of genre hybridity into the text becomes for fans a crucial point in a struggle over the meaning of fandom. Using grounded analysis, the article demonstrates how members of LiveJournal community doctorwho construct their identities by othering two imagined communities: the romance-hating ‘anoraks’ and the romance-obsessed ‘shippers’. Navigating a minefield of undesired positions, these fans are characterised by a discourse of genre and community uniqueness that poses a challenge to the view of fandom as the blueprint for participatory culture.

Purpose: To determine the effect of 6 week SAQ agility training program on improving the physical fitness and flexibility of college level cricketers. [Material and method]: 30 cricketers participated in this study. Participants of the study was randomly grouped into 30 (n=30). Compare of pre (day 1) and post (day 28). The initial testing took place before the beginning of the pre-season period while the final testing was performed after 4 weeks of intervention with the SAQ training method. The agility training group participated in a 4 week exercise program performing a variety of SAQ agility exercises designed [Result]: The 2-t Confidence level of all tests shows significant change observed i.e. null hypothesis is rejected and alternate hypothesis is accepted, so that we observed significant improvement in fitness & flexibility of the college level male cricketers after 6 weeks SAQ agility training program under strict prescribed technical norms. [Conclusion] Hence we concluded that Overall, based on results of this study and previous research, it can be said that effect of 6 week SAQ agility training program on improving fitness & flexibility among the college level male cricketers is significantly observed so the null hypothesis is rejected and alternate hypothesis is accepted.

Quoique le Moyen Âge joue un rôle plutôt discret dans la série Doctor Who, il n’en est pas pour autant absent, et ces quelques apparitions ne sont pas dénuées d’intérêt.
Dans cet article, nous nous intéressons à la représentation de
la période médiévale The Time Warrior (1973-74), The King’s Demons (1983) et Battlefield (1989), après avoir mis en avant le thème majeur qui les regroupe : la violence. Enfin, le serial le plus récent de notre corpus offre la possibilité d'observer la rencontre entre la mythologie arthurienne et celle de la série.

Science fiction has the potential to offer something new in terms of gender representation. This does not mean it always delivers on this potential. Amid the hype surrounding the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who (1963-89, 2005-present),1 the longest running science fiction series on television, a slightly critical edge is discernable in the media coverage concerning the casting of the Twelfth Doctor and issues of representation in the series. This paper examines Doctor Who in the broader context of TV drama and changes to the television industry, analysing the series' gender representation, especially in the 2005 reboot, and focusing largely on the female ‘companions’.

This paper offers an exploration into feminist female fans' reactions to the first female Doctor (Doctor Who's protagonist). After 55 years of male actors, the 13th Doctor became a woman in 2017. The announcement was met with a backlash, especially from male fans. Unlike previous studies on controversial casting, which focused on the negative commentators, this study sheds light on the supporters who defend the casting while being personally attacked. This research is based on 22 semi-structured in-depth interviews with self-identified feminist female fans of Doctor Who, a minority in a fandom that is perceived as male-dominated. Interviews were conducted after the announcement and before the airing of the new series. This timing provided the opportunity for participants to project their expectations onto the new Doctor. The findings reveal ambivalent reactions: interviewees avidly defended the casting and considered it an important step towards gender equality, both in popular culture and outside of it. However, they also wished the female Doctor would maintain masculine characteristics. This article offers first-hand accounts of feminist female fans who feel excluded from their fan community and the object of their fandom, and the tactics they employ to defend themselves and the new female leading character.

With a growing focus on continuity and canonicity in sprawling fiction franchises, to what extent does this hinder storytelling? Should consistency get in the way of the plot to retain believability? In this essay, Benjamin Knight explores multiple "canon" focused franchises and evaluates their directions.

While the United Kingdom wrestles with the xenophobic consequences of Brexit,  Doctor Who imagines a multiracial British nation where the revered alien is a savvy white woman (Jodie Whittaker) and her human companions are a middle-aged white man, a young black man with dyspraxia, and a twenty-something South Asian woman.  In this chapter, I explore the disjunction between a racially-divided Britain and the progressive and integrated vision of Doctor Who.  I contemplate how Doctor Who’s postracial optimism obscures the corrosive and continuing impact of race in post-Brexit England.  My analysis examines how these seemingly benign multiculturalist images disguise, if not wholly erase, the violent racism of Britain’s imperial past.  My focus will be on Yasmin “Yaz” Khan (Mandip Gill), the Doctor’s first South Asian companion.  As a Muslim of Pakistani descent and a junior police officer, Yaz is an (un)witting agent of what contemporary critical race scholars have variously dubbed the new racism (Eduardo Bonilla-Silva), neoliberal multiculturalism (Jodi Melamed), multiculturalist white supremacy (Dylan Rodríguez), and multi-racial white supremacy (Falguni Sheth).  Her character is thoroughly assimilated and deeply committed to the British nation so much so that she is willing to enforce its historically racist laws and forget its colonial sins.  For example, in the episode “Demons of the Punjab,” no mention is made of Britain’s role in partition instead the blame is placed solely on radical Muslims that loathe their Hindu neighbors.  This chapter ultimately argues that Doctor Who’s amnesia when it comes to racism --- of the past and present --- may, in fact, bolster the white supremacy of Post-Brexit England.

The TARDIS is one of Doctor Who’s most distinctive iconographic components and performs a number of functions.  This paper explores some of the roles that the TARDIS plays, as a space for narrative action, a vehicle, an object within a setting, and a place that is inhabited.  The paper analyses how the TARDIS functions aesthetically, and how it enables and constrains the production of ‘classic’ Doctor Who in the context of studio video and location filming. The paper explores the significations of the TARDIS with special reference to its role in Logopolis (1981) and Castrovalva (1982).

The contemporary media landscape is more and more pervaded by serial narrations called character-based. This tendency can be traced back to the dawn of the modern seriality, finding in characters as Sherlock Holmes the main cornerstones of popular serial narration. In all of this, a problem remains open: how are these characters able to keep their own identity through time and through the media? The topic of this paper is to try to answer the question placing the name of the character at the center of the problem from which to start the investigation of a concentric stratification of signifi-cation, by irradiation of a semic gradually more marginal up to the boundaries of the narrative context.

Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes are two of the most famous characters in popular British culture. In this paper I examine the links between the two in terms of their actors, their writers, and their personal attributes. The strongest connection seems to be in the people who write stories of Doctor Who and also of The Baker Street Irregulars.

The article discusses how the emerging genre of American and British science fiction symbolised and expressed Cold War anxieties after 1949. 
It begins by briefly showing how a popular Western symbolised the Berlin Airlift, then considers how several new Sci Fi novels, including "The Martian Chronicles," "The Day of the Triffids," "I am Legend," and "The Bodysnatchers" each respond more precisely to changing Soviet aggression. 
The chief writers explored are Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, John Wyndham, Richard Matheson, Jack Finney, and the television writer Terry Nation.  Connections are drawn between key science fiction novels and public concerns about possible atomic war, espionage fears, future Soviet invasion, and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
It then suggests a shift in meaning affecting British science fiction from the mid-1950s, with rising fears about the demise of empire, and concerns that European civilisation is waning.  The chief writers discussed in this regard are John Christopher, whose work is linked with the Suez Crisis, & J.G. Ballard's "The Drowned World."  Strong links are also established between several British science fiction novels and William Golding's "Lord of the Flies."
9pp.

This study takes an autoethnographic approach that uses a piece of fanfiction and the author’s experience as both a fanfiction writer and a professional writer for television, to demonstrate how writing fanfiction and participating in the fanfiction community empowers women to express identity on their own terms and to resist the patriarchal impositions of mainstream media culture. Martin Buber’s dialogic ethics serve as an ethical foundation for comparing and contrasting the fanfiction and mainstream media systems for female writers. Fisher’s (1987) narrative paradigm and Hecht, Warren, Jung, and Krieger’s (2005) communication theory of identity provide a theoretical framework for investigating the benefits of fanfiction as a way for female storytellers to explore themes and issues that are important to them through their creative work and through communicating within the female-driven fanfiction community. This study finds that writing fanfiction is a more effective means of creative freedom and empowerment for women than working within the parameters of the mainstream media’s profit-based economy. Furthermore, though it has traditionally been derided by the mainstream and fanfiction communities alike, writing Mary Sue fanfiction, in which the main character is an idealized version of the author, is an especially effective way for women to use fanfiction to empower themselves creatively, build identity, and resist the stereotypes and patriarchal limitations of the mainstream media.

Keywords: fanfiction, fandom, writing, autoethnography, identity, feminism, gender, media, Doctor Who

Russell T. Davies, the head writer for the 2005 reboot of Doctor Who, changed many aspects of the show in order to modernize it to ensure cultural relevance. One of these updates incorporated the presence of GLBTQ characters and non-heteronormative characters, most notably the character of Captain Jack Harkness. This paper analyzes how the Russell T. Davies era of Doctor Who portrays queer characters, specifically Jack’s character and his place in the show by arguing that he is used both in a positive and negative way. It finds that Jack is used to provide positive examples of homosocial bonding, rooted in Eve Sedgwick’s theories from her book Between Men, while also finding that writers negatively use Jack’s character only using him to further the development of the Doctor and Rose’s relationship, supported by Judith Halberstam’s theory about heteronormative conversion fantasies in “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” By studying the representation of queer characters written by a Queer writer, such as Russell T. Davies, one can advance discussions about if Queer characters are portrayed to negatively reinforce or positively undermine the patriarchal heteronormative male character. These conversations can hope to cause reform where writers create representations that fuel troubled on-screen identity representations among the GLBTQ community.

Using notions from fan blogs and fan theory, this project analyzes the inconsistencies surrounding the phenomenon of so-called fangirls in the Doctor Who and One Direction worlds. The term fangirl is usually defined as an irrational adolescent female who is only a fan of very specific types of entertainment because of factors that are perceived by other fans as superficial and irrelevant. In contemporary music and television fandom, these fangirls are often criticized and policed by other fans, many times disregarded as not ‘true’ fans. The project studies this distorted perception and how it leads to misconceptions about the wider spectrum of contemporary fandom. The essay looks specifically at fan labor production and unpacks these inaccurate assumptions about what it is to be a fan, and how what ultimately counts as fangirl behavior actually opens up the potentialities of fan subjectivity itself.

„Doctor Who” to serialowy rekordzista – jest nadawany od ponad pół wieku, rozgałęzia się w transmedialną sieć i gromadzi wokół siebie społeczność wiernych odbiorców. W Polsce nie zyskał nigdy popularności, ukształtował się jednak wokół niego, w dużej mierze internetowy, polskojęzyczny fandom. Mimo bariery językowej i niepełnej dystrybucji, polscy fani angażują się w serial i towarzyszące mu projekty w mediach innych niż telewizja. Celem niniejszej pracy jest dokonanie opisu podwójnych badań etnograficznych – ilościowych i jakościowych – przeprowadzonych wśród polskich fanów „Doctora Who”. Ankieta, w której wzięło udział 979 respondentów, pozwoliła opisać grupę, jej strukturę demograficzną i podstawowe obszary zainteresowań fanów, zaś dane uzyskane w wywiadach pogłębionych ukazały różnorodność fanowskiej tożsamości i działalności oraz refleksje fanów na temat przynależności do grupy. Szczególny nacisk położony został na kwestię relacji międzyludzkich zawieranych w grupie fanowskiej w kontekście teorii nowoplemion Michela Maffesoliego, specyficzne formy działalności fanowskiej osadzonej w polskiej kulturze, pozaserialowe podstawy więzi łączących fanów, a także wirtualny charakter fandomu badany w oparciu o teorie Manuela Castellsa. Szerokim kontekstem dla badań był również dorobek obszaru studiów nad fandomem, przede wszystkim teorie Henry’ego Jenkinsa, z którymi skonfrontowane zostały definicje sformułowane przez samych fanów, a uzupełnieniem – opis serialu ze szczególnym naciskiem położonym na jego różnorodność i wspomnianą już transmedialność.
Obraz grupy wyłaniający się z badań koresponduje z jednej strony z nowoczesnymi formami wspólnotowości opisanymi przez Maffesoliego, a z drugiej stanowi przykład nieformalnej grupy, która jest dla swoich członków ważnym elementem życia, motywuje ich do rozwoju na różnych płaszczyznach i zapewnia poczucie przynależności i wsparcia. Fandom skupia osoby szczególnie mocno zaangażowane w fikcyjny świat przedstawiony w serialu, a zarazem stanowi wspólnotę eskapistyczną, alternatywną formę gromadzenia się wokół wspólnych zainteresowań i dzielonego światopoglądu. W zależności od preferencji i potrzeb uczestnika, grupa fanowska może stać się dla niego forum do dyskusji o kulturze popularnej i ulotnym nowoplemieniem lub wspólnotą, do której przynależność jest trwalsza – przestrzenią kształtowania wizji świata, zawierania relacji międzyludzkich, nadawania kierunku rozwojowi osobistemu i podejmowania nowych aktywności.

***

Among numerous TV series, "Doctor Who" is the holder of many records – it is being broadcast for more than half a century, it forms a transmedial net and gathers around itself a community of devoted fans. It did not gain such popularity in Poland, there is, though, a Polish fandom, operating primarily in the Internet. In spite of language differences and incomplete distribution in Poland, Polish fans are strongly engaged in the series and associated projects in other media. The aim of the thesis is to describe double ethnographic research in the form of questionnaire and interviews conducted among Polish “Doctor Who” fans. The questionnaire, in which 979 respondents participated, enabled the author to describe the group, its demographic structure and basic areas of interest of the fans. The data collected via interviews have shown the diversity of fan identity and activity, as well as fans' opinions on being members of the fandom. The emphasis was placed on relationships built in a fan community in the context of neo-tribes theory by Michel Maffesoli, peculiar forms of activity influenced by Polish culture and reality, the bases of relationships between fans derived from sources other than TV series, and virtual nature of fan community based on Manuel Castells' work. The broader context for the thesis was also the area of fan studies, especially Henry Jenkins' work, and the description of the series itself with emphasis on its diversity and transmedial character.
The image of the fandom emerging from the research on the one hand corresponds with modern forms of community described by Maffesoli, and on the other is an example of an informal group that is perceived by its members as an important part of their lives. The said group motivates them to grow personally; it also provides a sense of community and support. Fandom gathers individuals that are exceptionally engaged in the fictional world of TV series. At the same time it is a community characterized by escapism – an alternative form of gathering around shared interests and shared worldview. Depending on personal preferences and needs of a particular member, a fan community may become a forum for discussion about popular culture and an elusive neo-tribe or a community with a strong sense of participation – a place where people can shape their worldview, establish new relationships, give each other direction to personal growth, and undertake new activities.

Is there any link between Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Who? On the surface, obviously not. But it is an occasional and recurring question found on many blogs and web-sites and occasional pieces of print.
It is not a surprising question either when we look at the characters themselves. Both have unusually high intelligence, both seem privileged with arcane and unusual knowledge which other people lack, both can make inferences based on observations other people would not have made, neither is prone to romantic connections, but both make firm friends and have loyal assistants, both have mysterious origins and unknown childhoods, neither is concerned with material gain though they both live in reasonable comfort, neither relies on their physical strength to overcome adversaries, and despite martial abilities, both seem remarkably pacifistic, both have faced seemingly fantastic or paranormal problems and have used their knowledge and intelligence to bring them back to a logical, scientific, explicable reality, both have a dangerous opposite number – Moriarty and The Master, both are prone to supplying insufficient explanation to their less sagacious contemporaries – not explaining what they consider obvious, neither is particularly interested in food or drink, except as something to be knowledgeable about, both have fascinated generations of readers and viewers, and both, in a sense very different to the usual use of the word, are superheroes. Also, though it may not seem very important at first, the stories of Sherlock Holmes and of Doctor Who are things which are attractive to both children and adults, and are things which we grow up with – integral parts of our formative years. Naturally, there are also many points of difference between Holmes and the Doctor; Holmes, for example, does not regenerate, and the Doctor does not play the violin, but the many points in common, and their comparably high profile and enduring fame, tend to attract attention and the differences tend to be obscured.

What if I told you that inside all of us is Batman? Maybe not the cape wearing, crime fighting vigilante hero, but a hero nonetheless. Psychologist Carl Jung proposed a theory of archetypes that says that within our collective unconscious (Jungian theory that there are shared experiences within all of our unconscious minds) are themes, symbols and motifs that are common to all of us. Whether we’re talking about Bob Kane or J. R. R. Tolkien and their works of fiction, they both rely heavily on the portrayal of archetypes. Because archetypes are ingrained in all of us, writers are able to reach us at deeper levels and it helps us connect to the characters and stories. The Hero archetype is given to a character who undergoes the archetypal hero’s journey (early on tragedy, call to action, Action). The hero is characterized by constantly trying to prove their worth and strives to win at everything, whether it’s for personal gain or for making the world a better place. Jung see’s the hero as someone who fights great odds with human vulnerabilities, and this is what encourages him to use his skills to help others (Dominguez-Chio, 2014) The hero’s fear is being powerless or weak, and their folly is arrogance (Evans, 2013). The hero can be seen in many of the popular movies and television shows that have large “fandoms.” A fandom is a fan base of people who are very connected and emotionally invested in a movie or a show; some common fandoms are Doctor Who, Sherlock, Batman, and pretty much anything else you see t-shirts for at Hot Topic. Jungian theory would argue that because archetypes are part of the collective unconscious, that’s why these fictional pieces are so popular, because fans can connect with the stories on deeper levels.

Although much had been said (and celebrated) about the inclusion of the LGBTQ population in the new Doctor Who (2005-) through characters like Jack Harness and Bill, I believe that the show has an inherent queerness, since the Doctor had never been tied to a single body, a single identity, or a single time. The defining traits of the character, a time traveler that changes when necessary through the regeneration process, are queer traits. Based on the reflections of Michel Focault regarding friendship and social expectations (1997) and Halbertsam´s about queer temporalities perceptions and constructions (2005) I will argue that Doctor Who belongs in the realm of queer cinema as defined by Schoonover and Galt (2016). For this essay, I will analyze “The Day of the Doctor” (S50E8, Nov 13, 2013) that was conceived and commercialized as a standalone film of the franchise.

This thesis explores the intersections between repetition, leitmotif and the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze in the context the BBC television series Doctor Who (1963-1989; 2005- ). Deleuze proposes that instead of the return of the same, repetition, by its constant insertion in a new temporal context can produce difference as part of the process of the eternal return. He also rejects the concepts of being in favour of becoming. I argue his framework on repetition allows us to broaden the definition of the leitmotif and embrace the role of repetition. I analyse the leitmotif of three characters: Amy Pond, River Song, and the Doctor.  In all three instances, the leitmotifs are an active participant in the process of becoming while, simultaneously, undergoing their own becoming. For River, the leitmotif also works as a territorializing refrain, while for the Doctor, use of leitmotif paradoxically gives the impression of being.

Questo lavoro nasce con l’intento di trovare la soluzione a un problema che normalmente nessuno sembra volersi porre: come si riconoscono i personaggi?
Prima di andare a osservare le possibili vie alla risposta, è opportuno focalizzare l’oggetto d’indagine; il personaggio di cui si tratta qui è quello seriale, che abita universi narrativi che non si limitano a un solo testo, ma che proseguono la propria esistenza in maniera continuata, attraversando il tempo e i media, coprendo diverse generazioni e sopravvivendo addirittura ai propri autori.
In un panorama di continua espansione e riscrittura, il personaggio necessita di strategie che gli permettano di resistere ai cambi di tempo, di contesto e di medium; in sostanza, egli ha bisogno di qualcosa che lo renda sé stesso a prescindere dal testo in cui è inserito.

The BBC television series Doctor Who (BBC, 1963-1989, 1996, 2005 – present) has displayed a prominent gendered relationship at the fore since its beginning in 1963; the pairing of the alien Doctor, a man, alongside his travelling companion, usually a younger woman. This dissertation is situated as a gender studies examination of Doctor Who and examines the Doctor’s (David Tennant) relationships with his companions Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) and Catherine Tate (Donna Noble), in relation to discourses of masculinity – including hegemonic masculinity –
feminism and femininity on television. The particular era of the programme (2006-2008), has been chosen due to the range of difference between the three companions – Rose as the youngest companion, who shares a loving, if not implied sexual relationship, with The Doctor. Martha as the ‘unrequited love’ companion, and Donna as the older, purely platonic friendly companion.

    This dissertation uses textual analysis to deconstruct and examine the programme in relation to the discourses mentioned. The episodes are discussed in reference to such gender and television theory mentioned, as well as in reference to other outside texts and the conditions on which was programme was produced, such as Russell T Davies’ book The Writer’s Tale. Chapter wise, the dissertation is split up into three, one chapter for each companion, enabling detailed examination of the episodes chosen in relation to the discourses.

This study sets out to examine the representations and political narratives of selected science fiction television programs (Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Doctor Who (circa 2005) and Torchwood).  Utilizing the work of Television Studies, Cultural Studies, Women’s Studies, Ethnic Studies and Queer Studies scholars, as well as the popular work of fans, I assess the discursive productions of these programs and their potential as “social justice television.”  I conclude that each of these programs both interrupt and replicate normative Western discourse, that the interruptions serve as a significant site of social justice despite occurring alongside reification of normative discourse and that social justice workers (both inside and outside the academy) can effectively use these stories in their work.

Online fandoms are complex social communities that not only leverage the power of the internet (itself a communication technology) but in doing so create their own unique ways of communicating and relating to each other and the world (Baym 1993). Furthermore, many fans use online fandom to create original stories, artwork, videos, and more. In fact, in considering the research question, “How does online fandom affect the lives of those who participate in it, those who create the source materials for fandom, and the culture at large?” this paper will show, using the framework of the narrative paradigm and by examining existing research, that participants use online fandom to tell and define their individual and collective stories as well as influence the “official” stories of their fandoms and overall popular culture.

Compares the use and resolution of Minotaur and Labyrinth themes and imagery, and the identification of the Theseus hero-figure with the monster, in Victor Pelevin’s novel The Helmet of Horror and the sixth season Doctor Who episode “The God Complex.”

Reprint of my article (2016) published in Mythlore  https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol34/iss2/7/

This article uses fictional depictions of Mary Shelley as the 'mother' of sf to explore how gendered images of the Romantic genius continue to influence our perception of women in genre fiction. The first part of the article introduces the concept of the Romantic authorship, and reviews Shelley's legacy as the mother of sf. The second part of the article analyses Shelley's fictionalised appearances on-screen: in film, television, and new media, from 1935 to the present day. This analysis demonstrates that even in fictions depicting Shelley as an author in her own right, she is still marked by a gendered understanding of how women should function creatively. The way female authors are fictionalised (as opposed to how they are depicted in biographical or academic texts) reflects our expectations of women in the creative industries more broadly.

In the present research we examine the association between perceived maturity of a group and willingness to form a romantic relationship with a member of that group. In Study 1, we tested the validity of a 2-item measure of self-reported maturity by assessing its relationship with existing measures of maturity and other related measures. The new measure showed evidence of being valid. In Study 2, we modified the scale to examine participants' perceptions of the maturity of fans of various interests (e.g., sport, music, media) and their degree of willingness to form romantic relationships with a member of each fan group. Results revealed a positive correlation between perceived maturity and willingness to date. Together, the results validate the short measure of maturity and demonstrate its utility in finding associations between perceived maturity, content of leisure interests, and prospects of romantic relationship formation.

“Oh great a female Doctor Who. What next? Female real doctors? Female pilots? Female scientists? Female sisters and mothers? Female WOMEN?!”

Where male-dominated science and science fiction venerates an ability to imbue inanimate materials with animacy, it further implicates reanimation as a highly gendered political act, one which uses, to borrow from linguistic theorist Mel Y. Chen, “animacy hierarchies to manipulate, affirm, and shift the ontologies that matter the world.” In the present chapter, I examine key science fiction films to build upon to theorize the Western masculine persona as additionally empowered through its endowing with the ability to reanimate, or imbue with life force that which is understood as without life, or inanimate.