Bloody Useless: Martha Jones, the In-Between Companion
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| Title: | Bloody Useless: Martha Jones, the In-Between Companion |
| Creator: | rebeccakul |
| Date(s): | October 2, 2012 |
| Medium: | Online |
| Fandom: | Doctor Who |
| Topic: | Martha Jones |
| External Links: | essay; archive link |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Bloody Useless: Martha Jones, the In-Between Companion was a meta essay by rebeccakul posted to their Remember the Ladies blog. It discusses the character of Martha Jones and how they felt she was a "useless" companion for The Doctor.
Excerpts
But Martha’s peripheral position goes beyond her filling Rose’s empty shoes, making the Doctor feel better. Martha was a companion without imagination, without a strong role to play in the story she and the Doctor were living in. With the exception of the season finale, she was never a driving force in the story. Anytime she was playing a strong role, it was on the strict instructions of the Doctor.
Martha suffered for this, for her own lack of initiative. Her family suffered, she and she was left always feeling second best. Martha was a reduced character, one without the feminine power of Rose or the masculine power of Jack. She was just there for the Doctor to have someone to talk to. Even when she left him, her only strong choice in her whole story, her life was dominated by her connection to the Doctor. That connection got her a job at UNIT, it got her a medical liscense, and eventually it got her a husband.
In both narrative and character, Martha was a failure as a companion, a shell. She was objectified in the worst way possible, the only way that is really dangerous no matter what anyone says: she was a person around which things happened, a person who followed directions or followed the flow, a person who needed to be acted upon, not an actor in her own right.
Responses
I disagree. Yes, she was in a sense the rebound girl. How were the writers supposed to follow up the strictly romantic storyline if Rose and the Doctor? Martha was a doctor — a doctor for the Doctor. After all that had happened, he needed someone there to heal him emotionally and look after him, and that’s what she did. She was able to take directions and assess situations critically. She walked the Earth for a year! I love Rose, but seriously imagine her having done half the things Martha’s accomplished.[1]
“racism is no obstacle to wandering around time and space”….way to belittle racism. Anyway, Martha Jones was the only companion so far that actually had a goal in the real world besides working in a shop, as a temp, or a kiss-a-gram. I can’t believe you say Martha could only do what she was told, when Donna was the same way, except worse because she constantly doubted herself. Martha was strong because she stayed with the doctor for as long as she did when she knew she had no shot with him. Unrequited love is the hardest kind, and to end the relationship the way she did was amazing. Most women could learn a thing or to about that from her. Rose was nothing but sex appeal. The only thing Martha Jones did was be black. I’m so sick of Martha haters.[1]
References
- ^ a b "Comments on Bloody Useless: Martha Jones, the In-Between Companion". Archived from the original on 2024-11-11.