queer representation

Watching – Class

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On Saturday October 22, 2016 Class, a Doctor Who spinoff, premiered in the UK and Canada. Written by Patrick Ness and set in Coal Hill School (revamped as Coal Hill Academy for Class) this is a Young Adult series that has tangential links to the Doctor Who universe.  With so little actual Doctor Who right now Class is filling a huge gap in programming and is bound to be watched by so many fans looking for anything Who related.  Andrew can attest to my excitement – there was much clapping, some jumping up and down, and general squee.

To me the show felt somewhere in between Doctor Who and Torchwood.  It had adult themes, gore (a lot of gore at points), and sexuality all built into the first two episodes.  Though set tangentially in the DW universe Class has a distinct feel and vibe that is completely different than DW.  It feels more raw and like it has a completely different set of rules than the traditional Doctor Who episode.

For me the highlights of the first two episodes were the witty one liners and abundance of snark combined with a diverse set of characters.  Two of the lead actors are PoC and within the first episode we get an example of a queer relationship and see a person with a physical disability on screen.  I only hope that this representation continues in a meaningful way and that the characters are well developed beyond standard tropes.

Listening – Web of Queer

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I listen to a lot of podcasts.  The android app I use called “podcast addict” might be an apt description for my recent consumption of them.  A lot Almost all of the podcasts I listen to are Doctor Who related.  I’ve been listening to new and back catalogue episodes of Verity!, Radio Free Skaro, the Memory Cheats, and the Tin Dog Podcast for months now.  Despite all this fan inspired podcast listening I hadn’t stumbled on Web of Queer until fairly recently.

I’ve been binge listening to Web of Queer ever since this discovery. Web of Queer is comprised of a group of queer folks from a wide range of geographic backgrounds, ages, with varying experiences with Doctor Who and podcasting. The podcast is a great mix of reviews and discussions, often looking at bits of Doctor Who or media from a queer perspective. Reviews range from New to Classic to Big Finish to Books and the occasionally tangentially related media.

Some of my favourite episodes are the ones where the group has an in-depth discussion about queer representation on Doctor Who or about the use of gender and sexuality labels in fandom.  A lot of these discussions are also a great starting point for anyone who is interested in learning more about the importance of language, representation, and the queer community.  These discussions are also often accompanied by links to other relevant background reading. The episodes also include time stamps to you can skip to the discussion if you would prefer not to listen to a review as well. Some highlights include: