The thing I find saddest about Rose hate is that even among many fans who champion female characters, ‘feminists,’ the people who complain about drama over on journalfen and such, it’s okay to hate Rose. And it’s not just okay to hate her. It’s okay to bash her rather ruthlessly. Rose is in a unique situation where she’s a very popular character within a portion of the fanbase, but within the rest she gets a ton of really, really vitriolic and venomous hate. And the problem with Rose hate is that not only is it often extremely inappropriate, but it’s also sexist (not surprising) and classist. How much Rose hate do you see accompanied by comments about her being a ‘chav’ and about how she is ‘unworthy’ of the Doctor’s companionship because she’s just a ‘stupid shopgirl’ or a ‘chav,’ and she ‘didn’t even graduate high school.’
That’s classism. No ifs ands or buts. They are judging and demeaning her character based on her social class. The scary thing about it is that you’ll often see these things directed at Rose from people in fandom who claim to fight for social justice. Apparently being classist in fandom is okay though, at least with Rose.
Anyway, Rose is my favorite female character ever. She’s brilliantly written. She’s both beautifully strong and perfectly flawed. She’s real. She breathes. She could be a person you meet on the street, because she’s so flesh and blood despite being a character on television. But Rose isn’t just a normal person. She’s someone who appears underwhelming at first, but when she is allowed to shine, when she’s allowed to be who she is and explore the world with the Doctor, she shows indomitable strength, endless compassion, bravery, and ingenuity and cleverness.
Rose is smart. Even when it comes to being booksmart, she’s far, far from unintelligent. But it’s her adaptability and the way her mind works that makes her really brilliant. Rose is able to think outside of the box. She notices things others don’t notice. She’s able to put things together when others can’t. She doesn’t allow her ideas to be stifled by things like the Doctor does, and because of that she comes up with wonderful ideas. And as far as being ‘technically’ intelligent? Season four, enough said. Helping to create a time machine and a dimension cannon can’t be easy.
Rose is compassionate. Rose is a people person. The Doctor looks at the technicalities of the situation, and Rose looks at the people. And looking at and discovering the people, showing them compassion and love, is often what can lead to finding things out, lead to the solution.
Rose is strong. Think about the things that Rose faces on a day to day basis. She doesn’t break. She doesn’t bend. She remains herself. She’s a good leader. She’s of strong mind and heart, and she will fight to the end (and maybe defeat Satan in the process).
Rose is fearless. This is both a strength and a flaw, but it’s awesome either way.
Rose knows what she wants, and she is not afraid to try and get it.
There are people out there that see this as weakness. Rose is clingy! Rose doesn’t want to let go of the Doctor. Wrong. Rose wants to be with the Doctor, and she wants to travel with the Doctor, and she knows this. And she knows that the Doctor wants to be with her, even if he’s got too many issues to fully acknowledge it. She KNOWS the Doctor needs her, and she is more than willing to say ‘absolutely not’ when someone is in her way. She is an adult. She can make her own decisions. She might choose to leave her family, but she doesn’t make these choices lightly. It’s what she feels is right. Rose will fight for what she wants, even if others disagree with her. She is absolutely undaunted in her convictions. She has agency. And that, in contrast to being ‘clingy’ is awesome.
Is Rose flawed? Most certainly. She is still growing up throughout much of the series. She can be jealous, she can petty, she can be flippant, she can even be reckless. But all of this just serves to make her more human, and to make her strengths seem all the more awesome.
[ For womenlovefest ]
Womenlovefest- Rose Tyler (Doctor Who):
