You may or may not have noticed that, after several years of writing about Doctor Who every week, I abruptly stopped a few months ago. Part of it was simply fatigue, I felt like I'd said enough and had repeated myself a few times. But I think a bigger part is that the mediocrity of the 13th Doctor era has fully settled in, the result being a general feeling of death about the franchise. Something about the Davies and Moffat eras made the franchise feel alive, that, incredibly, this over fifty year old series was still in play, was capable of gripping an audience with exciting choices and lively characters. Putting together all of the problems of the 13th Doctor era--the bad writing, the shallow political influences, the BBC production mandates--have been like a plastic bag sucked down the throat. The show gasped and couldn't get air.
I hadn't been thinking about it until a few days ago YouTube's algorithm offered me a five hour video called The Fall of Doctor Who. This video premiered two months ago and it already has 1.1 million views. It's top of the list when you search for "Doctor Who" on YouTube.
I'm on summer vacation from teaching now (though I still work with students for various reasons) so I was looking for things to listen to while working on my comic. Five hours of someone talking about Doctor Who sounded like it had potential and I did end up listening to the whole thing. Though I found myself thinking more about the YouTuber who made it than about the arguments they present. In five hours, I feel they could have covered more ground--they don't address how bad the direction is, for example. The things they do go after ought to be low hanging fruit--the poor writing that fails to build any character, the shallow moral rhetoric, the unsatisfying contributions to the franchise world building. And yet, it is worth boosting the signal on these criticisms because the BBC and the professional critics on its payroll are so vigorous at pushing a hollow impression of general praise for the series and hatred for those who dissent. This YouTuber who made the five hour video is a 21 year old kid named Jay Exci who's already been smeared as far right, fascist, and misogynist. This is in spite of the video not offering a single criticism of the Doctor being female--only briefly mentioning the fact once--in the whole five hour runtime.
They (according to TV Tropes, Exci identifies as non-binary and prefers she/they/he pronouns) have been a YouTuber for some time despite being so young. I wondered how someone so young could be so conversant in critic speak but then it occurred to me this is the language so many people are likely being raised on as their primary media intake has become YouTube videos. While Exci's criticism may not be profound, their video is well produced and relatively entertaining. As the voices of "official" media become increasingly false, I find the honesty inherent in the expressed opinions of internet personalities like this increasingly valuable and necessary.
I guess what we're seeing in progress is a profound shift in media discourse. As old publications become increasingly incompetent and belligerent, and quite ugly in their attempts to discredit criticism, it seems almost inevitable that voices outside of mainstream publications will become more and more important. Not as well paid or as well funded (like many of the most successful YouTubers, Exci appears to come from a wealthy family), but more reflective of reality.
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