STFU Moffat

The natural life-cycle of the Moffat female

(submitted by [redacted])

Is it just me, or does Moffat really only have one female character archetype? The only differences between his female characters is where they are in their lives. At least in Who and Sherlock, all of his female characters seem to fall on one stage or another in this progression:

The Girl [young Amy Pond, young every-other-girl Moffat’s Doctor meets.] - innocent and sweet but bright and spunky, filled with wonder, a little shy but still not shy as the boys who she handily outshines. The Girl grows into the:

The Young Woman/Vixen [Sally Sparrow, Amy Pond, Oswin - Moffat’s favorite choice for lead female character] - Witty and spunky but less naive, so tending toward snarky; confident, outspoken, sexually aware and flirtatious, often with both genders. The Young Woman becomes the:

The Maturing Woman/Temptress [River Song, Irene Adler] - Still bright but more sexually aggressive, trading in some of the spunk for a more snark and sultry allure. Dominant and presents as ‘strong and independent’, but will inevitably fall in love (with a man, as opposed to titillating dalliances with women), so she can advance to the next stage:

The Wife [Donna while in the Library, Amy on occasion, Mme Pompadour from GitF falls between this and the former] : Much like the previous, except that any goals or desires have been subsumed by the achievement of the penultimate goal of marriage, and her husband’s happiness is her primary concern. Still may be sexually attractive, but monogamously devoted to her husband, and her desire/reason for existence (conscious or subconscious) is to have children, in order to become:

The Mother [Nancy from Doctor Dances/Empty Child, Madge from The Doctor, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Amy again on occasion, and both River and Donna in the Library]: the ultimate goal of womanhood, a pinnacle of selfless love and caring - still clever, spunky, and confident; attractive, but no longer sexually available or presented as sexually appealing - she is there to care for and comfort, not to titillate. If she lives and doesn’t sacrifice herself for her progeny, she becomes:

The Matron [Mrs. Hudson is the only example I can think of but there might be more?]: caring and doting, her maternal instincts more diffuse, but old enough to require caring for herself by her children or surrogate children. Unattractive and any implications of sexuality are only played for humor.

The thing is, this progression on its own doesn’t necessarily make for a bad character; it’s not that unrealistic (there are definitely real women whose lives follow a similar template) and it has some positive elements - these women are strong, smart, funny, and fairly sexually confident.

What bothers me is that every single one of Moffat’s female characters is this woman. The only differences between the characters is how quickly they pass between the stages (so some will be older or younger than others at the same stage), and how much they try to advance or try to resist (he seems especially interested in the transitions between Girl and Woman, and between Woman to Wife/Mother; pretty much all of the development of his female characters involve those two advancements: girls who don’t want to grow up (but eventually have to), women who don’t want to become mothers (but eventually have to.)) There are no young women who are serious or introverted; there are no mothers who have careers (at all, let alone careers they value). There are no women who really truly want other things out of life than a husband and children - they might think they do, but they’ll always come ‘round, giving up any other desire or ambition they ever had to devote themselves entirely to motherhood.

What disturbs me even more is that based on at least a few interviews I’ve read, I get the impression that Moffat actually believes that this is pretty much the life progression of all women in reality - not even that it’s our ‘proper path’ or whatever, but simply our fundamental nature. As if female human beings are a unique and magnificent species (entirely different from the human male, who are just people) and Moffat is a biologist carefully studying and charting our natural life cycle.