9 Adult Themes in the New Doctor Who – Is It Still a Kid’s Show?
2. Psychological Warfare
Its interesting that in the current regeneration of Doctor Who the scariest monsters are psychological rather than physical. They dont blow you away with guns or bombs but with time and memory. The Weeping Angels displace you in time, removing you from everything familiar, feeding off the energy of your lost potential in your original timeline. The Silence erase memory, suddenly you are unable to trust your power of thought, and your actions can be controlled by their influence. Then of course theres Madame Kovarian, an agent of the Silence, who tried to steal a childs identity and substitute her own murderous one. All of these monsters use a form of psychological manipulation in order to get what they want. Sound familiar? These monsters are the scariest because they are us. We do this to each other all the time. We scheme and deceive, use and abuse, to get what we want with no thought to the damage were doing to the other person. Any being without a conscience is creepy. What keeps us from turning into outright monsters like those portrayed in Doctor Who? Weve been taught to nurture our own innate compassion and empathy. Im reminded of Donna Nobles transformation in Series 4. Her emotional journey is an epic one starting out as shallow and manipulative but finding her way to compassion and empathy through her exposure to different races and other points of view. When the Doctor removes those memories those lessons she reverts back to her prior self. She can, of course, find those parts of herself again, but only if she is willing to be taught. Doctor Who started out labeling itself as an educational show and it hasnt actually strayed as far from that mission as one might think upon first impression. Our scariest monsters may be inside our own heads but Doctor Who tells us that by opening up our minds we can also find the greatest teachers.