Cross-posted at the wondrous Womanist Musings.
Alternate universes. Causal time loops. Perception filters. Sonic screwdrivers. Roundels. Creatures and stories beyond imagination. Time travel in a blue 1960s-style London police box. Sexy British men in a variety of amusing outfits. The Doctor, a brilliant man of two hearts, traversing time and space with his equally sexy and (usually) brilliant companions – saving humanity, alien species or time itself from a vast host of evil threats. Put it all together and you get my favourite television programming of all time: Doctor Who.
So imagine my absolute fan girl surprise when they introduced a Muslim character into a recent episode, “The God Complex.” For a few brief moments my heart soared with excitement at the very thought that there would be a Muslim in the TARDIS.
And then they promptly killed her off.
A Muslim in the TARDIS? No way!
Because she was such an enjoyable and positive character, some podcasters and fans within the Whoniverse have expressed surprise that Rita, the “almost companion” had to die. But the more I thought about how her story played out the more I realised that the focus on Rita’s religion was just convenient tool to drive the plot. Which makes her death even more unfortunate, as her faith and strength as a character is pivotal to the story itself – a story about exposing your very soul through terror.
I loved this episode. Loved the classic Doctor Who elements, loved the characters and loved the acting. It opens with cheesy elevator music playing in an eerie 1980s hotel and a group of trapped and terrified people. Creepy, long corridors reminiscent of “The Shining” lead to endless hotel rooms, behind which house your greatest fear – a depressed clown, that horrible gorilla, defeat, having your picture taken, or daleks.
You don’t know what’s going to be in your room until you see it, and then you realise it could never be anything else.
Once properly terrified, a ferocious Minotaur awakens to kill the victims – emptying them of “the simple spark of life” and robbing them of their “loves and hates, faiths and fears.” Before death, each victim experiences a kind of rapture – consumed with a desire to worship the Minotaur.
We first meet the amazing Rita when the Doctor and his companions stumble across a group of frightened people in the hotel lobby. After threatening the Doctor with a chair leg, Rita takes control of the chaotic situation and promptly impresses the Doctor with her admirable leadership and observational skills. He practically eats her up with his eyes and she’s intrigued by his attention.
The Doctor then jokingly fires his current female companion Amy, and mouths to Rita, “call me… we’ll talk.”
The ultimate pick up line from a Time Lord.
Rita is quick, brilliant, sarcastic and makes easy jokes: “No, in two days it never occurred to us to open the front door. Thank God you’re here.” A perfect companion. And as a perfect companion, she starts feeding the Doctor all the information he needs to know about the hotel and the Minotaur.
That’s when we find out she’s Muslim.
Oh Doctor, don't look so surprised.
In a conversation about where the hotel might exist, we learn that Rita believes they’re trapped in Jahannam – the Islamic equivalent to Hell. In response the Doctor says, along with an inappropriate amount of surprise in his tone, “You’re a Muslim!”
And in the ultimate post 9/11 fear mongering, creeping shari’a, Islamophobia-runs-rampant-in-the-world punch-line, Rita responds, “Don’t be frightened.”
Ha-ha.
Recovering with a quick laugh the Doctor then almost derisively asks if she really thinks the place they’re trapped is Hell.
You don’t understand. I say this without fear. Jahannam will play it’s tricks and there will be times when I want to run and scream. But I’ve tried to live a good life and that knowledge keeps me sane despite the monsters in the bonkers rooms.
Soon we discover that Rita has faced her ultimate fear and is next on the Minotaur’s list. She secludes herself and runs as far away from the others as possible – sacrificing herself to protect them from the inevitable attack.
Watching her on a security monitor, and horribly upset that he’s unable to save her (and that she won’t let him) the Doctor phones Rita to tell her to block out her fears and stay focused on her belief. This advice turns out to be her death sentence.
With her death and Rita’s final words, the Doctor realises that it’s not fear but faith on which the Minotaur feeds. Whether that’s faith in God, luck or conspiracy theories – the monster consumes one’s most fundamental belief.
"I want you to do me one last favour doctor. I can feel the rapture approaching like a wave. I don't want you to witness this. I want you to remember me the way I was. Please let me be robbed of my faith in private."
Now, when a program showcases a positive Muslim character it’s a victory and a cause for celebration especially among Muslim fans. For decades we’ve been the easy choice for comedic relief, terrorists, horrible stereotypical Arabs (even though most of us aren’t Arab), cab drivers, oppressed women and most certainly token characters who are just there to justify an episode on terrorism, racism, diversity or social justice. And that’s precisely what this episode did: use a token Muslim to help write a brilliant story.
I don’t like hating upon my favourite show. Really I don’t. On one hand I’m absolutely thrilled that Rita was written so wonderfully and positively – but on the other there was much snorting and eye rolling when I saw that her effectiveness as a character was just to drive the plot.
The only reason she’s Muslim is to tell a cheap, albeit funny, joke and to have an example of someone with a deep faith for God. The “don’t be frightened” crack wouldn’t have worked if she were a devout Catholic. She needs to be Muslim because the episode is about fear and as sad as it is, “scary” is on the list of easy Muslim stereotypes.
It’s Rita’s strength, willingness to sacrifice herself and perceptive ability to call the Doctor out on his own “God complex” that make her an effective Muslim character. But being a woman of colour from the Indian subcontinent, a medical student who loves tea and whose greatest fear is disappointing her horribly overbearing father who can’t accept her “B” in mathematics – are all convenient and unfortunate generalisations.
The Doctor always has an affinity for the strange and wonderful. He’s well known to become overenthusiastic and exotify new or unique alien species and to “collect” those who make an impression on him. In his reaction to and interaction with Rita, I feel like the writers made him into an Orientalist voyeur.
In his near millennium-long lifetime, Rita is presumably the first Muslim the Doctor has cared to recognize. The fact he’s shocked at her faith also tells me that the writers feel the political climate against Muslims is so horrible that the Doctor actually has reason to be surprised. And yet the only real clue to Rita’s Muslimness is a random Arabic reference. She could have easily said “we’re in Hell” and the episode would have move forward without question or focus on Islam.
Rita needs to die in order for the Doctor to understand how to save the people he loves – this is the main reason her character was written into the episode. So I don’t understand the reference to her faith except to check off “Muslim” from a list of marginal voices to represent on the show.
I never had the expectation that there could ever be a Muslim companion. It wasn’t an important element for me to ask for, because Doctor Who fires up my imagination and for years I’ve created stories in my mind about traveling and experiencing the universe with some roguish Time Lord. And while it would be nice to have a Muslim in the TARDIS, I know now there will never be one.
wood turtle 
October 6, 2011 at 10:57 am
Excellent points, elequently put.
October 6, 2011 at 11:54 am
Thanks Leeson.
BTW, your podcast is amazing. It’s always insightful, silly and brings a smile to my face.
(everyone go listen to it NOW)
October 6, 2011 at 11:49 am
You’ve given me reason to re-examine my response to her character. I’d stopped at the superficial “OMG how awesome they included a Muslim Asian woman who is a fabulous character I hope she surviv- oh, damn!”, but your analysis shows me where that’d been my privilege keeping me from looking closer. I’m still glad she was there and she was awesome, but I need to expect more.
Thanks.
October 6, 2011 at 11:58 am
Hey Catie! You know I felt the same way. I was all, “ZOMG A MOOZLUM! She’s AWESUM! and she’s going to join the Doc.. oh. Damn. Now why did that have to happen?”
As a representative of Muslims (even when some of her character was just based on stereotypes), I am glad that Rita was so brilliant.
It could definitely had gone much much worse. So from that perspective, I totally recognise that the writers did a good job.
She’ll be missed!
October 7, 2011 at 5:15 pm
Totally! She was witty, brave, faithful, feminine and modest, and a natural leader. It’s so disappointing that they didn’t see the wonderful possibilities that could have arisen from her being a part of the TARDIS crew for a while.
I felt the same way about Nasreen, the Asian geologist from last season’s Silurian two-parter: her enthusiasm for getting into the TARDIS and meeting the neighbours, scary and dangerous though it might be, was really inspiring, as was her willingness to step up and be the negotiator for homo sapiens.
It’s past time for an Asian Briton to be a companion. Well past time. And I think that companion being a Muslim woman would be a really interesting new tangent to take off on, and give a whole lot of new and interesting possibilities. We’ve seen that the Anglican church turns into a military order: what happens to various parts of the Muslim world in that future? Is there another Muslim Golden Age of science coming, perhaps? Let’s see more than another 13 episodes of “What Will White People Be Ruling in the Year X?”
Heck, imagine that we got two new companions: a Hindu man and a Muslim woman, both grown up in Britain with first-generation immigrant parents?
Of course, I’d also like to see the next Doctor be something other than a white man, too. I was so excited when there were rumours that Paterson Joseph or Chiwetel Ejiofor might be taking over from Ten. I’ve liked Matt Smith, for sure, but I’d so, so like to see something different in our next Doctor.
October 7, 2011 at 9:03 pm
As you know, I am still rooting for Paterson Joseph or Tilda Swinton as The Doctor.
I hadn’t heard the Chiwetel Ejiofor rumours, but am so putting him on the list. 🙂
October 6, 2011 at 11:55 am
If I ever write a story with a Muslim, I’m sending it to you before it gets published so that you can appropriately smack me if I do it wrong. -_- At this point, I’m convinced that no matter what I write, I will have to have a team of 20 to comb through it to make sure I didn’t make any major fails.
October 8, 2011 at 10:37 am
Agreed! I worry about that just about every time I hit the publish button 😛
Unless it’s about personal stories and voices, I think perhaps just about everything has some kind of fail 🙂
October 6, 2011 at 11:59 am
Salaams!
I was hoping that you would write about this episode, and I’m so glad that you did.
I have to admit, though, that I didn’t feel as negatively about Rita’s portrayal and death as you did, probably because I expect that most Doctor Who characters in stand-alone episodes are marked for death..
Doctor Who has been, in my opinion, notoriously “down” on faith, especially under Russell T. Davies (the bizarreness of the extremely secular, extremely Christmas-y Christmas specials always amused me, I have to admit). Generally I have felt like religious feeling tends to be explained away by science fiction “fact” (Stargate did this a lot, too). What I thought was extremely interesting about Rita was that even in a situation that would seem to defy explanation–where something with mock-divine powers was controlling people and killing them–she didn’t relinquish her faith. Granted, that was a necessary component of the episode, as they needed someone with strong faith, but when they were sitting around the drawing board, they could have chosen someone of a different faith.
(as small digression: it is really interesting that Rita does not suffer a “crisis of faith” in this situation. A recent paper that was presented at a symposium on space travel in Florida was called “Did Jesus Die for Klingons, too?” and poses the very uniquely Christian question of whether or not aliens are “saved”–whether the salvation that comes from Jesus’ self-sacrifice extends to aliens. HOLD ON–I think this came from your Twitter feed! Sorry to be repetitive 🙂 The point I want to make is that this kind of thing is not as much of an issue for Islamic thought, where other worlds could be accounted for in some way)
Why this interested me was that Rita’s identity as British and as awesome were pretty firmly established before they “revealed” that she was Muslim. This can, of course, be read on two levels, the first being that it was another “clue” to discovering the secret of the hotel. The second one, however, is that we are on board with Rita long before we know that she is Muslim; we have a particular idea formed about her, and then it is enhanced and altered with new information. It’s something like how Elvira Kurt used to wait until half-way through her comedy show to talk about how she was a lesbian: she brought the audience on board with her before telling them something that they might judge her for, to try to force them to make an informed decision as to what they thought of her instead of writing her off.
(as another aside, there was a time in England when saying “I’m Catholic” would have been frightening. Nuns in the 1960s were not very popular, much the way that women who choose to wear niqab are treated in various places, now)
I think that this is significant for Doctor Who because it is such a “British” show–it is very much a comment on British society of the times, I think. With the Doctor as a barometer, or some kind of spokesperson from Britain, I thought that his interaction with and appreciation for Rita was significant. Since I approached the episode with the idea that Rita was dead from the beginning (maybe that is just pessimistic of me, but I blame my father), I was really impressed by the dignity with which she chose to die, and her complete independence from the Doctor. Rita comes off as an equal to him instead of a subordinate like Amy, waiting for him to save her (a trait which is revealed as quite negative by the end of the episode – and really is a theme throughout the season). I think that it is possible to separate her function as “plot device” and her function as “Muslim woman” in an analysis of the episode. That said, I completely agree with you about the negative stereotyping with the overbearing father and mathematics, etc.
The fact that the people who survive are the “faithless” ones (though I think that that is a murky kind of category) actually makes for a very grim ending: the only person that you didn’t want to see survive (the surrenderer, for lack of a better word), does, and I think that that is meant to indicate that it was in no way a happy ending. I didn’t get the feeling that the episode intended a straightforward message for or against faith, as such, and so on the level of social commentary I thought that Rita’s presence was a very interesting, and not necessarily reductive, choice.
WHOA I’m sorry that was so long (and somewhat disorganized).
I’m so glad you like Doctor Who 😀
Have an awesome day!
Was-salam,
Lara
October 6, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Waslaams Lara — God I love your comments. And this one is just brilliant. Thank you for such an in-depth analysis!
When’s our next Doctor Who meet up?
I was the eternal optimist when thinking about Rita, and was really upset when she joined the list of almost companions (Lynda with a “Y”, Madame de Pompadour, etc). Honestly I didn’t think so harshly upon the first viewing. But after watching it again another two times and writing down her dialogue, I became more sure that she was just generalised plot. Which she is.
You’re absolutely right about DW being down on faith — so I was actually really taken aback when Amy asked the Doctor what do Time Lords pray to. And yes, Rita’s death was sublime. I love how always sure she was in her faith. It’s what kept her sane in the bonkers rooms, right? But it was oh so sad to see her succumb to the rapture.
Another thing that struck me as being impossible to write into the episode, was breaking her of her faith. Breaking Amy of her faith in the Doctor was necessary to starve the Minotaur (who apparently starved to death from losing just one person?? So someone else could have been broken of their faith before Rita succumbed to rapture?) — it would have been blasphemous, horrendous, and outrageous if the Doctor had to break Rita of her faith in Allah and belief that the Prophet was the final messenger (if she’s that type of Muslim, we just don’t know!).
And yes, I agree, they absolutely identified her as British (We British deal with trauma = tea and totting) — but I also read in a comment that this too could be interpreted as a generalisation of British Muslims. I don’t know! Someone please let me know. But I don’t feel that this tarnishes my reading of the piece. Because I do appreciate HOW she was written.
Rita was a “go and do” person, unlike Amy, as you pointed out who waits to be saved.
I am very glad of how the Doctor interacted with her. It could have been worse. And I don’t think the episode was down on faith per se.
I do think however that they could have used another faith, or none at all, she could have been saved if they really WANTED to have a Muslim companion, or another WOC companion. Perhaps though, calling this a FAIL was a bit harsh on my part.
Rita’s presence for me was just to have that joke (ok, it WAS funny!) and just to get some diversity back into the show. Killing off diverse characters is no big surprise.
Rory called it in the first 5 minutes.
(tea soon?)
October 7, 2011 at 5:41 pm
You’re right. Too right. I mean, why was the Doctor so surprised about Rita being Muslim? He was more surprised at meeting her than meeting the guy from the species that always surrenders. It truly was a case of Orientalist voyeurism.
October 7, 2011 at 10:17 pm
I didn’t read the Doctor’s reaction as genuine surprise,let alone shock.It read to me as the conversational faux-surprise one displays when a person you are talking to indirectly reveals anything about themselves,religious or not.
Example:”Milk and sugar for your tea?” “Milk,please.Do you have Nutrasweet?” “Oh,you’re diabetic?”
I loved that “Don’t be frightened!”-crack.A very biting commentary on Islamophobia,made all the more poignant by Rita’s slightly awkward smile and laughter.
She could have said it in the same sarcastic tone she used in the “it never occured to us to try the front door” bit,but that could have come across as bitter or hostile.She consciously avoids this.She is prematurely de-escalative,diffusing a situation in which she might encounter hostility with friendliness and humour.
October 8, 2011 at 10:51 am
Oh I agree with you on the joke bit — as I said, I really appreciate how the writers created Rita as a character in general. It could have been so much worse. And she is just a brilliant actress anyway. Killing her off is a shame on many levels.
So your comment got me thinking about all of the times the Doctor offends people (intentionally or not) just by being his awkward self — emasculating Mickey and Rory, being incapable of romantic feelings for Martha (but kissing her anyway for a genetic transfer), the many Scott jokes made about Amy, etc. He’s not perfect and the rough edges are all part of his endearing nature. They’re proof and a reminder that he’s really not human.
Then it dawned on me that the TARDIS’ translation circuit should have translated Jahannum into Hell. Right? Unless the Doctor speaks Arabic, just like he speaks “baby” — or that he’s familiar enough with Muslims and Muslim terminology to not require the translation. But there is a specific reason they used the Arabic term — setting up the joke, and including a positive Muslim character. But then again, why make the Doctor surprised, or mildly observant as you point out.
And then I thought, well perhaps in the future Muslims become oddities due to the political climate — or occupy several galaxies in a grand new intergalactic Muslim Empire. OR perhaps the Doctor is familiar enough with Muslims and their terminology because he snogged Khadijah before she married the Prophet (wouldn’t that be deliciously sacrilegious!) — and any of these back story experiences he’s had is what makes him surprised / excited / observant that Rita is a Muslim.
And then I realised I think too much.
Thanks for your comment!
October 9, 2011 at 2:52 am
Whoa woodturtle.
October 11, 2011 at 11:51 am
Congratulations on the Brass Crescent nominations!
October 11, 2011 at 1:44 pm
THANKS! You too!
May 25, 2013 at 2:50 am
[…] know you’re planning a Captain Marvel movie sometime in the future. Maybe we can hope for an on-screen Muslim woman superhero before […]
July 2, 2013 at 9:33 am
[…] amazing women. And when they are, they’re killed off. Like my all time favourite (and only) Muslim character in the television program Doctor Who – a fantastic woman who uses her enviable wit and intelligence to help the Doctor solve an […]
July 2, 2013 at 3:17 pm
[…] amazing women. And when they are, they’re killed off. Like my all time favourite (and only) Muslim character in the television program Doctor Who – a fantastic woman who uses her enviable wit and intelligence to help the Doctor solve an […]
July 2, 2013 at 5:55 pm
A little late to the party, but I only saw this episode yesterday, and was equally delighted to see a Muslim character on Doctor Who. (And even more so to come across a blog post critically analyzing her character!)
One plot element that I’d like to comment on is the way that she died, which really struck me as problematic. While Rita’s “conversion” wasn’t a focus nearly as much as that of the other characters’, I’m unsettled that the only Muslim woman that I’ve seen on Doctor Who had her faith forcibly changed. To me this plot aligns so well with the “Lifting of the veil” trope that we often see in Western Media, whereby Muslim women (especially women of color) are pressured and coerced into leaving their faith, with the implication that The West – specifically the Western Male gaze assumed onto the audience – knows what’s best for them. While this plot diverges from this trope in that being robbed of her faith leads to her demise rather than leading to a better, more “liberated” life, I still find it to be problematic in that it has that same power-dynamic at play.
Just as the Liberated Muslim Women trope completely disregards the well-being of the women they purport to protect, Rita’s conversion is less about the end result and more about the process. This trope is not about actually helping anyone, it’s about robbing women of agency by coercing them into changing their way of life, and more importantly, that the White Savior protagonist (and the viewer, who is on their side) has the power to do so. Similarly, it’s the fact that Rita can be robbed of her faith, and is, rather than what happens to her afterwards. In this way, her fate furthers the Islamophobic, misogynistic belief that Muslim women need to be liberated and converted – and controlled – by the West, just by entertaining the notion that they can be.
(Full disclosure: I’m a Muslim man, so feel free to say if I got something wrong on the feminist front.)
July 2, 2013 at 6:23 pm
Oh my word! Yes!
This is a brilliant comment Omar. Thank you so much for posting it.
I also found her conversion to be terribly unsettling. I’m so glad you pointed out the more problematic aspects of her final moments — it was a joy to revisit this post and the episode with your additional commentary.
July 2, 2013 at 7:03 pm
And thank you for your wonderful post on this episode, which I had the fortune of finding the day after seeing the episode. And more generally, thank you for on your blog discussing Muslim feminism! It’s so refreshing to see discussion on the intersection of the two. 🙂
July 12, 2013 at 6:17 am
I just clicked through to this post and wanted to thank you for writing it. I loved this episode for many of the reasons you cited — and I grieved Rita’s death without recognizing the bigger issues at hand.