Sorry; I'm spamming today, but

[tree_and_leaf]

Further to the mind-bogglingly stupid interview with Russell T Davis snorkackcatcher kindly scanned in, and Mr Davis' truth, universally acknowledged, that two characters of a similar age and appearing on screen together, must be involved in a love story: I just want to say that my new OTP is Ten/ Unexpected Woman Priest from the end of The Family of Blood. OMGtheirloveissoAnglican.

Seriously, though, this lunatic reflection reminds me of how absurdly happy it made me that Paul Cornell wrote that tiny bit part for a woman. Not as a comic lady vicar (see: The Vicar of Dibley) or as a source of predictable, boring, issue-y drama (see: The Archers), or otherwise there to be a WOMAN! priest, but rather simply as a priest, doing her job.

It's probably the most feminist moment of season 3, in its quiet little way.

Comments

[azdak.livejournal.com]

I don't think RTD would come across as quite so mind-bugglingly stupid if the interviewer weren't so revoltingly fawning. The "This is the ultimate wisdom from the mind of a genius" attitude gives everything RTD says a sigificance that makes what he actually says embarrassingly banal by contrast. And he clearly doesn't mean that everyone who shares screentime with anyone is potentially half of an OTP, just the main characters. And frankly, looking for the sexual tension between main characters is just normal dramatic practice. It wouldn't sound half so silly if it weren't served up as "ZOMG! Revelation!!""

[tree_and_leaf]

I agree that one probably should make allowances for the fact that the interviewer is an idiot (unsurprising given her employer). But there are a few things that disturb me about RTD's statements nonetheless, in particular the idea that Billie Piper (who was 22 at the time) must obviously be read as half of a romantic relationship with Tennant (mid-thirties), where as Catherine Tate, who can only be three years older than him, is apparently unsuitable for a romantic story.

Also, as a die-hard gen fan, I wish we'd get told other kinds of stories occasionally than the romantic. Not that I've anything against sexual tension, but it's not the only kind of relationship that's interesting enough to contain drama.