Doctor Who By Amit Gupt Article Analysis

Amit Gupta’s article makes the assumption that Britain’s gradual loss of its world superpower status was responsible for the modernization of attitudes towards race and gender within British society. Moreover, within the article Gupta analyses the historical and social context of Doctor Who in relation to British society. It is evident within Gupta’s article that British television would often represent the prevailing political themes that dominated the current affairs within British society. Gupta’s article particularly focuses on the parallel between progressive evolution of British society and the transformation of Doctor Who’s casting actors from the white upper class to being racially diverse

Gupta introduces his argument that the media

This is outlined within the second paragraph titled “Classic Who .” Within this section of the article, Gupta outlines different periods of Doctor Who relating to which actor played the role at the time. The reason why this structure is significant is due to the fact that the first period doctors, according to (Tulloch & Alvardo 1983) as referenced by Gupta, were “ elderly upper–class gentlemen ,” due to “British ruling culture .” This reinforces Gupta’s argument that Doctor Who reflected attitudes within British society, the first period depicting a Britain that believed it was still at the height of power post World War 2. Moreover, Gupta draws upon the parallels of the shows villains, Daleks and Cybermen, whom allegorically represented totalitarianism . This is significant as it provides further evidence to Gupta’s argument that the early episodes portrayed a Britain at the height of power due to the link of Britain’s triumph over the Nazis during World War 2. This demonstrates how Gupta significantly outlines Doctor Who’s historical timeline in relation to the timeline of British history as a means of creating a linking parallel between two unlikely themes; a fictional TV show and Britain’s political attitude at the time. Moreover, Gupta’s argument acknowledges that hat Gallifreyan society, which was a fictional system

He supports his claim that racial tolerance had improved by during the 21st century with the use of statistics from a report from the (EHRC, p. 28), for example 81% of adults in England and Wales had interactions at least once a month with people from differing ethnic and religious backgrounds