A journal of impossible things

Abstract

In 2017, the cult programme Doctor Who announced its Thirteenth Doctor – classically trained Jodie Whittaker. This new regeneration (i.e., recasting) of an iconic, and consummately upper crust, British character follows twelve white male Doctors into the bigger-on-the-inside blue police box to traverse space and time saving the Whoniverse. Fans have always viewed new Doctors with scepticism, but this new female Doctor seemed impossible for fans. Was this impossibility a rupture with Whovian lore or a reflection of heteropatriarchal social norms? This chapter takes a feminist media and fan studies perspective and employs social media critical discourse analysis to examine the #NotMyDoctor hashtag that trended on Twitter following the announcement. It finds three themes: trolling the haters, the anti-PC police, and a Whovian cult of true womanhood.