In Defense of Clara Oswald · 4:54am Feb 22nd, 2014
I've said many times in the past that I really like Clara Oswald. I've enjoyed her time in the show thus far (as well as the episodes she's been featured in) and she's currently up there with Donna Noble, Sarah Jane Smith, and Martha Jones as one of my favorite Doctor Who companions. However, the more I look around to hear other Whovians' thoughts on her the more I begin to feel like I'm in a minority here. From what I've read and heard, more than a fair number of Whovians don't like her. From feeds to blogs to even some of my fellow Whovian friends in real life, there seems to be plenty anti-Clara vibes going around. Granted, I've come across plenty of positive comments as well but those get quickly swept away in the massive sea of nit-picking-down-to-the-bone-marrow negativity that is the Doctor Who fanbase. So I've decided to go ahead and give my responses to the most common negative comments about Clara I've come across. Before I start, I'd just like to say that if any of you who read this don't like Clara, that's fine. You have just as much of a right to not like her as much as I have the right to like her. I'm just defending a character I really like against comments against her and I'm not attacking anyone in any way. With that's said, let's begin.
1. She has no personality/She has no clear personality/She's a blank slate.
This is probably the most common remark I've come across and while I disagree entirely with it I can understand why some people feel this way. When compared to previous companions of "New Who", Clara has a more subtle personality. She's fairly reserved and tends not to let all of her true feelings and emotions out at once like previous companions such as Rose and Amy. In fact, in a way, her reserved personality can be compared to that of Rory's. Rory was a pretty reserved character and wasn't as outgoing and open to adventure as fellow companion Amy was. So where's all the "Rory has no personality" comments, huh? Now, I'm not saying that Clara and Rory are the same because they're not. They just share a few similar traits from what I can see.
But, yes, Clara Oswald does have a personality. It hasn't been developed to its fullest potential yet (more on that later) but it is there. I've heard a lot of people say that she's just "feisty" and that's it and, honestly, I wouldn't call Clara feisty. Amy was feisty. Oswin Oswald was feisty. Victorian Clara was feisty. Clara isn't. As I said earlier, she's a more reserved character. Sure, she may flirt with and tease the Doctor a bit but I wouldn't call her really that feisty. Clever would be a better description I think. She's cautious and thinks things through, such as when she thought about whether or not to open the door with the red button in Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS. She's brave and quick to adapt, such as when she took a leadership position in Nightmare in Silver. And, while she listens to the Doctor, she isn't afraid to stand up to him and she doesn't see him as a perfect savior, unlike Amy's views of the Doctor prior to The God Complex. In The Rings of Akhaten she stood up for herself and openly stated that she wasn't going to travel with the Doctor as someone's replacement.
I've said many times that Clara is sort of like the Donna Noble of the Eleventh Doctor's era and in The Day of the Doctor she went on to do something that Donna had told the Doctor that he needed after their first adventure together. I'm sure many of us remember this little bit between Donna and the Doctor at the end of The Runaway Bride:
Donna - "Just...promise me one thing: find someone."
Doctor - "I don't need anyone."
Donna - "Yes you do. Because sometimes I think you need someone to stop you."
And what did Clara do in The Day of the Doctor? She stopped the Eleventh, Tenth, and War Doctors from destroying Gallifrey and ultimately led to them finding an alternate solution to the Time War where Gallifrey was saved! Just like Donna, Clara's there to stop the Doctor from going too far (something I hope will carry over with the darker Twelfth Doctor).
Going on to the blank slate comment, this was something made by one of my real life friends when he complained about how Clara was now teaching at Coal Hill School in The Day of the Doctor. My other friend pointed out that she was doing that as a nice nod to the beginning of the series and my friend came back by saying, "And that's her biggest problem. She's a blank slate. The writers just put her in places to fit the story." Honestly, I found Clara teaching at Coal Hill School to be simultaneously a nice nod to the beginning of the series and fitting for her character. As we've seen in all of the Claras, she has a natural talent with children. She was a Junior Entertainment Manager as Oswin, she was practically Mary Poppins for the Latimer Children as Victorian Clara, she got on well with the Maitland kids (though she had to put up with some backtalk every once in a while), and she was very motherly and caring to Merry Galel in The Rings of Akhaten. I think it was very in character of her to move on and become a teacher. Sure, the move might have been done just to have a nice little reference to An Unearthly Child but it's not like it was an out-of-nowhere character progression with no previous build-up.
2. She's a Mary-Sue/She's too perfect.
Like the upper comment, I disagree with this but I can understand where people come from. Clara's full personality hasn't been fleshed out to its full potential thus far so we haven't had much time to look into her flaws. From what we've seen, we can see that she can be a bit naive at times and somewhat reckless (a trait that was more prominent in Clara Oswin Oswald). But, honestly, I don't think she's a Mary-Sue. She has room for some further fleshing out and development (more on that later) but she's not a Mary-Sue IMO. Just as Emma Grayling said in Hide, she's just an ordinary woman. An ordinary woman with an extraordinary paradox destiny but ordinary nonetheless.
3. She's underdeveloped.
I've already gone over the underdevelopment of Clara in further detail in this previous blog but I'll give a quick rundown here. Yes, I'll admit that Clara is underdeveloped but the main point of Series 7: Part 2 was to solve her mystery. She's introduced to us through the Doctor's eyes. At first, she's simply a mystery waiting to be solved. As time goes on, the Doctor grows closer to her and comes to care for her. Now that the Impossible Girl arc is over with, time can be spent developing her character. And, honestly, I think she got some pretty good steps in development in The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor. Hopefully we'll get a further look at her character and see her get some much needed development in Series 8.
4. She's written badly.
I don't think she's written badly but, more rather, the writers have simply written her a bit differently in their respective episodes. I think her best portrayals thus far have been episodes written by Steven Moffat. In my opinion, Moffat has been the best writer for Clara thus far and I have a feeling that in Series 7: Part 2 Moffat knew where he wanted to take Clara's character while the other writers were just sort of along for the ride. This probably created a disjointed feel with writing her and might be one of the reasons to her underdevelopment. So, no, I don't think she's written badly but I do think there needs to be some more consistency when writing her and, of course, developing her.
5. She has no chemistry with the Doctor.
This is one I seriously disagree with because she and the Eleventh Doctor were fantastic together IMO. They play off each other really well and, especially in Day and Time, have come to care for one another as really good friends. Like I said earlier, when the Doctor first met Clara she was simply an enigma to him. A mystery to be solve. He wasn't focused on becoming close friends with her as much as he was simply trying to unravel the secret of the Impossible Girl. But, as time went on, he found himself growing closer to her. I do wish Clara could have had more time with Eleven as their tenure together was criminally short (a mere ten episodes, excluding Oswin's and Victorian Clara's episodes), but I still highly enjoyed their time together and I'm anxiously awaiting to see what sort of relationship will be seen between Clara and Twelve.
6. Oswin and Victorian Clara would have been better companions.
This is another one I've come across a lot. I'll admit that it would have been interesting to see Oswin or Victorian Clara become the Doctor's companion but both had great episodes alongside him as one-off companions. So far, I'm happy with 21st century Clara. This complaint doesn't really bother me as much as the whole thing deals with personality preference. Would you rather see the Doctor travel with the flirty Oswin, the upfront and reckless Clara Oswin, or the reserved and grounded Clara? Personally, as I said, I'm happy but with Clara but I will admit that it would have been interesting to see Oswin or Victorian Clara as regular companions.
7. Amy had a better relationship with the Doctor.
This one annoys me. Clara doesn't need to have the same relationship with the Doctor as Amy. They're two different people with different personalities and experiences with the Doctor. My biggest response to this is duh. Obviously, Amy was closer to the Eleventh Doctor than Clara. Clara's a great friend but Amy was the Doctor's family. Eleven could have had ten other companions after Amy and Rory and he would never have been as close to any of them in the same way he was close to the Ponds. This isn't a fault of Clara's character as any companion created for Eleven post-Pond Era would have the same situation!
Anyway, those are my responses the most common negative comments I've come across about Clara Oswald. While I can see where some people come from, I still mostly disagree with many of the comments. Clara may not be a likable companion to them but to me she's a fun, enjoyable character who I look forward to seeing in Series 8 and possibly beyond. Unlike them, I have yet another companion that I can enjoy watching travel about through time and space alongside everyone's favorite Time Lord. Here's hoping to an interesting and bright future for Clara Oswald in the Capaldi Era!
Well...we'll just have to see in the end everything will work out with Jenna Coleman's Clara.
BUT! I have a matter of importance to speak to you about in Donna Noble in your chapters....OI! Space Man!.....I miss that.
Well I did read your previous blog about Clara being underdeveloped. But I agree with everything here. For I also enjoy Clara and don't understand why some people don't like her. I like her personality. She seems like someone I could get along with.
I've never understood the argument behind calling a canon character a Mary Sue. I don't think I've come across a character I would consider a Mary Sue in professional fiction.
Clara is a good companion, in my opinion, she's up there with my favorites
I do enjoy Clara, and I do have a theory about her. (About her character, that is, not her past-that's already been resolved.)
The reason why Clara seemed underdeveloped prior to The Day of the Doctor is that she didn't fully trust the Doctor yet.
See, she felt suspicious about him. Why was he taking her of all people onto the TARDIS all of a sudden? Why was he digging up information about her past? Therefore, she didn't show much of her personality around him in fear that she was going to reveal too much.
HOWEVER, come the Name of the Doctor, once she split herself through the Doctor's time stream, she saw that he was really a decent guy, no matter how many crimes he may have commited and no matter how weird he was. After said events, they slowly started to warm up to each other and become friends, thus showing more of Clara's positive traits.
Just a theory.