Article Analysis of "Maybe that’s what happens if you touch the Doctor, even for a second”

The article “Maybe that’s what happens if you touch the Doctor, even for a second”: Trauma in Doctor Who. Is an analysis of trauma in the show Doctor Who. It goes in depth about different types of trauma that is represented or misrepresented in some cases throughout the show. It lists specific episodes that represent the authors points. As someone who has seen the show and most of the episodes the author talks about. I would say that it is an accurate analysis of the show and those episodes.

The audience for this article would be anyone who is interested in Doctor Who. If you want to learn something about some of the more serious metaphors in the writing of the show, this article talks a lot about some of the more serious themes of the show. The trauma it talks about isn’t always clear just from watching the show. But on reflection, it shows how serious a lot of the things The Doctor and his companions face.

The article starts off explaining a little bit about trauma and the kinds that it is going to be discussing throughout. The first major section is about Colonialism and how it affects the people being oppressed in the places that are being colonized. Colonization comes up a lot in Doctor Who. It is a show about time and space so they show a lot of human colonization of other planets. A lot of the time it is being compared to British colonization back in the age of the British Empire.

The article gives a few specific episodes that back up theme. Planet of the Ood for example, is about a human colony that has taken a peaceful alien race known as the Ood into slavery. They cut off the Ood’s secondary brain, which is used for telepathic communication and replace it with a translator device that allows them to interpret orders. The trauma from this is shown throughout the episode through some Oods going mad and their eyes turning red. The human colonists think it is a rebellious revolt when it happens, but it is actually a result of the trauma from being cut off from the Ood hivemind.

The second section of the article talks about The Doctor’s trauma after regenerating. Whenever a new actor takes over the role The Doctor must regenerate. This causes him a lot of stress and can have a lot of different effects on the character, most of the effects are a side effect of the trauma he endures when regenerating. It talks about him suffering from amnesia, trying to act like his former self, and trying to get a grip on what he is going to be like now. He talks about how the fourth Doctor was initially rude and arrogant when coping with the stress of his regeneration, but eventually recovers into the goofy Doctor that everyone loved.

The article also goes into the effects of PTSD on The Doctor himself. Starting in the 2005 reboot, The Doctor was a much different character than he used to be. The 9th incarnation was the sole survivor of a massive war that wiped out both his own race and the Daleks. On the outside he is the same goofy, jolly Doctor that he has always been, but deep down he is brooding and angry. He is less merciful to his enemies and isn’t against killing like he used to be, at least until the end of the season when he is faced with the decision to slaughter billions of people to wipe out the Daleks once and for all.

It goes onto explain the effects of trauma on The Doctor’s companions and the people around him, but for the rest of the article it mostly focuses on the posttraumatic effects that are shown throughout the series on The Doctor. It talks about how this is the main difference between the older series and the reboot series. The show used to be more about the effects of trauma on people around him and now it focuses a lot more on The Doctor himself and his Companions.

I think that the style of the article could use a little work. While it is a study on the effects of trauma throughout the show, I felt like it was a bit too dry. In the end it is still an article about the show Doctor Who though and that still keeps it decently entertaining. The thoughts and ideas are presented in a clear and organized manner. The article does use a lot of technical words throughout it when talking about the different kinds of trauma and stress so it may not be for everyone.

Rituals and Stereotypes

Esports is a relatively new part of popular culture. While gaming has been popular since the early 80s, esports have really just started to come around in the last decade. This does not mean that it doesn’t have its share of rituals and stereotypes however. As far as gamers go, there are plenty of stereotypes, then even more specific ones once you get into the realm of esports.

Rituals of esports would include things like live streaming and performing for an audience. Most people who are good at games such as League Of Legends or Starcraft 2 are incredibly popular streamers who have on average 30,000+ people watching them every time they get on to stream. The most popular site for streaming is Twitch.tv a website dedicated to epsorts and gaming streams.

Another ritual you will find among the better players in esports is mastery. Mastery refers to mastering whatever aspect of the game you are good at or specific characters in that aspect. Take Legue of Legends for example. There are five different roles to fill: Carry,mid-lane, support, top-lane and jungle. There are many different characters that can fill any of these rolls. Someone who has mastery of any of these roles knows every aspect of it and how to react to anything that would happen in that role. Dandy for example, is the jungle player for this years world champions Samsung White. He has completely mastered the role of jungle and is the best in the world at the role.

Stereotypes are going to be present wherever you go. Everything is stereotyped for something. One major stereotype of esports is a racial one and that is that Koreans are the best at the games. This isn’t the only stereotype but it is the most prevalent in esports. The thing is however, its not exactly wrong as the four teams in the League of LEgends world finals where all Korean teams,

Icons

For my three contemporary icons I have chosen Zombies, Marvel, and Playstation. These are three things you see everywhere today. Marvel movies are some of the biggest blockbusters out there. Playstation is one of the three major consoles in the gaming market. And Zombies, you just can’t get away from zombies today. All three of these are huge in today's popular culture.

Marvel, one of the biggest comic book publishers and now one of the biggest and best movie studios. They pump out multiple amazing releases every year. One of their latest films, Guardians of the Galaxy, is one of my all time favorite movies. Each year they bring in major dollars from people flocking to see their newest movie.

Playstation is one of the three major gaming consoles on the market today. The other two being the Xbox one and the Wii-u, as long as you don’t count the PC as a gaming console. Gaming is getting bigger and bigger each year with more people playing games now than ever before. The playstation 4 alone has sold over 10 million units and does not show any signs of stopping any time soon. as a huge gamer myself, I see this as one of the biggest Icons out there.

And then we have zombies. Where to begin with zombies, they are just everywhere in popular culture today. It seems every shooter game has some kind of zombie mode put into it, even if it doesn't fit the game. We have comedy movies about zombies such as Zombieland and Fido or more serious ones like 28 days later. Even one of the most popular TV shows today is about zombies in The Walking Dead. You just can’t escape the zombie apocalypse no matter what media you look at.

Popular Culture Artifact.

      Popular Culture is a very broad term. It refers to anything that is popular or well known during any specific time. By definition, popular culture is the combined tastes of ordinary people, not the educated elite. Take today's pop culture, some of the most popular things today are shows like Game Of Thrones, Breaking Bad or The Walking Dead. Weather or not you like to be a part of pop culture, it is always relevant to you.

      In business, you need to know about what is trending. If you don't, you will be far behind your competition. I am going into the video game industry once I'm out of college and if I don't keep up on popular culture then I stand no chance. While it is not always the case, it helps to know what is popular and why. If certain mechanics in a game are becoming more and more popular, its probably because people like them. For example, the Batman: Arkam series combat system has been seen spreading to more and more games recently. It is an incredibly fun and responsive system. Of course, in the game industry you can't just take a mechanic and expect no one to call you out on it, you need to take it and change it a bit, make it yours through innovating it in some way. Shadow Of Mordor did this by making it seamless to transition between range and melee combat, making everything flow smoothly.

    A pop culture "artifact" is a symbol of something popular at the time. It is something most people will recognize on sight without being explained. Twitter, Facebook, Google, these are things everyone knows and can identify just based on their logos. I chose something that is still incredibly popular, but not quite as high as those. I went with the Heisenberg drawing from Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad was a massively popular show during its run and I still see people who are going back to watch it or just starting to watch it now that its all on Netflix. I chose this because Breaking Bad was huge to my friends, family and myself. The show was one of the most popular shows of all time and it has been referenced and parodied over and over again both in media like TV shows and commercials and on the internet on forums or art sites. It such a recognizable part of the show that I felt it makes for a good pop culture artifact.