Rose Tyler: Girl Adventurer

[violet_lane]

It’s tough to be a Rose fan these days. After reading some posts labeling Rose Tyler as “a dumb blonde”, a “chavvy dumb blonde shopgirl”, or arguing that Rosefen don’t love Rose as a character and view her only as an appendage to the Doctor, I decided to write this to offer a different viewpoint. One of the fun (or not so fun, depending on your

Comments

[dk323]

This all rings true to how I see Rose as well. I really liked how she empathized with others (aliens and humans alike) in Series 1. Even with her flaws, she rose above them and proved herself. I hope that in Series 4, Rose will come back having realized that she can have a pretty great life without traveling with the Doctor.

[violet_lane]

I completely agree; every flaw and shortcoming Rose had she attempted to overcome; that's a big part of growing up and I love her for always trying to follow her heart, and keeping her sense of wonder alive. I agree that Rose can have a great life where ever she is. =)

[thatlibrarylady]

Very interesting and very well written. I think it's wonderful that Rose has flaws and makes mistakes. She learns and grows so much over the course of the two series. These imperfections make her human. I don't think that I could have ever connected with Rose if she was "perfect."

[violet_lane]

Thanks! I agree that I don't think I could've loved Rose half as much if she were perfect; it's so much more interesting to watch characters learn from their mistakes. =D

[violet_lane]

Thanks so much; glad you enjoyed it!

It's so odd how some anti-Rose people think Rose is a "mary-sue" but then others don't like her because of her flaws. She's trapped in the middle of so many expectations.

Yeah, that's definitely a double-standard. People today still call Rose a Mary Sue, even though she clearly has flaws. If Rose didn't have those flaws, people would still hate her because she was so perfect. But for some reason, having realistic flaws like jealousy, impulsiveness and taking family members for granted sometimes (instead of intense flaws like a murder fetish or some sort of serious mental imbalance) makes her get hated on. I'm cool with people not liking Rose; there are characters I don't connect with and people like different qualities. It's the full-on degrading language I see (terms like worthless, slut, chav, dumb blonde, useless shopgirl, whore, etc.) that pisses me off. Hate on Rose for her actions, just lay off the sexist and demeaning language, please.

I particularly liked your section on School Reunion

[beck_liz]

It's so odd how some anti-Rose people think Rose is a "mary-sue" but then others don't like her because of her flaws. She's trapped in the middle of so many expectations.

The key, I think, is this: they think that Rusty, the DW team, and we Rose fans think that Rose is perfect and/or SPECIAL, aka "Mary Sue." However, because they can see all her many and horrible flaws, they know she's not the least bit special, so they get annoyed by how special we all think she is. Especially when they think that their favorite companion gets left out in the cold because of Rose's specialness.

Or something like that. I don't claim to truly understand the mindset. ;-)

[violet_lane]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! <3

[livii]

This is beautiful; thanks for linking it at rose_lives, or I'd have missed it. You make some wonderful points - I may not agree with 100% of them, but the spirit of it is so powerful.

On this: or arguing that Rosefen don’t love Rose as a character and view her only as an appendage to the Doctor

I'm a huge Rose fan and do tend to sometimes think this of other fen; anyone who agrees with you here, though, is going to be a-ok in my books. I find it frustrating that there's rarely any good, positive meta or discussion on Rose herself; the ship comms are gigantic compared to the character comm, you know? It can sometimes seem like Rose is 'all about the Doctor' because the vast majority of discussion and fic is about the relationship in some form; but as you prove here, there is so, so much to like about the character on her own merits. Thanks.

[violet_lane]

Thank you for reading! Rose is what got me into Who, so I really adore her for herself rather than what she means to the Doctor.

I'm a huge Rose fan and do tend to sometimes think this of other fen; anyone who agrees with you here, though, is going to be a-ok in my books. I find it frustrating that there's rarely any good, positive meta or discussion on Rose herself; the ship comms are gigantic compared to the character comm, you know? It can sometimes seem like Rose is 'all about the Doctor' because the vast majority of discussion and fic is about the relationship in some form; but as you prove here, there is so, so much to like about the character on her own merits. Thanks.Oh, definitely. A lot of discussions usually focus on the D/R relationship instead of Rose by herself. I hope that this inspires some more positive Rose discussion; she's my girl and I want to discuss the different aspects of her (and different ships would be fun to talk about as well xD). I love your fics, by the way! You inspired me to explore Rose/Benton (

[livii]

Yes, Rose got me into Who as well - I came in in S1. I have fallen for all the old skool, but without Rose and Nine and Mickey and Jackie, I wouldn't have stuck around. :)

I love your fics, by the way! You inspired me to explore Rose/Benton (because really, who doesn't want a Benton? ;D)

Aw, thank you so much! And OMGYAY to other people thinking about Rose/Benton, because that makes me...so incredibly happy. Everyone deserves a Benton... :D