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Thinking Allowed: Softer masculinity in the sixth form - Dr Who

05/01/2011

Softer masculinity in the sixth form - Dr Who

BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, Softer masculinity in the sixth form - Dr Who

Is Doctor Who political? Laurie explores the notion of an historical anti-American bias.

Is Doctor Who Anti-American? US academic Marc Edward DiPaolo on his political analysis of five decades of the time-traveller. Also, new research on schoolboys getting less macho.

The Daleks are obsessed with racial purity and dedicated to a policy of genocide: they represent the Nazis. The Jagrafess is a loathsome alien purveying useless information - which he has censored, rewritten and controlled: he represents a modern day media mogul. This is the theory of the US academic Marc Edward DiPaolo who has analysed the political content of five decades of Doctor Who. He finds that the Time Lord is a liberal, bohemian, pacifist environmentalist, and definitely anti-American. Is Doctor Who a closet radical? Laurie and Marc discuss the contention with journalist, broadcaster and some-time Dr Who script-writer Matthew Sweet.
Also on the programme: Softening Masculinities. New research by Mark McCormac finds that British secondary school boys are far less restrictive in their behaviour than they used to be. It is okay to use conditioner, comment on someone's clothes, and even give each other a hug.

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Softer masculinity in the sixth form - Dr Who

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