Martha Jones - Analyses

Analyses

Academic analyses of the character typically focus on the character's ethnicity, her social class (middle), and her status as a role model to young viewers. Martha has been described in newspaper reports as the "first ethnic-minority companion in the 43-year television history of Doctor Who" or the Doctor's "first black assistant" (Agyeman herself was born to Ghanaian and Iranian parents.) Martha's status as "first black companion" is "thrown into dispute" by consideration of Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke) and his companion role in the 2006 series. In her introduction, Martha is represented as being 'normal' in ways previous Doctor Who companions were not. For example, she becomes the first character to use (light) swear words when she exclaims "We're on the bloody moon!" Davies felt that this level of swearing was both normal and appropriate, citing a Harry Potter film in which the young audience reacted with laughter rather than shock when a young character cursed "Bloody hell". In some instances, Martha's status as a middle-class woman distinguish her from earlier black companion Mickey Smith, who is male and, like Rose Tyler, working-class. Articles which focus on Martha's race normally attempt to make distinctions between Martha's social status and that of Mickey, and to what extent race or class do or do not play a part.