Doctor Who: Rose Tyler is My Hero (especially in S2)

[butterfly]

One of the reasons that I adore Rose Tyler so much is because she takes all the traditional stories and shakes them up.

She grabs the "hero's tale" and refuses to be a victim, a lady-in-waiting, or a femme fatale -- she refuses to simply be rescued and rescues right back with as much (or more) frequency. She makes the choice of danger over safety and chooses the adventure of the open road over the known security of hearth and home.

She takes over the fairy tale and uses it. She becomes power and time incarnate and it does not corrupt her (something that our resident Time Lord admits would happen to him if he dared wield that power). She's the Bad Wolf -- she eats little red-riding hood, the girl that she used to be, and creates herself into a woman, someone with both the power and the inclination to protect those she holds dear.

She laughs at danger while never failing to notice and care about the people who are put into danger. She inspires others into action and refuses to let herself or anyone she cares for be less than the best of what they are capable of.

She takes risks -- including one of the biggest risks of all: love. She can stand up against the most powerful creatures and the most intelligent and potentially dangerous people who have ever lived and make them back down. She never lets her lack of schooling, other people's opinions of her potential, or her hair color hold her back from taking the universe on by her terms.

She grows up, right before our eyes. Her relationship with Mickey starts out so young and filled with pettiness and childish insecurities and it grows as the two of them grow, becoming a friendship that is much healthier and stronger than their relationship had been. She challenges the Doctor from the moment that they meet, punctures his ego, and makes him work to impress someone else.

She's a light in the darkness. Not just for the Doctor but for any girl or woman who has ever been told that she's not good enough because she's working class or blonde or unschooled. Rose is a light for any girl who has been taught that she should bow under the will of her family regardless of her own wishes and dreams. She is an inspiration for any woman who has been told or shown that men are the only ones allowed to be the heroes of the story.

Rose Tyler is a Big Damn Hero and a truly epic character. She is my favorite fictional character in existence.

(this post has been brought to you by the 'Rose Tyler is too awesome for an lj-cut' meme)

Comments

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

She's so brave -- not just for doing things like going back in PotW, but for asking the Doctor what she means to him in SR.
Yes. And it's things the Doctor also needs to confront.

Well... of all the stupid things to slag someone off for, hair color is particularly stupid. Yet, sadly, far too common (as the show itself points out with the AnneDroid in BW).
I just. It's a hair color.