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Doctor Who: The Snowmen

Name: Doctor Who: The Snowmen
Director: Saul Metzstein
Released: 2012
Duration: 60 min

Representation Score

7.1/10

Good

2012

TV-PG

Director

Saul Metzstein

Runtime

60 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

The film uses its science-fiction premise to critique historical social structures. By integrating progressive values into the Victorian setting, it avoids treating them as secondary themes. Strengths include the seamless integration of non-traditional families and the subversion of gender roles. Female characters and non-human species are given significant roles in driving the story. However, the reliance on non-human metaphors to explore themes of exclusion limits direct racial diversity. Additionally, the absence of disability representation leaves a gap in the film's inclusive scope.

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Category Breakdown

Does Doctor Who: The Snowmen have LGBTQ+ representation?

Excellent

The film showcases a non-traditional family through Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax. Their multi-species domestic partnership is shown as completely normal, challenging the strict social norms of Victorian times.

How does Doctor Who: The Snowmen portray gender?

Excellent

Clara Oswald plays a key role in driving the plot with significant intellectual ability to act. Madame Vastra holds a position of authority, defying the patriarchal norms of the 19th century.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Doctor Who: The Snowmen?

Good

The story uses non-human species like the Silurians as metaphors for otherness, allowing it to explore underrepresented identities without adhering to typical Anglo-Saxon historical norms.

How does Doctor Who: The Snowmen represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The narrative emphasizes scientific inquiry over religious superstitions, highlighting the Church as a source of outdated beliefs. It values individual decision-making over rigid institutional morality.

Does Doctor Who: The Snowmen include disability representation?

Minimal

There are no prominent depictions of visible or invisible disabilities that serve as central character arcs or plot drivers.

Present on Screen

Integrates non-traditional families as a normal, central element of the narrative.
Subverts 19th-century gender roles by empowering female characters with significant intellectual ability to act.
Uses science-fiction elements to critique rigid religious and social institutions.

Limited or Absent

Relies on non-human metaphors rather than direct racial diversity within the historical setting.
Lacks representation of visible or invisible disabilities within the character arcs.

Official Synopsis

The Doctor has retired to 1892 London. Despite the protests of his allies, he is determined to keep out of mankind's affairs. However, a governess named Clara has stumbled upon a plot which only the Doctor can unravel, involving the death of her predecessor in ice and the sinister Dr. Simeon, who controls monsters made of sentient snow. And there is another mystery afoot: Clara is the spitting image of Oswin Oswald, whom the Doctor saw die in the Dalek asylum...

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