ambitious_woman | A Post Nearly Three Years in the Making

The time has come, I think, for me to address the countless misconceptions that I encounter nearly every day while writing and following Reinette. While I have vented verbally to many, on many occasions, I have decided to collect all the points I can recall here.

If you do not like Reinette? I would read no further. After all, you might learn something.

Reinette is not a 'Mary Sue'. She is(was) an actual, true, flawed and fully realized woman that left her mark on many lives around her and history itself. Yes, some of these traits were 'listed off' in a rather fast fashion in the episode but that made them no less true. She was not created as the 'anti Rose' or someone to show her up or to hurt her feelings. But she was flawed as well, and some of that was even there quite clearly in the episode if watched. Her ambition, her curiosity and even her temper when challenged. The fact that she could walk into his mind is most often used in the Mary Sue defense. I point out that the Doctor walked Reinette's mind FIRST when she was a child, and like all children learn other languages with ease? I believe this planted the seed. The real woman spoke FIVE languages. By the time she learned to walk the Doctor's mind it became her natural sixth.

Her name is not Pompawhore or Pompaho or even Grrrrr Reinette. Her name was Jeanne Antionette Poisson and by the end of her life she was even further elevated from her title as Marquise to an actual Duchess. Now, she was ACTUALLY mocked for her name in her time, which was French for fish. When she became Louis' lover the Court wasted no time making witticisms about it. But that is another story.

She hated Rose. No, Reinette did NOT hate Rose. Indeed they shared a moment of true understanding in the ship, that contained that lovely, stunning line that he was 'worth the monsters'. They both knew how the other felt. There was no 'cat fight'. No one cried. They were both strong women that found something to respect in the other. Yet in countless things I read Reinette hated her. This makes no logical sense whatsoever and is absolutely baseless.

That said, yes. Reinette did call Rose a child. And to be fair, at that point in her life? Rose was. At that age, 32, Reinette had now married. She bore a son only to bury him before he was a year old and a daughter that had passed away just before she had seen Rose. She had suffered anywhere from 4-5 miscarriages depending on historical record. She witnessed war and loved and lost a king. Yes, Rose was a child to her perception. This does not make Reinette a 'bitch'. People often warp this scene to suggest the entire nature of her personality, ripping it from its context.

Really, what was the big deal, she only knew him a DAY! Actually, no. The Doctor experienced Reinette's life in the course of a day. She knew the Doctor through near the whole of her life. He was with her, in some form her fashion, from the age of seven until the age of thirty-seven. THIRTY years. Not every day, no. But childhood, the beginning of womanhood, the even of her greatest accomplishment and then very near the end. He was there, a part of the experience. THIRTY YEARS. So why is her journey an less profound than Rose's? Why should she matter so much less. Why do they have to be weighed, one again the other, at all?

Oh, and by the way? Reinette kissed the Doctor. Not the other way around. Reinette. Kissed. The Doctor. He just sort of actively stood about and allowed it to happen. And, to be completely fair? She knew nothing at all about Rose other than that she was the vague shadow of a face in a fireplace that until THAT point? Was a childhood friend. So really, her kissing the Doctor could have nothing whatsoever to do with Rose at all. Her childhood hero was in front of her. Most likely now the night in all her growing up fairytales. She kissed him. I can think of few people who would not have seized that opportunity. Should people take issue that the DOCTOR allowed himself to be kissed? Perhaps, I suppose. But to that point he was really nothing more than a fanboy of a historical person he admired (and since the episode was written for Nine who was SUCH a fanboy?) An that the kiss while intimate was brief? I hardly think so.

She is a whore. This is said far more often than really is polite. She was a King's mistress, yes. But exclusively. An truly the physical aspects of sex were actually a challenge for Reintte and her health the whole of her life and ultimately ended her relationship with Louis. As for the portrayal of her relationship with the Doctor? She went for what she wanted. With a man she stated quite openly that she loved. What exactly is the problem?

Reinette lived in the 1700's which is the EIGHTEENTH century and she did NOT live during the Revolution. Well, that's all I really have to say on that one. Moving on.

Madame DE Pompadour Not du. DE.

She's such a bitch. The Doctor was trapped. He was already beginning to resign himself to that fate and what it would mean for the time being. But Reinette had seen into his mind and into his heart. To his love of the sky and the stars, his companions and his TARDIS. And even though she knew it would break her heart, to the point she could not bear to 'wish him luck' she gave it all back to him, and sent the man she loved home. It was the ultimate selfless act. Where, exactly, is the bitch?

These are just things I can assert by speaking of Reinette and Reinette alone. There are countless other points I could make. That in thinking of saving Reinette on the end, it did NOT mean the Doctor STOPPED thinking of Rose. They do not have to be intertwined acts. That there is the VERY REAL possibility that Reinette spent far more time with the Doctor that carried far more meaning. Five minutes spent with Mickey and Rose allowed the child Reinette to age from child to woman. How would the time at the Yew Tree ball and their last moments spent together translate to. That yes, I do firmly believe that they slept together but that was far from the most intimate thing that was shared.

That Reinette in no way deserves the hate and disdain that has been heaped on her.

Any questions?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

elevenwho.livejournal.com

Well said. Reinette gets too much baseless hatred in fandom. And a lot of it is based in a creepy misogyny that the (often) female fans usually wave off with a "lolz I'm just a fangirl" kind of disclaimer.

Anyway, Reinette is a fascinating character for a woman who was on screen for about 2/3 of one episode. And a fascinating historical person as well. You know I think you do well by her with all the research and time and love you put in. It's good to know she's got you as her defender, too.

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A Post Nearly Three Years in the Making

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