Jay Erickson-

Historical fiction is a genre that has been around for years. It is a genre that allows people to live out fantasies in times both familiar and not, with tales of grandeur and places of grand presentations. There are debates, however, on the impact historical fiction has on the population’s understanding of history. Doctor Who, a show that has been airing for 60 years, gives a glimpse into the argument that fiction need not be historically accurate to teach.

The episode that this article will be looking at is titled “Rosa”. This season 11 episode explores the story of Rosa Parks and her refusal to give up her seat for a white passenger. Being a science fiction show, the episode obviously is not completely accurate, seeing as the Doctor and her companions (Ryan, Graham and Yaz) get taken to 1955 Alabama from the twenty-first century and have to stop a man from the fifty-second century from preventing Parks’ protest.

A major component of this episode is the racial commentary. If four British people in Alabama did not stand out enough, having Ryan and Yaz as a Black man and a Pakistani woman (respectively) certainly does not help. Shortly after arriving, Ryan sees a white woman drop her glove and taps her arm to give it back to her. Rather than a thank you, Ryan receives a hit from the woman’s husband, “He’ll be swinging from a branch with a noose as a neckerchief if he touches a white woman in Montgomery,” said the husband.

When riding the buses, Ryan is forced to enter through the back door and sit in the back of the bus, while the Doctor and other companions look on with pained expressions. Yaz does not know where to sit, being called “Mexican” but remarking, “Did colored just mean Black?” At one point, the group even has to sneak Ryan in through the window of a “Whites Only” hotel.

In the end, the group must stay on the historical bus to make sure that Parks would have to give up her seat, becoming a part of the history, and part of the problem: “I don’t want to be a part of this,” Graham cries. “We have to. We have to not help her,” the Doctor replies. This leads to a powerful scene, with pain on the companions’ faces, as they have to watch Parks be dragged off the bus with Andre Day’s “Rise Up” playing in the background.

So, what can this episode teach audiences? Most, if not all, Americans are familiar with the general story of Parks. The same cannot necessarily be said for the British portion of Doctor Who’s audience, which is the majority. Even Ryan himself did not know what she had done because, “She’s American,” he said. But to show history in this way, a way that makes it fun and interactive, might be what it takes to inspire a budding historian to go to the books and learn about Parks.

Once an audience member is confronted with a piece of history, accurate or not, they have the ability to go from there and learn more. These shows also aim to make history more personal. Anyone can read a book and try to imagine what those people looked like and felt like, but historical fiction allows them to see it, see the pain and joy on those people’s faces.

Apart from drawing people to history, a show like Doctor Who has the ability to reflect how people and cultures have changed. As a show that started in 1963, audiences are able to track what lessons and what histories -what social problems, even- people at that time thought were important.

The first Doctor’s run, which came shortly on the heels of the Cold War, shows the Doctor checking his Geiger counter on every new adventure. It reflects the fear of radiation that people were feeling at that time. The first few seasons hardly have any people of color in them, if there are any at all, because the diversity shows strive for nowadays was not wanted then.

The first Doctor would never have had an episode on Parks. Not only was she an American, but racial commentaries were not being shown, they were happening, and they were kept in the background. Society may still have a long way to go in the realms of diversity and inclusion but shows like Doctor Who show us that progress has been made.

Historical fiction should not be thrown away for being inaccurate, but be praised for what it can teach. It may not teach the lessons that were needed at the time the shows were set, but it can teach what society needs today.