MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Russell T. Davies, the head writer for the 2005 reboot of Doctor Who, changed many aspects of the show in order to modernize it to ensure its cultural relevance. One of these updates incorporated the presence of GLBTQ characters and non-heteronormative characters, most notably the character of Captain Jack Harkness. This paper analyzes the Russell T. Davies era of Doctor Who and how it portrays queer characters, specifically Jack’s character and his place in the show by arguing that he is used both in a positive and negative way. It finds that Jack is used to provide positive examples of homosocial bonding between Jack, the Doctor, and, Mickey, rooted in Eve Sedgwick’s theories found in her book Between Men, while also finding that the writers negatively use Jack’s character by only using him to further the development of the Doctor and Rose’s relationship, supported by Judith Halberstam’s theory about heteronormative conversion fantasies found in her article “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” By studying the representation of queer characters written by a queer writer, such as Russell T. Davies, one can analyze and observe the character to assert if characters are used to reinforce or undermine the patriarchal heteronormative tendencies seen in typical strong male characters on popular television shows. The importance of studying Captain Jack Harkness provides insight not only by shedding light on the progressive possibilities with writing GLBTQ characters in a show as popular as Doctor Who, but also to provide examples of how writers can learn from the shortcomings of prior representations in order to evolve and adapt these GLBTQ roles for other writers and shows to come.