Participatory culture, Doctor Who, and ‘My Doctor’ identity

We’ve seen that participatory culture is an important feature of our current media landscape. But how does participatory culture relate to other communication concepts, like identity and fandom?

Identity is an integral aspect of participatory culture and fandom “with members of average and above average levels of group identification demonstrating sensitivity to group categorization and the psychological benefits and costs of engaging with their chosen media fandom.” (Groene and Hettinger 2015: 324).

One way to illustrate this is through the Doctor Who fandom, and the ‘my Doctor’ phenomenon.

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series that first aired in 1963. The series focuses on the adventures of an alien ‘time lord’ – the Doctor – who travels in time. It has experienced rich fandom over the decades and participatory culture aids fans in sharing their experiences and their fandoms online.

Although the series has focused on the same character throughout its run, the character has been portrayed by a number of different actors. The “my Doctor” phenomenon refers to a concept in which fans of the show will categorise themselves as identifying with a certain incarnation of the Doctor character. Through online fandom, many Doctor Who fans have described the idea of this identification.

It has commonly been stated that an individual’s identified Doctor will be the incarnation of the Doctor that they first watched or “the one you watched when you were twelve” (Hills 2017: 213-215). However, it is evident that this is not always the case. Not all fans of Doctor Who began watching the show when they were young, and some may identify with a certain incarnation of the Doctor character or actor portraying the Doctor for a number of reasons. Fans may have differing answers for who they identify as their own Doctor, and who they think to be the best Doctor in terms of acting or writing. This suggests that these identities are formed through lived experience (Jenkins 2012 :50) and through other participatory practices.

The participatory audience of television shows such as Doctor Who “cut across traditional geographic and generational boundaries and is defined through its particular styles of consumption and forms of cultural preference” (Jenkins 2012: 1). However this audience still encompasses a recognisable, or number of recognisable, subcultures who engage in a number of distinct fan practices – including the “my Doctor” practice.

Image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay

Tumblr is a commonly used social networking platform for fandom interactions and the participatory building of fan communities, and as such provides a number of examples of identities within fandom. I analysed Tumblr posts tagged with #MyDoctor to illustrate these examples.

In the post below, one user describes the process by which they discovered their identity within the Doctor Who fandom:

“My first Doctor” by riversmithmelody | Tumblr | 18 February 2020

This post provides an interesting insight into the “my Doctor” identity. This specific example aligns with the idea that an individual’s first Doctor will be their Doctor, and also provides insight into the participatory cultures of television shows. The user makes several references to the lore of the show, such as the TARDIS, and use these references to explain their identity.

Other examples of “my Doctor” posts on Tumblr suggest a strong connection felt between a fan of Doctor Who and the actor who portrays their preferred incarnation of the Doctor. Real meetings between fan and actor represent a culmination of this connection:

Jenkins argues that television audiences “possess not simply borrowed remnants snatched from mass culture, but their own culture built from the semiotic raw materials the media provides”. This post is a key example of that. The participatory audiences within the Doctor Who fandom have built a culture of participation and identity through the materials provided within the original source material, as seen through the “my Doctor” trend. It is evident that the identification of one’s preferred or chosen Doctor actor/incarnation is an effective way to demonstrate identity within the Doctor Who fandom, and within participatory culture and fandom more broadly.