Essay Idea: Doctor Who - "Blink"

Posted by Sam Hayes On Tuesday, December 01, 2009
After the 'uncanny' was explained, I began to think about something to talk about in my essay. I liked the use of dolls and mannequins, which Phil mentioned ,which are meant to be lifeless but create that eerie feeling without actually moving it into horror and showing the 'enemy' actually being alive. This is where a certain episode of 'Doctor Who' popped into my head. The episode aired a couple of years ago, I remember it really well, as for months after, whenever I wanted to scare my considerably younger sister to death I would just mention the phrase 'Don't Blink!'  and watch her eyes turn to terror and scan the room. This is the effect the episode had, to imply that there was something moving towards you, but you could never actually see it move, as it would only come to life when your eyes were shut.



I wouldn't consider a regular episode of Doctor Who to be something to focus an essay on, but this specific episode was written by Stephen Moffat, who used to only chip in special episodes (Which I thought were the best) and didn't actually feature 'The Doctor' much at all. I felt this episode was more of a 'short story' of horror, such as those Phil referred to, rather than a episode of a series. If what I took the 'uncanny' to be is true, this episode is a great example. Also; This single episode won Moffat a BAFTA for writing.



Phil, am I heading down the right track? I'm also hoping you are familar with this episode by hoping you're a fan of Doctor Who.

1 Response to 'Essay Idea: Doctor Who - "Blink"'

  1. tutorphil said...
    http://samhayes101.blogspot.com/2009/12/essay-idea-doctor-who-blink.html?showComment=1259694695646#c8993336378656000527'> 1 December 2009 at 19:11

    Oh dear - I AM a fan of Doctor Who - and Blink was the best episode - looking forward to seeing what Stephen Moffat does with the series after Tennant takes his bow... Of course, The Haunting (original) made use of statues that 'almost' moved - but didn't - so perhaps you could open out your essay to discuss the motif more generally? Freud mentions a short story in his essay about carved crocodiles, which I've read, which is also in this mode - see if you can track it down; it would make for a nice connection - to go from the story cited in the essay to Dr Who...

     

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I'm a student studying CG Arts and Animation at the University for the Creative Arts, I'm living in Kent.

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