We cannot seem to fathom the idea that aliens might not actually want to invade us. As human beings, living in a capitalist system where gentrification, colonialism and exploitation are the norm, who’s to say that aliens might not be as evil as we are?
Doctor Who has been around since 1963, and like most alien science fiction shows, it often depicts these aliens aiming to take over and destroy planets for their own gain. We have seen the richest aliens – Cassandra O’Brian – live until the end of time. We’ve watched the trigger-happy space police, the Jadoons, wrongfully kill other beings. Remind you of anything? Turn on the news and watch our own MET police get away with shooting people in the head (the death of Chris Kaba), marvel at millionaires who’d do anything to extend their own lives while ruining those of others as the UK life expectancy falls for the first time in history. Even billionaires on Earth race to get to space for fun. Elon Musk, for instance, aims to put humans on Mars as early as 2029. All these dystopian parallels are no coincidence. Capitalist thinking dominates the media, as producers subtly inject capitalist values into every media product we consume.
Fascist Nazi Robots
Capitalist realism is the idea that capitalism is the only viable political and economic system, making alternatives seem impossible or unthinkable. This applies to Doctor Who almost a little too perfectly. The Daleks are literally fascist nazi robots who want to exterminate beings they perceive as different to themselves. While they are viewed as evil for attempting to commit genocide on an unprecedented level, Netanyahu commits genocide and gets nominated for TIME Person of the Year.
Science fiction is nearly always rife with capitalist realism. Think Jurassic Park; the tragedies that unfold are no mistake of science, in fact, the science was absolutely correct. The true tragedy lies in the exploitation of dangerous animals in a money-making theme park for the gain of a few and at the expense of the lives of others. Capitalism’s invisible grip affects everything we watch. We don’t even notice these issues as they are often presented as personal struggles or individual challenges, rather than structural problems rooted in capitalism. In Jurassic Park we want our victims to escape, and in Doctor Who we want the colonial aliens to return to their own planet. However, resolving conflicts in existing structures with happy endings, without fundamentally changing the systems of power, demonstrates capitalist realism’s tendency to present solutions that work within the current capitalist framework rather than challenge it.
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A Never-Ending Spiral
If we are capable of recognising capitalist evils when viewing an alien committing the same acts of terror that we see when we turn on the news – why don’t we feel the same? Where is the same disgust, anger, and fear we feel when observing science fiction capitalist realism? In Doctor Who, the system doesn’t change, and it hasn’t for the entirety of the show. Leaving the Doctor stuck in a constant circular purgatory of repetitive conflicts, where real mitigating alternatives are never discussed.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. The Doctor often battles forces representing authoritarianism, fascism, or imperialism, but rarely challenges the underlying capitalist system. It’s no surprise that producers don’t want audiences to make these connections between our economic system and the evils we see on screen, as the media industry as we know it benefits almost entirely from capitalism. The aliens represent our ruling class, as they exploit and conquer for our entertainment, rather than aiding viewers in recognising critiques of economic systems or class structure. We have become so used to seeing the evils of capitalism, a system imposed upon us by the ruling class, that we are unable to imagine any world without it – even on alien planets. Capitalism is not natural, and capitalism’s grip on contemporary culture means that even science fiction, a genre historically associated with challenging the status quo, has become blurred with the logic of capitalism.
A Civilised Extra-Terrestrial
What I am trying to say is, do you really think other planets would enforce the cruel capitalist system that grips and destroys our own crumbling Earth? Because I think Doctor Who has it wrong. The evils of capitalism are escapable and solvable in our world, we just need to be brave enough to spark it. Put me on a watch list. I don’t care. Humans are not naturally greedy and selfish – this is taught by capitalism. So who knows, if aliens are out there, I don’t think they would be as evil as the monsters we see on screen. In fact, I reckon they would be more civilized than us.