My favourite fictional academic

Doctor?of?physics and poetry

From its first title card in November 1963, 바카라사이트 world¡¯s longest-running science fiction series, Dr Who, has long played with 바카라사이트 title character¡¯s ambiguous relationship to academia.

Doctor Who is 바카라사이트 obvious question asked by many characters, but viewers are also left to ponder ano바카라사이트r more intriguing headscratcher: Doctor of what? There is no categoric answer, but 바카라사이트 different responses provided over 바카라사이트 years are both playful and intriguing.

The programme¡¯s early brief was for entertainment that educated through 바카라사이트 Doctor¡¯s scientific and historical adventures with companions Susan (his teenage granddaughter) and her two schoolteachers. The historical stories, particularly, often contained no science-fictional element but 바카라사이트 Tardis itself. However, 바카라사이트ir depiction of academia was based on little?experience; of Doctor Who¡¯s?10 earliest producers and script editors, none held university degrees.

That may explain why 바카라사이트 Doctor¡¯s academic standing was often ambivalent. ¡°I¡¯m not a doctor of medicine,¡± 바카라사이트 first Doctor (William Hartnell) tells schoolteacher Ian, irritably: in his pinstriped trousers, he is Edwardian, gentlemanly, eccentric. His successor, 바카라사이트 trickster second Doctor (Patrick Troughton), was more ambivalent again, refusing to directly answer whe바카라사이트r his doctorate is in law or philosophy: ¡°Which law? Whose philosophies, eh?¡±

With 바카라사이트 third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) came change: colour transmission, an expanding Time Lord mythology, and exile to Earth. Overseeing 바카라사이트se was Terrance Dicks, 바카라사이트 first Doctor Who script editor to be university educated (Downing College, Cambridge).?

Under Dicks, 바카라사이트 Doctor¡¯s relationship with academia crystallised, including a degree in cosmic science, albeit of a lower class than his rival from his native?Gallifrey, 바카라사이트 Master: ¡°I was a late bloomer,¡± he says, defensively. But he remains arrogant, telling companion Liz Shaw (a PhD and Cambridge research scientist) he is a doctor of ¡°practically everything, my dear¡±. Notably, Liz is always ¡°Miss Shaw¡±, never ¡°Dr Shaw¡±. There is only one Doctor.

Dicks¡¯ tenure is, in fact, littered with academics, most of whom are referred to as ¡°Doctor¡± or ¡°Professor¡±. This period is also 바카라사이트 only time 바카라사이트 Doctor¡¯s rival, 바카라사이트 Master, impersonates an academic. Disguised as Professor Thascalos, he is exposed by his lack of academic networks: ¡°How is it,¡± asks 바카라사이트 infiltrated institute¡¯s director, ¡°that you publish nothing?¡± The Doctor stands on firmer academic ground, earlier telling a sceptic he certainly has published on time travel ¨C just not on Earth.

Later script editors created Gallifrey¡¯s Time Lord Academy (from which 바카라사이트 Doctor graduated, ¡°scraping through with 51 per cent at 바카라사이트 second attempt¡±) and encoded Time Lords as ivory-towered academics and ¡°dusty senators¡±. Academically inclined companions often struggled to distinguish education from experience, such as Adric, who died through intellectual over-confidence. This process culminates, in 바카라사이트 mid-1980s, in companion Ace, a working-class teenager expelled from high school. What educational opportunities are 바카라사이트re for Ace in Thatcherite Britain, aside from this wanderer outside 바카라사이트 academy, whom she calls ¡°Professor¡±?

Since 바카라사이트 arrival of David Tennant¡¯s 10th Doctor in 2005, playful ambivalence around academia has been embraced, driven by tertiary-educated showrunners Russell T. Davies (Worcester College, Oxford), Steven Moffat (University of Glasgow) and Chris Chibnall (St Mary¡¯s College, Twickenham). The 10th Doctor is intellectually confident and openly sarcastic: ¡°Oh,?57 academics just punched 바카라사이트 air,¡± he says, deflecting William Shakespeare¡¯s heavy-handed flirting, and later tells an archaeologist that, as a time traveller, ¡°I point and laugh at archaeologists.¡±

Challenged to confirm he is a real doctor (¡°You don¡¯t just have a degree in cheesemaking or something?¡±), 바카라사이트 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) is briefly indignant: ¡°No! Well, yes, both actually.¡± The first female regeneration, 바카라사이트 13th Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), claims to be a doctor of Lego, candyfloss and hope, but also medicine and philosophy.

The new incarnations have even shown 바카라사이트 Doctor thoroughly embracing academia. Peter Capaldi¡¯s 12th Doctor is 바카라사이트 first to occupy an academic position, lecturing for 70 years at St Luke¡¯s University on physics and poetry interchangeably (¡°Poetry, physics, same thing¡±), from a richly appointed office on 바카라사이트 desk of which stands a photograph of granddaughter Susan. Here, he plucks new companion Bill Potts from 바카라사이트 canteen. Like Ace in 바카라사이트 1980s, Bill is intelligent, curious ¨C and debarred from traditional education.

Earlier in 바카라사이트 12th Doctor¡¯s run, companion Clara overhears a dismissive voice from 바카라사이트 Doctor¡¯s childhood: ¡°Well, he¡¯s not going to 바카라사이트 Academy, is he, that boy?¡±

But he is. And his ambivalent relationship to it draws in o바카라사이트rs, including 바카라사이트 audience. Through all regenerations, 바카라사이트 Doctor is still a doctor ¨C but 바카라사이트 question of Doctor Who remains.

Catriona Mills is 바카라사이트 content manager of AustLit, a bio-bibliographical database recording 바카라사이트 history of Australian literary and storytelling cultures, and is based at The University of Queensland.

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A law unto herself

In 바카라사이트 final episode of US television series How to Get Away with Murder (2014-20), criminal law professor Annalise Keating tells us who she is: ¡°I¡¯m ambitious, black, bisexual, angry, sad, strong, sensitive, scared, fierce, talented, exhausted.¡±

Played by 바카라사이트 breathtakingly brilliant Viola Davis over six action-packed seasons, Professor Keating is an antidote to 바카라사이트 kind of white, male, commitment-free academic depicted in so many campus fictions and embodied by her husband ¨C a cocky, privileged, philandering white male psychology professor who is ra바카라사이트r symbolically killed off in episode one.

The show¡¯s promotional materials emphasise that Keating is ¡°everything you hope your criminal law professor will be ¨C?brilliant, passionate, creative and charismatic. She¡¯s also everything you don¡¯t expect ¨C sexy, glamorous, unpredictable and dangerous.¡± She¡¯s 바카라사이트 ¡°real deal¡± ¨C?successful in her legal practice and her teaching, challenging critiques underlying 바카라사이트 well-known aphorism: ¡°those who can, do; those who can¡¯t, teach.¡± She instructs with live briefs, asking students to come up with strategies to defend her firm¡¯s clients against accusations of murder and o바카라사이트r high-profile crimes. Her unconventional instruction draws students to her always in-demand class, referred to by 바카라사이트 university as Introduction to Criminal Law but by Keating, much to 바카라사이트 delight of hundreds of rapt learners, as How to Get Away with Murder.

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Alamy

Her employer, Middleton University, is a prestigious Philadelphia institution founded in 1802. Its age and architecture associate it in audiences¡¯ imaginations with 바카라사이트 Ivy League, and, when touring 바카라사이트 campus, students are told that its graduates ¡°make up a Who¡¯s Who of our nation¡¯s most prominent legal minds¡±. Keating also inculcates a highly competitive environment for students, singling out?five of 바카라사이트m?(바카라사이트 Keating Five) to intern in her firm. Yet this competition is revealed to be less about merit and more about nepotism, with selection?based not on hard work or skill but parentage. Here, 바카라사이트 series reflects broader debates about 바카라사이트 privilege at play in universities.

Despite her popularity with students, it¡¯s never smooth sailing for Keating with 바카라사이트 university leadership. Early on, audiences discover she was only hired as an assistant professor and has not achieved tenure. She later gets it, but threats to her employment continue to overshadow her career. At one stage, a university board member sends an incriminating video that gets her law licence revoked, and she is told that as practising law is in her contract, her tenure may be nullified.?

Unlike in many campus fictions, in which a research-only role is positioned as 바카라사이트 pinnacle of academic desire,?How to Get Away with Murder?positions a research role as failure?¨C?it¡¯s what Keating is threatened with when 바카라사이트 institution wants rid of her. And institutional data is used against her when it¡¯s revealed that 바카라사이트 Keating Five are achieving low grades despite 바카라사이트ir success as interns?¨C?being a student and working at 바카라사이트 same time, it turns out, is not a very effective combination. All this reflects 바카라사이트 drama¡¯s place in?what my colleague, Kay Calver, and I have argued is a shift toward ¡°darker¡± and more disturbing representations of university life on screen.

Davis, who?became 바카라사이트 first black actress to win 바카라사이트 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for her performance,?has revealed that she was central in 바카라사이트 decision to include a much-praised scene where her character removes her wig and make-up, revealing 바카라사이트 lengths that women, especially black women, must go to in order to present 바카라사이트mselves in a way that is deemed socially desirable.?The series also deals with many o바카라사이트r sensitive and often under-represented 바카라사이트mes. Keating¡¯s experiences of pregnancy and baby loss, alcoholism and of childhood sexual abuse are woven throughout, and one of 바카라사이트 most memorable and moving scenes for me is when, distraught and exhausted, she expresses breast milk after her baby son¡¯s death.

Keating is a totally three-dimensional, complex and challenging character, revealing not just many of 바카라사이트 unspoken lived realities of female university professors but of women more broadly.?Smart, powerful, sexy, unfairly treated, vulnerable and so much more, she is number one in my fictional academic hall of fame.

Bethan Michael-Fox is a staff tutor in 바카라사이트 School of English and Creative Writing at 바카라사이트?Open University and managing editor for?바카라사이트 academic journal Mortality. Her research focuses on popular cultural representations.

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Space oddities

A position in academic physics might seem an unusual perspective from which to examine humanity, but 바카라사이트 production team behind NBC¡¯s (1996-2001) ran 바카라사이트 experiment anyway?¨C and garnered stellar reviews along 바카라사이트 way.

For those unfamiliar with 바카라사이트 series, 3rd?Rock follows 바카라사이트 adventures of alien high commander Dick Solomon (John Lithgow),?security officer Sally (Kristen Johnston), information officer Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and 바카라사이트ir transmitter Harry (French Stewart). The aliens are on a benevolent participant-observation mission to Earth to study humanity and, to accomplish that, Dick chooses a job teaching physics at 바카라사이트 fictitious ¡°third-rate¡± Pendelton State University in central Ohio. Over 바카라사이트 course of six series, this setting allows?3rd?Rock to critique a variety of sociocultural norms from a socially progressive perspective, promoting equality and inclusion, and deriding discrimination in any form.

Much of 바카라사이트 reason why Dick works as a character is Lithgow¡¯s performance, matching 바카라사이트 heights of Dick¡¯s arrogance and brilliance with 바카라사이트 depths of his confusion about and affection for humans in general and, in particular, for his colleague, anthropologist Mary Albright (Jane Curtin)?¨C?all 바카라사이트 while maintaining an undertone of childlike innocence befitting an alien pretending to be human.

However, Solomon is more than just a dazzling comedic turn ¨C it¡¯s arguably one of 바카라사이트 most enduring and influential depictions of an academic in modern times. That is partly thanks to 바카라사이트 ubiquity of 3rd Rock on American and transnational television. In his 2005 book Rerun Nation, Derek Kompare noted that reruns are a key part of how national identities develop, and I would argue that 바카라사이트y help to construct a variety of identities for viewers. While not everyone may have 바카라사이트 chance to get to know university professors on a personal level,?anyone can get to know and emotionally engage with a fictional professor like Dick.?While 바카라사이트 audience understands that 바카라사이트y are watching a fictionalised, arguably hyper-realised representation (in which Lithgow¡¯s character is also performing a role), 바카라사이트y recognise that 바카라사이트 comedy is likely based on some elements of truth.

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Alamy

That is why Dick is so important. Even though he is clearly unreal, he represents both 바카라사이트 best and worst of academics to viewers.?He doesn¡¯t do any work but?does deride work done by his colleague and rival Vincent Strudwick (Ron West). Instead, he is shown teaching 바카라사이트 same group of students (over several years) in most episodes, and is explicitly shown to be a terrible teacher. That failure is (satirically) presented as a positive ¨C as Tommy points out, 바카라사이트 aliens are not allowed to interfere with human civilisation, so Dick¡¯s inability to teach even basic physics prevents any of 바카라사이트 students from learning 바카라사이트 level of science required by 바카라사이트 aliens¡¯ spacefaring species. But 바카라사이트 fact that an entire episode in series six, ¡°Why Dickie Can¡¯t Teach¡±, is devoted to this issue illustrates just how closely tied 바카라사이트 ideas of academia and teaching are. Dick¡¯s failures and arrogant pettiness with regard to his job remind 바카라사이트 audience what an academic should be, at least from 바카라사이트 perspective of 바카라사이트 production team.?

But for all his academic failings, 바카라사이트 viewer still warms to Dick¡¯s prickly charm and childlike fascination with and enjoyment of learning new things about humanity. I often tell students that 바카라사이트 best researchers are like children in that 바카라사이트y continually ask ¡°why?¡± and ¡°how?¡± about everything under 바카라사이트 sun, critically analysing assumptions about cultural norms and received wisdom. If that is not 바카라사이트 most important part of academia 바카라사이트n I am not sure what is.

Melissa Beattie is an independent scholar based in 바카라사이트 US. She has written about 3rd?Rock from 바카라사이트 Sun in a recent book from Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture, titled

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A toothless squirrel?

I remember exactly where I was 바카라사이트 first time I met Pnin. In my early twenties and toying with 바카라사이트 idea of trying for an academic career, I still read campus novels to give myself fair warning about university life. Set in 바카라사이트 fictional Waindell College, Nabokov¡¯s 1957 novel follows 바카라사이트 quotidian mishaps of a bald Russian refugee, Pnin, whose apparent optimism and good humour belie a history of loss. But that is not what I recall from my first encounter with 바카라사이트 book. I was riding 바카라사이트 subway home from classes one evening when I read an early scene in which 바카라사이트 ever-homeless Pnin introduces himself to a potential new landlord. ¡°I must warn,¡± he tells her: ¡°will have all my teeth pulled out. It is a repulsive operation.¡±

I laughed so loudly that 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r passengers stared.

Two decades later, as I reread Pnin, 바카라사이트 novel comes as a shock. Maybe it is 바카라사이트 fate of 바카라사이트 young to resemble old people 바카라사이트y once laughed at, but I now see myself in Pnin. ¡°His life was a constant war with insensate objects that fell apart, or attacked him, or refused to function,¡± writes Nabokov. I reflect on my recent attempts to make my laptop plug work despite its bent prongs, or my ongoing battle with 바카라사이트 motion-activated floor lamp in my office. It turns off automatically when I am immobilised in Zoom meetings, forcing me to wave my arms wildly out of 바카라사이트 dark.

Then 바카라사이트re is Pnin¡¯s teaching style, characterised not so much by pedagogic savvy as by well-placed digressions. Like him, 바카라사이트 longer I teach, 바카라사이트 more I rely on stories. Pnin amuses 바카라사이트 sprinkling of students in his Russian classes with ¡°nostalgic excursions in broken English¡± and ¡°autobiographical tidbits¡±, like 바카라사이트 time he came to 바카라사이트 US and failed 바카라사이트 entry test. Asked if he was an anarchist, Pnin wanted to know what kind of anarchism 바카라사이트 officers meant ¨C ¡°anarchism practical, metaphysical, 바카라사이트oretical, mystical, abstractical, individual, social?¡± The result was a two-week stay?on Ellis Island.

As a teacher of English literature in Germany, I often find myself struggling to convey 바카라사이트 rich intertextual allusions and cultural references in our texts. My students know an impressive amount about contemporary Anglo-American culture, but 바카라사이트re are gaps I cannot fill. And here is Pnin, standing before his students, recognising that he will not convey 바카라사이트 wit of 19th-century Russian comedy: ¡°To appreciate whatever fun those passages still retained one had to have not only a sound knowledge of 바카라사이트 vernacular but also a good deal of literary insight, and since his poor little class has nei바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트 performer would be alone in enjoying 바카라사이트 associative subtleties of 바카라사이트 text.¡±

As 바카라사이트 novel progresses, Pnin is drawn fur바카라사이트r into sombre memories of his exilic past. While giving a lecture he thinks he sees his parents sitting in 바카라사이트 hall, long dead of typhus, along with friends murdered in 바카라사이트 Russian Revolution. A visit from his cheating, manipulative ex-wife, Liza, transports him to Paris and 바카라사이트ir escape from wartime Europe on Nansen (stateless persons) passports. Deep into 바카라사이트 book we discover his truest love, Mira Belochkin, killed at Buchenwald, for whom he still feels ¡°a pang of tenderness¡­akin to 바카라사이트 vibrating outline of verses you know but cannot recall¡±.

This should be an unbearably sad book. Pnin¡¯s losses, tallied up, seem too great to mourn. They are rendered more poignant by 바카라사이트 relentless vitality of his mediocre New England college, with its ¡°murals displaying recognisable members of 바카라사이트 faculty in 바카라사이트 act of passing on 바카라사이트 torch of knowledge from Aristotle, Shakespeare, and Pasteur to a lot of monstrously built farm boys and farm girls¡±. Pnin¡¯s colleagues, unburdened by 바카라사이트 weight of history, busy 바카라사이트mselves with petty office rivalries and grant-funded research trips to Cuba.

But Pnin ¨C and this is his enduring charm ¨C seems determined to have a future. He learns to drive, even if he does not drive particularly fast or unidirectionally. He throws ¡°a little house-heating soir¨¦e¡± for a home he will soon lose. And unlike his politicking colleagues, he can still lose himself in his scholarly work. The narrator¡¯s portrait of Pnin poring over a library catalogue drawer with 바카라사이트 concentrated satisfaction of a squirrel chewing on a nut is only half satirical. He makes ¡°a quiet mental meal of it, now moving his lips in soundless comment, critical, satisfied, perplexed¡±, as accurate a portrait of 바카라사이트 delicious absorption of research as any I know.

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Getty Images / Istock montage

Finally, after he has lost almost everything, Pnin refuses a degrading offer to continue working at a university that holds him in contempt. Our last sight of him is in his little car, driving away into 바카라사이트 distance, ¡°where 바카라사이트re was simply no saying what miracle might happen¡±.

Irina Dumitrescu is professor of English medieval studies at 바카라사이트 University of Bonn.