[taurusmay]

Тамблер неожиданно подкинул интересные мысли насчет Клары и просто пищу для ума:

I’ve been thinking about Clara Oswald lately (as one does) and I think I’ve finally realized why I find her character so personally compelling. It’s because she is both always and never herself...

«I’ve been thinking about Clara Oswald lately (as one does) and I think I’ve finally realized why I find her character so personally compelling. It’s because she is both always and never herself.

See, society tells us we have to look a certain way, act a certain way, fall into a certain category, or we won’t be accepted or happy. Then there’s the counter-movement found in a lot of popular media, that tells you to be fearlessly yourself and you’ll achieve all your dreams. But neither of these viewpoints really presents a complete picture of what it is to live, because how many of us really fit into one neat box? How many of us know exactly who we are, and want to act on it all the time?

Clara Oswald shows us that you don’t need to act on yourself to be yourself. Much has been said about her tightly controlled image and how far she is willing to go to be perceived in this or that way. But less is said about how all these images she projects are, in fact, who she is.

She is introduced to us as a manic pixie dream girl type, flowery and feminine, cute and unflappable, because that’s who she wants to be. Then in series 8, in response to both life-changing events and the normal progression of maturity, she shows up as the practical, clever, impatient teacher with a romantic side, firmly grounded in the real world. Finally, having decided that traveling with the Doctor is the most important thing in her life (and she does decide that, consciously or not, every time she runs out of the classroom or lies to Danny), she becomes the Reckless Adventurer™ in series 9.

But here’s the thing, the brilliant breakthrough that really changed the way I look at myself and what I want: Clara is who she wants to be. The brave girl in the cute sundress is fully and completely Clara, because that is who Clara has chosen to be. The down-to-earth schoolteacher is just as much Clara, because Clara inhabited that image with her whole heart. And the daredevil Clara of series 9 is simply Clara with the brakes off. She is no more genuine than any of the “other” Claras, because she made herself into each of those other people, and discarded them like chrysalises when she grew into something new.

And that has such huge implications for me personally, and for who we all are, because something that’s so often left out in all those messages about being yourself is that you can choose which self to be. For instance: I was The Shy Bookworm™ as a kid, with the glasses and social awkwardness and preferring books to people. And I was very very lonely. But then I got a job, and started college, and had a whole fresh start with all these new people, and I decided I didn’t want to be the same shy person I’d been in high school. So I copied Clara. I tried to be super bubbly and I reached out to people and practiced walking with confidence. And now that bubbliness is just…habit. I have become the closest I can be to who Clara was for awhile.

The point: for those like me, who don’t really know who they are or what they want to do, Clara is an amazing example. Because she is absolutely 100% herself, but that self changed with time. You don’t have to be the exact same person all the time. It’s not acting like someone you’re not, because you’re not changing the core of who you are. Clara’s kindness, her bravery, her anger, her laugh—none of those changed. But how she expressed them did.

Obviously most of us won’t have the drastic image changes Clara had, because most of us don’t travel with a scary handsome genius from space who plays guitar while riding on a tank and deal with all the ensuing scenarios. But for those of us who feel trapped, or awkward, or aimless, there’s a certain kind of hope in knowing that who you are now is not who you will always be.»
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