What's so Fortean about JFK and Doctor Who?

[Pietro_Mercurios]

As the 50th anniversaries approach, one has to ask, 'Just what is it that's so Fortean about the assassinated US President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and the British Science Fiction series, Doctor Who?'

Apart from the fact that JFK died on the 22nd of November 1963 and Doctor Who was born on the evening after. All the hopes fears and contradictions of one, all too easily transferable on to the other.

Given such an outlandish supposition, several regenerations later, could all those hopes, fears and contradictions, have been preserved and carried forward,?

Is it be because they're worth it?

 

[dreeness]

That's a subtle and difficult idea, Pietro.

Could it have something to do with nostalgia, no that's not quite exactly the right word, more like sort of the mood of the time, the spirit of the time, something like that.

It was before I was born, and I'm not British or American, but I get the sense that it was a more hopeful time. Not necessarily happier, but more optimistic, perhaps more innocent even.

Like, magazines depicting "the home of the future" or "the city of the future" etc, everything clean and bright, shining colours and bold sharp lines. The idea that everything was going to be good, and then just keep getting better. Science and technology, space stations and cities on the moon, flying cars, everything "new and improved". Newsreels with amazing innovations in plastics, stuff like that. Even furniture and appliances that looked sleek and modern and "spacey". Toy stores full of tin spaceships and plastic astronauts. Sorry to keep talking about old magazine covers, but I'm sure we've all seen them in collectible/antique stores, what must it have been like in cities back then, newsstands at every corner with dozens of magazines proclaiming things like "The Car Of Tomorrow!", and "Ceiling UNLIMITED!" with photos of the latest experimental jets, and the meta-message of everything, the future is yours, and the future is fantastic. Your kids could grow up to be astronauts, well of course they could. Jack Kennedy tapped into that sort of futurism, confidently announcing that men would soon walk on the moon. And Doctor Who imagined a magical little old man merrily wandering through all of time in space in a wonderful blue wooden box. And there were hi-fi's and electric guitars and "instant breakfast" which was some sort of powder or something. Anyway it was a time of great optimism and dynamism and confidence and hope and things like that.

 

[rynner2]

...JFK died on the 22nd of November 1963 and Doctor Who was born on the evening after.

Wow! Doctor Who is the reincarnation of JFK! :shock:
I hadn't realised that before!

Or maybe it's just coincidence - itself a popular Fortean theme.

But really they are chalk and cheese, because each fits into separate Fortean categories. JFK is in Conspiracy because everyone has their own theory about who killed him and why. The Doctor is in Fortean Culture, as a prime example of Science Fiction, especially what can be done with time and space, and what would aliens be like.

But both topics do share the Fortean tendency to question reality and ask if things are really as they seem, and how they could be otherwise.

Sometimes our searches bring us back to earth with a bump, as when Dorothy looks behind the curtain and discovers the truth about the mighty and mysterious Wizard of Oz.

But all good Fortean stories seem to have room for "what ifs", that lead into further unexplored parts of the world, or of the human mind. As the circle of knowledge grows, the circumference of the circle, where it meets the unknown, also grows, so we will always have mysteries to tease and baffle us.

And a Good Thing too! 8)

 

[Mythopoeika]

Apart from the fact that JFK died on the 22nd of November 1963 and Doctor Who was born on the evening after.

Funnily enough, between those two events occurring, I was born.

 

[stu neville]

Further, on the self same day Kennedy carked it, both Aldous Huxley and CS Lewis went, too (though their respective passings kind of fell by the wayside.)

I'd say the latter two had more spiritual Who-influence, all in all.

 

[rynner2]

Further, on the self same day Kennedy carked it, both Aldous Huxley and CS Lewis went, too (though their respective passings kind of fell by the wayside.)

Yep, I posted about that on Coincidences.

 

[47Forteans]

Just where are the cities on the moon and the ocean floor and the jet packs and flying cars we were promised in the fifties and sixties?

WE WAS ROBBED!

 

[dreeness]

Just where are the cities on the moon and the ocean floor and the jet packs and flying cars we were promised in the fifties and sixties?

WE WAS ROBBED!

People genuinely believed that was what the world was going to be like, and in a relatively short time, too. Like in Kubrick's 2001, the depiction of the near future was considered quite serious and rational, including routine passenger flights to the moon on the "Pan Am Space Clipper". Going to the moon was going to be not too much different than a vacation in Hawaii or Switzerland.


From Wikipedia:

Streamline Moderne, much like Googie, was styled to look futuristic to signal the beginning of a new era – that of the automobile and other technologies. Drive-in services such as diners, movie theaters and gas stations built with the same principles developed to serve the new American city. Drive-ins had advanced car-oriented architectural design, as they were built with an expressive utilitarian style, circular and surrounded by a parking lot, allowing all customers equal access from their cars. These developments in consumer oriented design set the stage for Googie during the 1950s, since during the 1940s World War II and rationing caused a pause of development because of the imposed frugality on the American public.

The prosperous 1950s, however, celebrated its affluence with optimistic designs. The development of nuclear power and the reality of spaceflight captivated the public’s imagination of the future. Googie architecture exploited this trend by incorporating energy into its design with elements such as the boomerang, diagonals, atomic bursts and bright colors. According to Hess, commercial architecture was influenced by the desires of the mass audience. The public was captivated by rocket ships and nuclear energy, so, in order to draw their attention, architects used these as motifs in their work. Buildings had been used to catch the attention of motorists since the invention of the car, but during the 1950s the style became more widespread.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Further, on the self same day Kennedy carked it, both Aldous Huxley and CS Lewis went, too (though their respective passings kind of fell by the wayside.)

I'd say the latter two had more spiritual Who-influence, all in all.

In this case, I wasn't really referring to spiritual influence, or even the realities of history, but the myth of JFK. The myth of the 'Camelot Presidency.' In a way Kennedy had become the physical expression of the hopes and fears of millions around the World. There's been a great deal of reappraisal and revisionism in the half century since, but at the time the assassination it was a hammer blow to an awful lot of people. One of the reasons the assassination has been such an enduring conspiracy theory topic, has to lie with the infeasibly high expectations many had invested in Kennedy at the time of his assassination. Like the later death of Diana, not a reflection of the historical realities, but the expression of something reflecting the symbolic and iconic nature of their role in the Public consciousness.

However worthy Huxley and Lewis might have been, their deaths back in November 1963 probably didn't reduce a sizeable proportion of the World's population to tears, in quite the same way.

As for Doctor Who. Isn't the BBC TV created myth really the Once and Future King Arthur myth on turbo? With the TARDIS his travelling Camelot?

The logic underpinning the connection might be the skewed logic of dreams, but isn't that what might make it so Fortean?

:lol:

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Further, on the self same day Kennedy carked it, both Aldous Huxley and CS Lewis went, too (though their respective passings kind of fell by the wayside.)

I'd say the latter two had more spiritual Who-influence, all in all.

Have to admit, the wardrobe in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is obviously a possible precursor of the TARDIS. Come to think of it, Lewis's very Christian and anti-science take on Science Fiction, may also have had influence on Whovian morality and ethics.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Apart from the fact that JFK died on the 22nd of November 1963 and Doctor Who was born on the evening after.

Funnily enough, between those two events occurring, I was born.

D'oh! What am I talking about? I must have been tired when I typed that.
I had my 2nd birthday on the day when Doctor Who was launched. Even though I was only 2, I remember the JFK assassination being all over the telly - I wondered why the adults were all so distracted, and ignoring me in spite of it being my birthday...

...Need more sleep...

 

[Peripart]

Apart from the fact that JFK died on the 22nd of November 1963 and Doctor Who was born on the evening after.

Funnily enough, between those two events occurring, I was born.

D'oh! What am I talking about? I must have been tired when I typed that...

Oh, well, you had me very impressed for a whole day!

 

[Mythopoeika]

Apart from the fact that JFK died on the 22nd of November 1963 and Doctor Who was born on the evening after.

Funnily enough, between those two events occurring, I was born.

D'oh! What am I talking about? I must have been tired when I typed that...

Oh, well, you had me very impressed for a whole day!

Haha.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

And in the Independent (Voices) section, today:

Debate: Which has had more lasting impact, the assassination of JFK, or sci-fi series Dr Who?

So far, Doctor Who is winning. :lol:

 

[dreeness]

Perhaps it is a question that could be addressed by prominent JFK historian, Robert Dallek.

link

 

[Simon]

Wow! Doctor Who is the reincarnation of JFK! :shock:
I hadn't realised that before!

Its regeneration!

Anyway, everyone has missed the best 50th anniversary this weekend.
With The Beatles was issued on the 22nd November 1963, but its been forgotten by everyone.
Whatever happened to those four young men?

 

[liveinabin]

Now, you chaps might be able to help solve a little urban legend that is vexing the husband.

He has a pre the new series big book of Doctor Who. It is all the facts about making of certain episodes and a synopsis of each one. The kind of thing that used to get published when the internet didn't exist.

Now in his book it says that many parts of London were effected by a power cut on the night of the broadcast of the first episode and that, coupled with JFK, is why the ratings were low for the first one.

In the program Adventures in Time and Space that was shown recently about the start of Doctor Who they only mentioned the JFK reason.

It would seem that there is now much debate about whether there was a power cut that might or not. Are people actually getting confused by the power cuts in the 70s?

Is there anyone on this board who was there at the time and can recall a power cut on the might of the original broadcast?

 

[GNC]

I wasn't there, but I imagine power cuts were a lot more prevalent back then than now, so it's possible.

 

[rynner2]

It would seem that there is now much debate about whether there was a power cut that might or not. Are people actually getting confused by the power cuts in the 70s?

Is there anyone on this board who was there at the time and can recall a power cut on the might of the original broadcast?

I probably saw the first Doctor Who episode (I was in my last year at school then), and I don't remember any power cuts around then. And certainly not country-wide cuts (I was in Sussex at the time).

You're probably right to ask "Are people actually getting confused by the power cuts in the 70s?"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Day_Week

The trouble is with many young people, all of the past gets telescoped down into one amorphous mass called 'The past', so they have no real understanding of how different periods followed each other.

Ironically, Doctor Who is probably one of the causes of this misunderstanding!

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

Wasn't there some industrial action, round the time of, Spearhead from Space?