Reasons I love Dhawan Master #47: He’s neurodeviant!
In no particular order, here is an illustrated list of reasons I love Sacha Dhawan’s Master, most of which boil down to the way that Sacha Dhawan so expertly embodies the Master to such a degree that we can look into this character’s mind as we never have before.
Find my full series under the HELP I WUVS HIM tag or at the why I love Dhawan Master tag.
Read more about my version of Dhawan Master/Thirteen [plus fam] in The Happy Famverse, a series of comic shorts about the domestic lives of [extended] Team TARDIS.
#47: He’s neurodeviant! Yes, I am using that particular word, rather than “neurodiverse” or “neurodivergent” or “neuroatypical,” for a reason. “Deviant” has long been a code word for “anything the people in charge don’t approve of,” including one’s intelligence, one’s social interactions, one’s sexuality, one’s abilities, etc., etc., etc. As an extension, it’s also associated with iconoclastic rebellion and often stubborn adherence to something contrary to the mainstream. I think that the Master [generally speaking, but especially this one] would glorify their renegade spirit and other condemned traits by turning the term “deviant” into one of pride. So that’s why he’s neurodeviant.
In this case, “neurodeviant” means “possessing and using a neurotype, brain style, thought pattern, and/or means of self-expression that’s rather uncommon.” I’m sure it’s pretty obvious to a lot of readers already that he is neurodeviant [just as it was pretty obvious to a certain number of you that he finds choking a turn-on], but I don’t care. I start from the basics and prove those so that I can work my way into more complex arguments.
Evidence for the Master’s neurodeviance is all over the place. Here are several key examples, though this is not a comprehensive list.
He has a conversational consciousness. See #34 [his reaction to Thirteen’s TARDIS] and #11 [his mind at work].
He acts everything out. See #46 for an in-depth example.
He has a variety of behaviors particularly associated with neurodeviant self-expression, stimming, coping, etc., including, but not limited to the following: nonstandard eye contact [see #42], saying “Ooooh” [see #38], baring his teeth [see #33], repeating things [see #31 and #28], headbanging when frustrated [see #27], rocking when excited [see #14], brainfingers [see #12], dancing/clapping when excited [see #3], and his vibrating when angry [see #2].
I want to know why the Master is neurodeviant. Why did Sacha Dhawan and the showrunners decide to make this version of the character so obviously neurodeviant?
I have two possible answers, one from the showrunners’ perspective, one from the actor’s. From the showrunners’ perspective, the Master has always been mad, insane, nuts, crazy, mentally ill, whatever. The character’s mental traits have also been inextricably linked with their cruel, immoral actions, suggesting that the Master is a nasty sadistic person because of their mental traits. In the showrunners’ minds, crazy = evil. Furthermore, neurodeviance, according to them, isn’t so far from insanity. Neurodeviance = crazy = evil. In this interpretation, the showrunners may be using the Master’s neurodeviance as a [crappy, horrible, wrong, ableist, bigoted] attempt at explaining his mean-spirited, coercive, sadistic actions.
From Sacha Dhawan’s perspective, things might look a bit different. He writes openly on Instagram about having Crohn’s disease and chronic anxiety. He doesn’t discuss Crohn’s a lot, but he does mention that its symptoms can be disruptive. He goes into a little more detail about chronic, debilitating anxiety, how it distorts his thoughts, and why it’s important to bring this subject out in the open so that people don’t feel so ashamed about it. In other words, he’s intimately familiar with health limitations/chronic pain/physical disability, as well as mental pain and suffering/mental illness/unfun ways in which your brain messes with your head. It’s possible that he plays the Master as neurodeviant because he has some familiarity with uncommon physical and mental conditions and wants to draw on those to represent the Master realistically and sympathetically, at least as far as neurodeviance is concerned.
I see both possible answers at work when the Master’s on the screen. Sometimes he’s just an insane megalomanaical dipshit with dreams of creating a new race. Sometimes that perspective even affects the actors. In an interview with Sy Fy Fangirls, Sacha Dhawan talks about surprising Jodie Whittaker and gang with the revelation on the plane that O is the Master. He says, “That was the first time Jodie and the cast and crew had actually seen me as the Master and how I was going to do it and they were like, ‘Wow, okay. This guy's crazy.’“ Hey, it’s the nuts = evil = nuts equation in practice!
At the same time, I also see the more empathetic perspective. Indeed, in the same interview, Sacha Dhawan described the character as “stooped [I think this is supposed to be “steeped”] in history and emotion, which is what I wanted to bring to the surface. By doing that, I think the audience, as much as they hate him, will also sympathize with him and feel for him.” [Sidenote: Obviously he was unfamiliar at this point with just how much certain people love the character and will side with any version for various reasons.] And I see that emphasis on history and emotion, as opposed to batshit evil, in Sacha Dhawan’s performance. I see that in the way that he performs the character’s neurodeviance consistently, meticulously, realistically, and, as far as I can tell, respectfully. Rather than a source of comedy or an explanation for the Master’s cruelty, Sacha Dhawan tends to portray the Master’s neurodeviance as a neutral aspect of the character. That is so fuckin’ rare these days that I have to write rapturous essays when it happens.
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