collecting seemingly irredeemable female characters is my passion --- show: the handmaid's tale character: aunt lydia song: who wants to live forever by queen software: vegas pro 16.0
i think aunt lydia's has been one of the most subtle and interesting character arcs in the show. it's like...early on, "i'm doing what's best for you" was just a platitude, but she's really, earnestly started to believe it. she doesn't really see them as people, or respect them, or feel that the handmaid system is unjust, but she has grown to deeply care for her girls. she wants them to be safe. quiet, obedient, redeemed, and safe. she's fucked up but she's so compelling.
I’ve believed for a long time that Lydia loves the women she torments in her own twisted way and while her actions are reprehensible, her intentions are pure. I’ve been waiting for an edit dedicated to her and this certainly did not disappoint.
I believe she does have good intentions, but she also has a part of her that is driven by anger and violence, that sometimes even scares her. Several times her reactions after she beats a girl shows a fear of herself, same with the way she vehemently denies liking violence while talking to Lawrence. She has this in her but refuses to acknowledge it and thus control it
@@HortenseLapasse completely agree, she’s similar to Serena in the way where she too wanted to improve the world and create a society where women would be “safer” and “protected” but her main goal was her a baby and to maintain power.
@@ravenhorn6116 Where she differs from Serena though, is that she is not a hypocrite. Or at least at face value, knowing what we do from the future story according to the books. She wants things to truly be the way the doctrine dictates. Serena doesn't give a damn about the doctrine. She wants only what she wants. I think Serena may have bought into the whole thing to some extent, but at the root of it, all she really wanted was a baby.
@@DenaInWyo absolutely. Lydia is a BELIEVER. She’s a lawful evil as one would say. She is completely brought into everything which is why she’s capable of the things that she’s done but unlike Serena she would have never permitted June to be raped outside of the ceremony. She would be horrified at such a prospect as season five shows us just that. I don’t know if it makes her better or worse. I will say that I do believe that Lydia did the things she did because she genuinely believed it was the best thing she could do for the women under her care. However Serena did the worst things she did because she believed it would get her what she wanted. Also I believe that if Lydia ended up in Canada she would be a mess. It wouldn’t be like Serena, trying to live a life while millions of people rot in a regime she helped create. The way Serena acted in Canada compared to people like June and Emily really puts in a dent in the way people try to portray her as being conflicted for what she’s done or claiming that she’s also heavily traumatized.
Despite her cruelty, Ann Dowd' performance made me love her character so much I don't even want to see her die. In her messed up mind she cares about the handmaids like they are her children.
I like that edit ! It's such a deep character, full of paradoxes, blinded by her unlimited faith ! You've rendered it in a very rightful and emotional way !
Aunt Lydia is so complex and at times I love her and at times I hate her. She is shaped by that society as well but out of all the aunts I can see her actually trying to help the girls. Even after she was attacked by Emily she didn't blame her, she loves Janine and wants to help these girls but at times her anger takes over . THIS is a beautiful tribute and it makes me remember why I love her , she carries the same complexity that Serenas character shows.
I was so excited when I saw this in my subscriptions and then even more excited when I heard it was the original version of the song. And then the video is so incredible with the way you showed her motives and justifications. It's just really unique.
I never finished the show and I don't know Aunt Lydia's backstory, but from what I've seen of her in the show and in this edit, it's kinda morbid and shitty to say, but she reminds me of my mother. Extremely religious, tormenting herself by putting this (religious) burden with all its rules and punishments on herself and unfortunately projecting it on others around her, which results in absolutely heinous acts, even though her intentions are pure. It evokes many strong emotions in me, sadness and anger, that I had to endure a lot of her own beliefs (which are not as extreme as in this show, which are of course dramatized and intensified for a purpose, but still quite heavy) that have affected me negatively and still do, but also compassion to some degree, because I know she means well and wants the best for me, as twisted as her view of that for me is. This is probably TMI, my apologies haha. But thank you for the edit, and all your other work. I am very intrigued by it and I wish to be able to make such art like this myself one day.
Appreciate the insight Your name makes this parallel just that little bit more glaring too, seeing as the similarly named "Janine" on the show is Lydia's favorites/she's very protective of her, despite having also taken her eye out.
I'm so in love with this. You perfectly encapsulated Lydia just like you perfectly encapsulated all the other characters from this show you edited so far. Nobody does it better than you. Gosh I wish we could frame videos like paintings.
There’s a very complicated but very real humanity to Aunt Lydia that slowly reveals itself as the series progresses. She’s done horrible things and presents an awful exterior most of time, but I suspect she sees what their world has become and she’s really just trying to condition them to survive in that world. As she sees more and more of these handmaids mistreated and ultimately dying, she is gradually turning against the very system she’s helped to create. We know from the Testaments that Aunt Lydia is the one who ultimately brings Gilead down from within and we are slowly seeing her transform into the version of Aunt Lydia who develops a deep disgust and hatred for this system she helped to create.
