Watching some of the behind the scenes interviews with the actor who plays Dedra and I was disappointed that the way that Gough characterized Dedra’s mindset was, “I did a lot of research on female psychopathy,"
It just feels like too much of a pass to give to even Dedra Meero to go “Oh well, she’s a psychopath. Women do be crazy after all.” instead of exploring, maybe, the motivations for why a human woman in a human-supremacist Empire would be attracted and motivated to perpetuating that order without some simmering psychiatric condition influencing her decisions.
Andor doesnt do the whole “imperial core”/“white woman tears”, its not really a story about intersectional fight against imperialism, more like anti-fash. Thats why most characters that die arent white. Andor in general has not great writing for its female characters. Dedra was raised by the empire and there is nothing else to her.
I feel like when your job is working at the massacre factory either you’re some degree of sociopathic going in or it’s something you develop as a consequence of attempting to compartmentalize what you do at the massacre factory
the motivations for why a human woman in a human-supremacist Empire would be attracted and motivated to perpetuating that order without some simmering psychiatric condition influencing her decisions.
Why isn’t “she’s a psychopath” a good answer here tho? I doubt that the nazi party for example didn’t have a very increased rate of psychopaths in their ranks.
It could be a good answer if the series actually showed her going out of her way to be a psychopath. Otherwise, my read is that she comes off as a “i’m just following orders” sociopath. Dedra might actually be getting off on being a mass abuser behind the scenes but the show hasn’t communicated that well enough.
Watching some of the behind the scenes interviews with the actor who plays Dedra and I was disappointed that the way that Gough characterized Dedra’s mindset was, “I did a lot of research on female psychopathy,"
It just feels like too much of a pass to give to even Dedra Meero to go “Oh well, she’s a psychopath. Women do be crazy after all.” instead of exploring, maybe, the motivations for why a human woman in a human-supremacist Empire would be attracted and motivated to perpetuating that order without some simmering psychiatric condition influencing her decisions.
Andor doesnt do the whole “imperial core”/“white woman tears”, its not really a story about intersectional fight against imperialism, more like anti-fash. Thats why most characters that die arent white. Andor in general has not great writing for its female characters. Dedra was raised by the empire and there is nothing else to her.
I feel like when your job is working at the massacre factory either you’re some degree of sociopathic going in or it’s something you develop as a consequence of attempting to compartmentalize what you do at the massacre factory
Why isn’t “she’s a psychopath” a good answer here tho? I doubt that the nazi party for example didn’t have a very increased rate of psychopaths in their ranks.
It could be a good answer if the series actually showed her going out of her way to be a psychopath. Otherwise, my read is that she comes off as a “i’m just following orders” sociopath. Dedra might actually be getting off on being a mass abuser behind the scenes but the show hasn’t communicated that well enough.
She definitely enjoyed torturing Bix in season 1
I might have to try to rewatch those scenes, the pacing of the show at times is slow enough that seem to completely forget things.
As its only shown that one time, a part of me wonders if she’s just doing a act to try to intimidate Bix.