The Laudatio Tauriae is an inscription by a Roman husband about his wife, ‘So great was her sense of duty that, when the marriage proved childless, she offered divorce to allow her husband to seek a more fertile partner. His response speaks volumes: “…What desire, what need to have children could I have had that was so great that I should have broken faith for that reason and changed certainty for uncertainty”’ – Gwynn, David M. The Roman Republic A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: OUP, 2012)
This is a video dedicated to the wondrous incomparable Amelia Pond and to her story is series 5 of Doctor Who. It is also a tribute to how much her time on the show has meant to me. I loved this song before I thought of connecting it to Amy’s character (which didn’t take long), as it captures the feelings of an isolated, overwhelmed, ‘different’ little girl perfectly.
I first really started watching Doctor Who when series 5 premiered. At the time I was a teenager, who still felt much younger, who had left school very suddenly because my OCD and other mental health issues had gotten so bad. I was being shuffled around from psychiatrist to psychiatrist, all of whom were unhelpful and dismissive, as my depression and isolation grew. I was becoming more and more convinced I might would end up miserable and stuck in this place forever. That’s where I was when I sat down to watch The Eleventh Hour.
Then this show became a powerful source of light in my life. It was full of color and joy and hope. I immediately fell in love with the Doctor, and Amy, and Rory. It taught me a different perspective on life than I’d had previously. It taught me to seek the adventure and wonder in the world, despite my anxieties, or fears, or flaws, or differences. It got me to go back to school. It got me out of bad situations and into wonderful ones. I have so much to thank the story of Amelia Pond for – and the joy, peace, and inspiration it brings me to this day – and this video for her is the least of how I can express that.
This vid is also in part thanks to @sarah531, who writes such brilliant meta on Amy’s character, it was a huge contributor to my inspiration to make this vid.
+ best hair “I started to think it was a dream, you and Amy and Leadworth. And then today, in the camp, the men were talking about the visitors. The girl with the red hair.”
It’s a Davies quote, but this is Amy’s story. Diegetic and meta.
There are lots of people who tell her, don’t dream don’t wish don’t wait, the Doctor isn’t real and stars aren’t and Leadsworth’s enough isn’t it?—and then there’s our world. Where marriage was a well-worn way of writing out a companion; where there are so few female characters who get to grow up and still have adventures.
