Pitch Podcast 1

In this podcast episode, Brock interviews a group of individuals who claim to know more about the Disney Plus series Andor. They discuss the connection between the show and real-life fascism, focusing on the character Cyril Karn and his role in the Galactic Empire. They draw parallels to George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant" and discuss how Cyril Karn is similar to the character in the story. The episode also delves into the events of episode 3, highlighting the impact of Cassian's past on his present actions. Key themes include the shaping of one's life through past experiences and the concepts of trust and betrayal. The podcast hosts believe that their unique perspective, which connects the show to real-life examples, makes them the ideal spokespersons for Andor. Overall, the episode emphasizes the deeper meanings and connections within the show and the Star Wars universe. Hello fellow Star Wars lovers this is Brock and welcome back to another episode of our podcast. Today is a very special day because today we are going to be interviewing a very special group of individuals that claim to know more about the Disney Plus series Andor than anyone else. Today they are going to speak and answer questions about the show Andor and how it can be interpreted and compared to real-life events. Today they are going to zoom in on the character Cyril Karn and a real-life event that connects to Cyril's character of the fascist regime of the Galactic Empire. Today's questions will be coming from Isabel and she will be asking Jackson questions about the amazing Star Wars show Andor. Alright Isabel take it away. Alright so Jackson, starting off can you tell me about fascism? Fascism is an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. It is the idea of governments with superiority and inferiority. Fascist governments often target certain groups of people, in this case it's those who oppose the Empire. Continuing on to that, can you explain how fascism connects to the Star Wars show Andor? Fascism is connected to Star Wars because the Galactic Empire is an authoritarian style government where someone is always in charge. There is no voting upon who leads it and it is strictly led by those who hold the power and has the military support. The Star Wars government is comparable to governments like Nazi Germany as Hitler held the power of Germany by military control and the Jewish people were seen as inferior and they were killed in camps by genocide. What are some things you can tell me about the character Cyril Karn and what kind of character he is? Cyril Karn is the kind of guy who follows every rule but he will disobey his direct orders if he thinks he is doing the right thing in the name of the Empire. He believes in order through enforcement as he has a private role in the Empire. Cyril Karn is a mama's boy who looks for his mother for advice. For example, in episode 5 after having failed to arrest Cassie and Andor, Cyril and his unit were punished by the Empire and Cyril went to his mom for advice about what he should do. Adding on to that, who can he be connected to in a real world example? Cyril Karn can be connected to a character from George Orwell's Shooting an Elephant from 1936. In this short story there is a real-world historical example from British-controlled Burma which is now present-day Myanmar. In this short story George Orwell is a British soldier who is in a position to control the people of Burma. The people of Burma hated the British Imperial soldiers and they treated them poorly because they hated the British control. In a quote from George Orwell's Shooting an Elephant, it says no one has the guts to raise a right, but if a European woman went through the basers alone, somebody would probably spit Betelgeuse over her dress. As a police officer, I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so. When a nimble Burman tripped me up on the football field and the referee, another Burman, looked the other way, the crowd yelled with hideous laughter. This happened more than once. In the end, the sneer-yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, which got badly on my nerves. The young Buddhist priests were the worst of all. There were several thousand of them in the town and none of them seemed to have anything to do except stand on the street corners and jeer at Europeans. What episode can you connect the story George Orwell's Shooting an Elephant, and also adding on to that, can you explain how George Orwell is similar to Cyril Kahn? Cyril Kahn and Imperial troops arrived on the planet Faryx to try and arrest Cassian Andor for having killed two Imperial guards in episode 1. Cyril is surprised to be undermined by the people of Faryx, they lied to him about Cassian's whereabouts, and the people tried their best to hide Cassian for as long as they could. This event from episode 3 can be connected back to George Orwell's story because Orwell also faced hate from the people who were under his control. The people suppressed by imperialism often fight back in little ways, not enough to overthrow the Empire, but enough to undermine it and have small victories, like helping Cassian Andor escape with Lucian. Can you go into a little more detail about the events from episode 3? Yeah, episode 3 starts off with the scene when Cassian Andor was a child. He was on the ship that had just landed on his home planet of Qunari. He was enraged by the fact that the first thing the soldiers on board the ship did when they came to the crash site was shoot and kill one of the people of Cassian's tribe named Kasa. In this scene where Cassian is destroying the inside of the ship, the lady we know to be Cassian's mother in present-day scenes finds Cassian with another man. While they are trying to steal parts from the crashed ship, they took Cassian back to their ship, knowing surely that if Imperial troops found him that they would kill him. Cassian also meets the buyer for a stolen Imperial map in this episode. A guy we soon find out is named Lucian, and is not just here to buy the map from him, but to figure out the kind of person Cassian is, how he got the map, and what feelings he has towards the Empire. Another thing we learned in this episode, Cyril Karn and the Imperial soldiers show up at Cassian's home and demand his mother tell them where to find Cassian. When Cassian makes the mistake of trying to talk to his robot friend, and the Imperial troops intercept the signal and start making their way towards him. As Cyril Karn and his men look for Cassian, they are met with the people of Ferric. These people do every little thing to slow down the troops, by lying about Cassian's whereabouts, to getting in the way of the search, ultimately ending in people getting arrested or killed. When they do finally find Cassian, Cassian and Lucian make an escape. They run into Cyril Karn for the first time in the series, which is the first time that Cassian and Cyril interact. Cassian spares Cyril Karn's life, showing Cyril that Cassian isn't the terrible rotten criminal that he thought he was, but someone that was just trying to escape this terrible situation. Eventually, the Imperial troops fail to apprehend Cassian and Lucian, and they make an escape off of Ferric. What do you think the key themes and ideas of this episode are? I think one of the key themes is how someone's past life will shape them as they grow. Another theme that we will come back to in our future podcast will be trust and betrayal. I also think that the key idea of this episode was to show us that there is more to this series than a simple deal, but there is a journey that Cassian will take to join a resistance against the Empire. And finally, why do you think we should choose you to be the spokesperson on the Disney plus Star Wars show Andor? Anyone can just watch a show like Andor, but not everyone can compare the show to real life examples. Examples like comparing the Galactic Empire to a fascist state like Nazi Germany, or connecting real-life stories like George Orwell's shooting an elephant. Andor is more than just a show, and people want to hear their favorite Star Wars classic interpreted and understood by someone who already loves the show. Anyone that tunes in to hear the podcast about Andor will want to hear what we have to say, because they love the show so much and want to hear what we have to say for the rest of the episodes. Well folks, that is all the time we have today. Thank you to Isabelle and Jackson for coming on our show. I think after hearing what this group has had to say about the Disney plus series show Andor, there is a lot more to consider when watching the show and Star Wars as a whole. From the authoritarian fascist governments that the Star Wars Galactic Empire is, to the real-life connections that the show Andor has to the real-life stories such as George Orwell's shooting an elephant. One of the main characters, Cyril Karn, isn't just a made-up fictional character, but his character tells a story about real-life imperialism and authoritarian style governments, and how that could and does affect people like Cyril Karn.