Source
r/andor•
ronsta

Prison Scenes

SpoilerDiscussion

I just finished Season 1 and like all of you, I was blown away by this show. One thing that stuck with me is the power of the prison story arc. It felt so well done that it could have existed as its own dystopian sci fi film. It was a great way of keeping Cassian out of the public eye as the empire was looking for him. And yet, the characters they created in the prison were interesting; the controls were ruthless and unforgiving; the emphasis on back-breaking work, and pitting teams of prisoners against was smart and well done.

I loved it. And of course we had Andy Serkis to take it to the next level.

Posted Dec 16, 2022, 9:16 PM UTC

14119
MAK-15•

The primary purpose of that arc was to show the viewer as well as Cassian the consequences of complacency in a ever growing totalitarian regime and it does a very good job of that.

92
usuallyNotInsightful•

The show does the perfect mixture of show and tell. Dialogue reinforces what is seen on screen and vice-versa.

19
Yustyn•

“… that it could of existed as it’s own dystopian sci-fi film” I’m gonna need you to check out a film called THX-1138 by this indie director named George Lucas

20
ronstaOP•

I have seen it. And definitely picked up the connections.

7
NovaPokeDad•

That kid? He’s fresh out of grad school.

2
GhostRiders•

Absolutely amazing.

This is probably just me but watching those episodes in the prison gave me THX1138 vibes.

17
C3POdreamer•

The trope and tactic of a criminal deliberately doing a minor offense to hide in jail is flipped to show the utter lack of procedural and substantive civil rights and liberties.

The fake name I realized afterwards wasn't discovered because it was meant to be a one-way trip.

12
ronstaOP•

Interesting. You’re saying the ISB wouldn’t look inside these prisons to find people it was pursuing because anyone who has landed in Morlana or similar facilities is effectively dead.

5
C3POdreamer•

Partially. I was thinking in of a real life serial killer who had himself arrested for a robbery elsewhere. While you bring up a good point, I was thinking that more the lazy police and magistrates and prison didn't even bother to confirm the identity. Like the viral video, Andor is the mouse that hides from the cat underneath the cat. link. The empire treats people like fungible goods, and that disregard ironically enables Andor to escape the main ISB and enter a top secret weapons project, sabotage it, and escape.

2
AnOnlineHandle•

Unfortunately the world's largest slave camp has been operating quite like that prison arc for years now, and I suspect the episodes were in part a criticism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-axd1Ht_J8

It seems the best we can do is make sure things we don't buy don't come from those prisons. The people inside, and those on the outside who have lost all contact with their families and see pictures of their kids or young relatives in orphanage photos would probably need a warning before watching Andor, but I don't think Star Wars has usually been very popular with non-western demographics anyway.

11
CaonachDraoi•

well considering the US has the world’s largest prison population, and forced labor is routine in many of the prisons, it’s more of a critique on prisons in general, as an institution. i live in NY, where everything from street signs to hand sanitizer to state college dorm furniture are all made by enslaved prisoners. fuck all prisons and all empires.

9
AnOnlineHandle•

The US prison situation is terrible and still nothing compared to what's going on in that situation I linked.

For anybody who knows about what's going on in those camps, it was hard not to see those episodes of Andor as a very clear reference as they unfolded.

5
quidpropho•

Gilroy has gone out of his way to say there are no intended contemporary political allegories, just the timeless ones, and this totally qualifies as an example of that.

6
BuzzHuzzFuzz•

ACLU did a research on this, and their findings still boil my blood. Prison labor generates up to 11 billion annually in goods and services, but prisoners are paid pennies. There is simply no incentive to rehabilitate prisoners when they can just keep pumping so much labor. Especially if you add private prisons to the mix, who make profit just by keeping prisoners in. There is a reason why they give drug offenders double digits for fucking pathetic crimes - its profitable as fuck.

4
ronstaOP•

Thank you for reminding us. Appreciate your comment. Do we know what exact products are made in the camps?

5
AnOnlineHandle•

From what I recall textiles was one of the big ones. I think the enslaved nurse who smuggled out some photos a few years ago, who is probably long dead by now unfortunately, mentioned working every day on textiles.

3
Emotional-Top-8284•

I love how it managed to be very familiar at the same time, like many parts of Andor. It was like a cross between Severance and an Amazon warehouse

3
NoImNotMadOnline•

I can’t remember the last time a show or movie had me amped up in anticipation like the prison episodes. Probably my favorite storyline of any media for a long time.

2
ronstaOP•

Yes me too. It was so perfectly done. Great editing too.

1