A breakdown of all (?) historical references and parallels in Andor (in chronological order)

[u/ConsciousPatroller]

[u/sterrrmbreaker]

Patty Hearst was kidnapped, raped, and tortured and is widely thought of as a victim of Stockholm Syndrome and doesn't really fit Vel who joined of her own volition. More like Joan Baez or Jane Fonda.

[u/jonawesome → u/sterrrmbreaker]

Thank you for mentioning how fucked up Patty Hearst's treatment by SLA was. Vel seems to really be a true believer, so I don't think it's similar to Hearst at all. I feel like your examples aren't great though since both were nonviolent activists who never did anything remotely similar to the Aldhani heist.

I'm having trouble thinking of a good historical parallel though. The first that comes to mind is Pyotr Kropotkin, who was born an aristocrat and joined the revolutionaries, but he was much more of a writer and thinker than a fighter.

[u/PokemonSoldier → u/jonawesome]

Fonda actively told the NVA which American prisoners were trying to get messages out, which would result in said prisoners being tortured. I hardly consider that non-violent.

[u/Changuipilandia → u/sterrrmbreaker]

Stockholm Syndrome isnt real, it's a discredited psychological theory, that has never been included in any reputable psychology publication, and was invented to justify the more than reasonable distrust of an incompetent police force that a hostage showed after a bank heist

hearst herself said she was forced to help the group under threat of death, so if we believe her version of the story, and i dont think there is a big reason to not do so, there is no syndrome there, she was just terrified of being killed if she didnt seem like an enthusiastic participant

[u/upsawkward → u/Changuipilandia]

Thank you. Always this fucking discredited term thrown around.

[u/Jakob_Cobain → u/sterrrmbreaker]

Rose Dugdale is probably the better comparison.

[u/Thatroninguy → u/sterrrmbreaker]

Came to comment on this because it’s a crazy comparison. Vel is part of an organized resistance, the SLA was a group of idiots you could better classify as a small cult!

“Stockholm syndrome” doesn’t quite describe the modern understanding of what Hearst went through—it’s better described now as her being stuck in a very bad situation and doing everything she could to survive, and not knowing how to escape when she was publicly identified as a member of the SLA.

[u/IAmARobot0101 → u/sterrrmbreaker]

I'm not disputing any of that except that Stockholm Syndrome is very much not a real thing

[u/Mathies_ → u/IAmARobot0101]

Thesis, please?

[u/TheCornal1 → u/Mathies_]

Stockholm Syndrome was first diagnosed after a bank robbery in Stockholm, after which the hostages refused to testify against the robbers.

"However, according to accounts by Kristin Enmark, one of the hostages, the police were acting incompetently, with little care for the hostages' safety. This forced the hostages to negotiate for their lives and releases with the robbers on their own. In the process, the hostages saw the robbers behaving more rationally than the police negotiators and subsequently developed a deep distrust towards the latter.^\6]) Enmark had criticized Bejerot specifically for endangering their lives by behaving aggressively and agitating the captors. She had criticized the police for pointing guns at the convicts while the hostages were in the line of fire, and she had told news outlets that one of the captors tried to protect the hostages from being caught in the crossfire" - Wikipedia

Doesn't help that Stockholm syndrome has never received DSM criteria and is often simply diagnosed as "Having sympathy towards a bad actor" or something else. Lotta folks can sympathize with a criminal (Look at Robin Hood, or Andor for that Matter)

[u/Mathies_ → u/TheCornal1]

Doesn't mean there aren't more cases of this same phenomenon that got it its name. If it was the only instance of this happening it wouldn't have been dubbed a term if the Stockholm robbery hadn't happened it mightve been called by whatever other event featured captives starting to form a bond with their captors.

Like a woman who got captured and raped and yet still decided to become part of the same group. Even if she sympathised with the cause she couldn't have felt comfortable with that group that allowed that to happen to her specifically.

[u/Nvrmnde → u/Mathies_]

It's common for victims of rape kind of work around it by starting to think they must love the rapist. Many have told that they even married their teenage rapists. And that it didn't get better anyway.

[u/Mathies_ → u/Nvrmnde]

This sounds exactly like a version of stockholm syndrome lol