KOG Name Symbolism (Part 1)
I was looking up the meaning of names for individual characters and places of inspiration that the names that could have been drawn from. And I found a lot of interesting parallels and symbolism already
Guinevere’s name basis is probably the most obvious one as the show’s title and premise is heavily influenced by the events of the Arthurian legends that feature a queen who goes by the same name, Queen Guinevere.
The abductions of Guinevere is a recurring motif throughout the Arthurian legends where she is abducted by evil rulers/knights and either Arthur or Lancelot are the one who save her. The show metaphorically alludes to Gwen the android as a captive princess who is being mistreated and exploited by her creators — it raises the question of who will come and save her? who will be her knights? This is the blatant reference to this motif from the legend. Queen Guinevere is Arthur’s wife and in early versions of the story he was indeed her saviour. However, Lancelot became her saviour later on and they’re depicted to have an affair. This is the more popular version of the story.
(Would it be a stretch for me to assume that Andi and Frankie are metaphorically Lancelot in KOG? Obviously, this raises the question who Arthur is meant to represent: a previous “knight” who tried to save Gwen? Or maybe Olivia could take on this role as going with Andi & Frankie is a betrayal in Olivia’s perspective. Here’s a more jarring idea, Andi and Frankie are meant to represent both Arthur and Lancelot as they were best friends which makes the affair even more of a betrayal for Arthur. If that is true, I am scared for the future).
As she is such a prominent figure in literature and she has quite an interesting story, Guinevere has been depicted in so many different ways.
I think that’s really interesting considering that seems to parallel “there are as many Gwens as there are stars in the sky.”
(In a Welsh version of the story, Arthur is married to three Guineveres which further expands on the fact that “there’s more than one Guinevere”).
Other than her connections to Arthurian legends, Guinevere is the French verison of the Welsh Gwenhwyfar which means “fair and soft” which is very much a name befitting of a princess.
Frankie or Francesca means “free” and shares a name with Germanic (Frankish) tribes that were known for being politically independent (they were unified then into the Frankish kingdom which eventually became the countries of France and Germany). Like Guinevere, it’s also considered a French name.
Narratively, the concept of freedom and “being free” already seems to be a key theme in KOG as the story starts with the tale of a captive princess wanting to escape and be free - Gwen wanting to escape Olivia. Both Frankie and Andi also want to be free from their current situations (for Andi, it’s clear she just hates living and working at Park Planet as a whole and considering Frankie’s treatment under Sparky she also wants to escape that job in particular and dreams of being an engineer instead). Hence, this justification of her name makes sense and should be enough.
However, there’s an even more interesting connection to the name which I believe the KOG crew seem to draw inspiration from.
The name can also be linked back to Saint Francis of Assisi - a mystic, a poet, someone who was known to take up a life of poverty and live as a beggar.
When I was reading up on him, the amount of parallels and connections I found to Frankie were pretty insane.
He was extremely devoted to Jesus in his lifetime and aimed to follow his example.
I am lead to believe that Guinevere can be considered as a stand-in for Jesus as Frankie is extremely hyperfixated with her meeting with Gwen as a kid and she’s determined to become one of the engineers who fix/develop Gwen largely because of that encounter.
What’s more is that there’s a famous story supporting this idea really well.
He got a mystical vision of Jesus—
—-Who asked him to repair his church—
Then he stole some cloth from his father’s store (it’s not clear in that image but considering he actually got punished from his father afterwards for doing this) to assist the priest there.
Mystical visions, stealing and wanting to repair for “god” is pretty much Frankie’s story in the pilot.
I also want to bring up another specific incident that highlights St. Francis’ idealism angering his father.
Frankie has also been established as an idealistic character and to be disillusioned from the world. St Francis’ father seems to parallel Sparky as he similarly condemns him for putting his dreams/ambitions above the job.
All these connections are interesting and I am to believe they are intentional. Plus the link of God = Gwen is definitely an interesting association.
(A last connection! St. Francis is known as a patron saint for animals…Frankie’s little animal friends, anyone?)
Andi/Andrea is a Greek name meaning “manly”, “strong” or “brave” which is interesting. We haven’t gotten much of Andi’s character yet compared to Frankie but from the little tidbits - her being strong and brave checks out. She’s never afraid to stand up for herself and Frankie (we see that with her argument with a shopkeeper who’s hating on her, then again with the guy who spits on her and she also stands up to Sparky).
However, I do believe this is a surface level connection and there’s a far more interesting one to note.
Like Frankie, Andi is named after a Saint: One of the apostles of Jesus, Saint Andrew.
Considering their roles in the narratives as knights and Gwen being the princess, the saint and god metaphor for the trio is also very applicable I believe.
As I said above, there is not a lot about Andi’s character we know yet so it was a little bit trickier this time to draw connections but I have found some.
The most famous incident about Saint Andrew is unfortunately his death.
He was martyred by crucifixion on a X-shaped cross (by his own request as he felt unworthy to be hung on the same one as Jesus) due to him refusing to stop preaching Jesus’ teachings.
How this connects to Andi? Well…she could be on the brink of death at any point in the narrative considering that it it is very possible that she is sick.
(People have been saying it could be Sparky but I believe it’s Andi. Her whole firing was not shown on screen and she refused to explain why she was fired when Frankie asked. It seems more likely that she’s sick and Frankie isn’t aware of the truth).
Also, if not that, considering that crucifixion is an act of sacrifice, that makes me worried for Andi.
The other connection is a bit more lighthearted but also quite speculative. St. Andrew was also known to travel far and wide to spread the teachings of Jesus after his ascension (this is how the poor man ended up getting crucified).
I believe there to be a scene in the pilot where Andi shows a potential interest in travelling.
Don’t believe this little detail would have existed if it meant nothing. She makes a comment later on to Sparky about how she needs money so it’s likely she wants to also leave Park Planet and considering the state of everything there, who can blame her?
If she really is sick, it adds even more layers to this idea, maybe she wants to go somewhere where she could actually get proper treatment for her illness, maybe she feels like she’s on time limit and she at least wants to see the universe before it’s up.
I think it’s very likely at the end of the series we will see her leaving Park Planet, and travelling. I feel like she’ll take what she learned from her experience here and whatever future adventure she has with Gwen (saving an android and trying to defeat a multimillion company is definitely gonna be a wild ride).
-/-
I was also going to cover Olivia, Orville and Sparky in this post but considering how long has gotten I’ve decided to make this into 2 parts. I will link park 2 here when it’s up!
