MacBook Air not responding to CD drive

Hi! I recently bought a USB C to USB converter so that I could use an external disc drive to watch a movie on my MacBook Air (A2179). The CD drive responds to being plugged in (it makes a ticking noise when there's a CD in it, the light works, and the disc slot opens which it doesn't do when not plugged in). So the connection seems to work and I know both USB C ports work but nothing comes up on my MacBook screen and I can't find the CD drive in Finder or anywhere and so of course I can never actually watch anything. Does anyone know what the problem might be?

Thank you!