From a Marxist perspective, what could be more frightening than not even knowing what you do for work, or what injustices are perpetrated on you there? What more villainous than an owning class who can’t be held accountable because they’re never seen or spoken to directly? What more ominous than an organization that refuses you all knowledge of the means and ends of production? Lumon is not just a Marxist nightmare, but a perfect one, one that refuses to be interpreted any other way.
Here is an alternative Internet Archive URL in case the original URL in the post title is inaccessible.
You must log in or # to comment.
Quite honestly, the main flaw of the severance workplace is that it’s nicer and the work is more fulfilling than the 2 places I’ve hade to work >80 hour weeks in.
One other thing I wanted to mention about this show (I wish I had thought to make this comment as soon as I posted the link): I occasionally visit the Severance subreddit, and I thought it was remarkable how some of the show’s storylines have set off deep emotional reactions in some people by reminding them of of their own work experiences. In particular, there was one thread about how some women have reacted to Cobel’s story and how it reflects their own experiences as women in the corporate world (credit being stolen from them, glass ceiling, etc) and another thread was about black people reacting Milchick and Natalie and how it reflected their own experiences (being talked down to, bullied, having to put on a happy face, etc). People have had some strong reactions, I would even say they were triggered. I think it’s a credit to the writing that it touched on these real-world work issues.
I really don’t think Severance is in any way about labor, the people behind it are just too Hollywood to have any interest in that. It’s a mystery box show, the severance procedure is a plot device and the office setting is just the only setting they could think within.
to be fair, the creator/writer has said that he formulated the plot while he was working in an office - they might not have set out to strictly write a show purely critiquing labour from a marxist perspective, but at the same time it does seem like a natural conclusion that the show arrives at based on how the show tries to tie so many threads back to the alienation at the base of the concept
Season 1 I agree that those themes and grievances largely bore out, but season 2 was straight up mystery box with a damsel in distress. I’ve essentially lost interest in the show as holding any critique on [stand in monopoly corporation]. It’s on the same trajectory as black mirror and all pseudo dark scifi on streaming platform that came before it.
This is exactly my take on Severance as well. I really loved S1 but got bored out of my mind and straight up frustrated with S2.
spoilers for severance
I was shouting at the screen, the way that they contorted characters to the exigencies of the plot. Like Mark’s sister forgetting that Corbel kidnapped her child and suggested she was the only person who could help. And Corbel’s face turn as the unlikely ally. All ham fisted. s2 suffered from the lack of levity from characters like Ricken and the rounding of the world and narrative through scenes of Mark S’s interactions with the world outside of Lumon and how the town and society as a whole regard the company/concept of severance. It just veered away from any larger themes in service of a pretty predictable main A plot. Really disappointing. Still, better than most slop.
spoiler
Yeah, I agree that Mark’s sister going to Cobel wasn’t well justified by the story, but I feel that Cobel’s turnabout was a little more justified yet not completely. I think they emphasized how wrongly Cobel was treated by Lumon in many ways, which would cause most people purely motivated by corporate loyalty to sour on the company. The problem is that we’re dealing with religious fanaticism in addition to corporate loyalty, so I think it would probably take even more than she went through to get someone to turn against their religion. But who knows, I give them the benefit of the doubt on that one for now. I agree with people who say that season 2 hasn’t been as fresh and satisfying as season 1, but I’m still liking the show.
After reading this thought piece, I can see where Severance has some horror elements in it. But the most horrific element of Severance is that it’s marketed as a comedy.
A few of the people behind it have worked in comedy, most notably, Ben Stiller, who has producing and directing credits on Severance, and Adam Scott, the show’s lead, known from Parks & Recreation, and Step Brothers.
Even though as someone here pointed out, that this is ultimately a mystery box show, the weirdness is what we’re supposed to be making fun of (although in S2, the weirdness stops being fun and becomes scary). Also, it’s a comedy because most people don’t know what satire is. But really, this leads me to think of how comedy is used as a coping mechanism for dealing with the horrors of life, the pain, and esp. the fear and isolation the think piece talks about.
It seems that season 1 could be seen as a dark comedy, but season 2 ultimately turned into dark tragedy.
