My favorite detail is one that no one ever seems to talk about and I don't even know if this was done on purpose or is just a sweet coincendence. The computers used by MDR have a keyboard layout that is quite standard and modern. Except for the missing key in the top left corner. There is no ESC key... as in... THERE IS NO ESCAPE!
Severance is so good that I legitimately found myself becoming increasingly angry as the final episode continued, knowing that I was going to have to wait for the next season.
Damn I never heard of this show until I stumbled onto this video, but good god damn this video has gotten me the most excited I’ve been for a tv show in years.
One other thing about the MDR cubicle. You mentioned that the workers are simultaneously cut off from each other but constantly surveilling one another. The cubicle design forces them to look at one another either furtively through a tiny slit or “over the fence” like gossiping 40s housewives. That amplifies the feeling that they’re not working together so much as surveilling one another. Really enjoyed this one!
Not only that, but those partitions can actually slide up and down, meaning someone ELSE always has control over your privacy (which I think is also a subconscious theme in the show.)
crucially though, the design *doesnt work as intended*. the design points to an intent to create division, suspicion, and distrust, but the finale only happens because the characters bonded *anyway*, *despite* the despicable design. that gives me a lot of hope.
@@vampireknight1003 Agreed. And also, the sliding shutters are used in opposition to their design. Instead of forming a divide due to mistrust and surveillance, they used it as a small escape from their work to converse and connect with their colleagues. Heck, the supposed "surveillance" purpose of the whole office went down the drain when all four "tempers" consider each other's works as theirs and therefore, collectively cheer for everyone's success!
Not only are the characters seperated from time, but they are seperated from meaning. They have no idea what their work actually does, and if everything works as (lumen) intended they never will. Everything in the office is painfully functional. Even the events and "fun" stuff feels like what some therapist decided was the minimal amount of "fun" actvivity needed for optimal productivity. Their entire life is dedicated to their work, and their work has no meaning to them.
City and County of San Francisco. All the GMs were indicted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the City Attorney lording over the crooks got a promotion. Ask The VPOTUS. Anyone want a screenplay ?
the shot sizes and set design and cinematography is so good but another thing i feel like i havent seen anybody but me say anything about but imo is really important is the use of colour... if you notice it once you really cant stop noticing it. theres such sparing use of anything red in the props or sets that when they do use it its very very deliberate and is almost always used to communicate things that are dangerous (usually to lumon itself but occasionally to the workers too). e.g. ricken's bok, the bench irv's outie is sitting on when he's first introduced + his house, the lighting at the end of the music dance experience, petey's bathrobe (which is also striped blue aka lumon's colours..symbolising the hold lumon still has on him...) you can even see as the show goes on the colours of marks ties go from blues and silvers to browns and reds :^) i love it when film uses colours so deliberately like severance does it's something really special to me because its not something that many shows consider
Yeah reminds me of the colour theory of breaking bad. Peoples clothes getting darker the darker if a person they become and the colours reflecting their character at the time. Here's alot of videos on this concept
This show is so good that I’m concerned that they might not be able to maintain the high quality. I hope they know exactly where the plot is headed and not just scrambling to make it all up on the fly.
I think you helped me understand why I don’t want to go back to this show despite loving it so much (it’s basically cousins with Mr Robot and Devs.) I want to know what the mystery is all about but I feel anxiety when I actively think about watching it again because I can see places Ive worked in the halls of Lumens, the cubicles, the gross carpet, and especially the lighting. Love this show but oh god is it too real
Why not go into the show with the anticipation of seeing all of that torn down? Surely that prospect must grant some catharsis based on your previous experience.
I work at the BellWorks building that all the Lumon shots are from. The place is real cool and props to Stiller and the team for finding it because it is the perfect marriage of the tone of the show. They are shooting season 2 outside my office right now haha
My company built a new headquarters in around 2015 and it’s crazy how similar it looks to this building. I thought if they designed it from scratch they really know what “modern corporate” is going for. I didn’t realize it was also a real life building
The finale of this show where they finally just blew it all up, where you just started getting these constant bomb drops about who these people are outside, ended up just making me mad as it went on. Because it was so perfect and mind-blowing I wanted like three more seasons right away
As someone who lives right next to the building this was filmed at, shooting for the second season recently wrapped up. i’m so excited for it to release
Honestly, if it weren't for Skip Intro pointing out the specificity of the set pieces, I'd have just assumed the company was being cheap and the reason there was still all this ancient laying around was because they didn't want to spend the money modernizing. I've worked at places where, since the company never replaced broken equipment or upgraded it, employees would arrive an hour or two year, or as soon as security would let them in. Not to beat traffic or go home early, but to ransack the cubicles of their coworkers in search of working computer monitors, mice, keyboards, and chairs. Five years ago, I worked at a place that wanted me to work on a computer that was still running Microsoft 1997, and couldn't figure out why I couldn't access my emails from it because the 2015 security protocols couldn't function on a computer with 6mb of RAM and a processor from the 90's. Another place I worked at had mold growing in the carpeting because they washed the carpets once, but never bothered to rent the giant fans to properly dry them. Parts of the carpet would get replaced piecemeal, which just gave the the mold fresh places to move to since the company just would not commit to replacing all of the carpeting at once.
This sort of depressing horror seems to be a growing genre. Other recent examples that I would group with this include most Black Mirror episodes, and the movies "Vivarium" and "Old". Early examples might be "The Shining" and "Apocalypse Now" for the same sense of being trapped in a downward spiral.
I could never do black mirror, it got so much hype but the episodes I watched made me uncomfortable without any fun. And I watch a lot of surreal horror
i noticed in one scene his room had three bulbs, but one was broken. 24 hours / 3 bulbs = 8 hours. like the "nine-to-five" 8 hour gap where his memories are abruptly taken from him.
No show has had me thinking and talking about it’s themes as much as Severance has except for maybe the first season of Westworld. This show is such a hidden gem.
“It Follows” used retro futurism in really interesting ways too. The director actually addressed it. He purposefully tried to make the time period ambiguous and filmed the movie in a way that it would be reminiscent of a dream. One example of “modern” tech was the friend’s e reader that was inside of a vintage makeup compact. So much of the aesthetic was from the 70s and 80s but at the same time you feel like the characters are modern teens.
Wow. Definitely have Severance on my immediate watch list. Of course, humbled to have a video of mine highlighted! For anyone who hasn't checked out Mark Fisher, or critical theory at large; if these things like corporatism, isolation, alienation, etc. feel poignant to you, contemporary theory/philosophy (like Mark Fisher, the Frankfurt School, etc.) has a lot of things that can add context to those feelings in pretty life altering ways.
After i watched this, i started working at a data center/office that was moved entirely remote, so its a big creepy empty maze. Hilariously bizarre, especially when we ventured to the empty vacant building nxt door to find their mail room with the single lone receptionist with no one to wait on.
Remote employees work about 48 minutes longer but are cutting out an average 55 minutes of commuting time, often the most stressful part of the day for many. They also report less stress and a better work life balance. Speaking from experience, it's been really nice to actually get to spend time with my baby while he grows.
Same. It only took a few seconds when first watching the trailer to just KNOW this was going to be my kind of show. Then I started watching it and it exceeded my expectations. Absolute masterpiece of a series.
I also felt it was similar to Lost. The idea of an ensemble cast being bizarrely and inexplicably separated from their real lives as punishment for their sins is such an enjoyable premise. Especially with the inevitable catharsis where they reconcile with their pasts and earn those lives back.
This whole thing makes me remember working overnights especially during winter. Woke up, dark. Working, dark outside. Going home, dark! Just dark. And the days bleed together. You literally only have 1 day where you are not at work and most people spend it trying to catch up on sleep. It's rough and it's like time just has no meaning. It can really drive you crazy. It really does feel like you just left and are back at work. The weekend is meaningless and not really something you 'remember' since you really don't have it. It's rough. I'm not even one of the people that got through the night downing red bulls and 5-hr energies. I've seen people just constantly drinking red bulls and 5-hr energies and never eating anything. I would normally just do my shift and not really do overtime but there were people there for 12hrs and that's how they got through it. It's wild. If you are stalking overnight, you are usually put in the same section of the store, every single night. So you saw the same small area of the store for 90% of your night. It's not a cubicle but it might as well be. And people can get territorial when moved or when other people get in their space. Not a lot of people survive overnight because of the mental and physical toll but watch out for the people who do. That whole experience feels very similar to this.
I also love how the scenes often leave so much negative space, and the use of physical visual barriers it really shows that the characters have only a half life.
I think the Lost comparison actually does Severance a disservice because unlike Lost, Severance feels like the writers have an end game in mind, instead of making it up as they go. It’s a beautiful puzzle box, but with something actually inside. Keep in mind I’m only saying it “feels” this way. It’s subjective, but it’s my impression after watching both shows.
@12:12 I've actually been thinking about this specifically when it comes to fashion. Because like y2k is having a moment, but like y2k was literally just a reimagining of 60s and 70s fashion trends. And I've been thinking about 21st century fashion trends and I'm like are we just recycling the same 40 to 50 year span of fashion over and over again????? Like sure things cycle but there was a progression. There is no progression. We've stopped doing it. I didn't even realize this extends beyond fashion, I need to read more into this because this is messing me up. We are 20 years into the 21st century and what do we have to show for it?
Woah that’s so true, I’ve also been thinking about this a lot. Majority of the the things going around right now are all just a recycling of something else and you can definitely have inspiration and have something new but I feel like it’s just copy and paste… there’s not much to represent who we are right now or a sense of collectiveness I feel.
Severance reminds me of a class I took in college where we talked about death and different types of underworlds through the lens of fiction. I would LOVE to do a deep dive on the themes of purgatory and escape from limbo throughout Severance. (Sorry, unrelated to the video but the visual of Helly going into the elevator and a never ending cycle of work is SO compelling as a metaphor for death.)
I originally thought I was going to hate the character of Dylan, as he seemed like that tired old trope of the crass, schlubby, comic-relief side character, but the actor portraying him totally subverted my expectations when the character discovers that *spoiler* he has a kid and gets to experience a moment of life outside of Lumen. His entire demeanor changes, and he goes from being a parody of a surface-level comic relief character to a bitter revolutionary when he realizes that something better is possible, and it's being kept from him. Watching him re-experience the corporate rewards that once gave his life purpose as worse than meaningless is just so damn compelling.
The concept of the 'severance' procedure reminds me of a game called SOMA. It explores the concept of self, what it is to be human, how do we save ourselves and ...well go check it out. It is a horror game that takes place at the bottom of the ocean tho so fair warning.
Literally just binged this show over the weekend, and I'm so grateful you broke down why this show is so unsettling-well done! Really made me root for the Innies more than I thought I would, like the Hosts in Westworld.
I really enjoyed Severance. The set design and cinematography definitely elevate the story-telling to the next level, and the performances of the main cast don't hurt either. My only gripe is that it's on yet another segmented streaming platform (this time Apple+) and frankly no single TV show or movie is worth a subscription. I don't know how but capitalism has somehow simultaneously allowed mega-corporations to swallow up entire markets AND at the same time created so many segmented subscription platforms that make it impossible to share experiences with people without having to upsell them on a new [Corporation]+ service. Severance Spoilers Below: As for the plot itself I really enjoyed season 1 but I worry it may go the way of The Good Place or Prison Break where the core setting is kind turned to mush and the Innies develop new ways to experience the outside world. If I'm honest I think the show only needed like 1 more episode (maybe 2) and it could have resolved the current "mysteries" and created an open ending where we can hope for a brighter future for those who suffered at the hands of Lumen. I don't _really_ need to know what the goat stuff is about, or the action cards or anything. I can take them at thematic value and just understand Lumen to be a company that is doing a lot of really weird stuff without any real goal for humanity, just like corporations in the current world. Not to get too concrete with things but I'm pretty sure the flamethrower Elon Musk put out wasn't much more than auto-fellatio.
oh my god i'm so happy i found this video!! i literally thought about mark fisher's essay on hauntology when i watched the show and i was looking for articles or videos that compared the two. glad i found your channel!
I need to watch this. It reminds me of liminal spaces and how I felt the entire time I worked in a corporate office. It was a soul sucking. I would get home from work, eat, watch a show, go to sleep and do it all over. My time off of work felt like it flew by and the managers would pressure the young analysts to stay later and work weekends for no extra money or overtime. When the woman was getting off the elevator and said “it feels like I just left” I felt that. It’s nice to see a new series with a creative premise that isn’t a reboot or prequel. Now I work as a photographer and do doordash. They’re always coming up with new ways to screw the drivers, dd takes the majority of fees, and people don’t tip to protest the fees. I haven’t taken a vacation in 6 years, still paying off my student loans, don’t own a house - typical millennial burnout. 🙃
My best friend works for a very large, very awful law firm (not as a lawyer) that constantly makes her work on her weekends and hours off. This office is her life. 🙃
Quick note about dolly zooms. Whilst a dolly zoom does affect depth of field, the change in depth of field isn't what produces that eerie effect. That effect is coming from a change in 'compression' which occurs at different focal lengths along the zoon range. There are some really good videos and gifs showing this effect if you google "how focal length affects compression". Great video by the way!
Look at Apple's business model: It revolves around ENTERTAINMENT (movies, theme parks, etc.). The more we WORK, the less time we have to spend money on ENTERTAINMENT. I love that Apple is slowly instilling a critique of overwork and hyper-capitalism in the cultural zeitgeist, but I'd be careful about thinking a mega-corporation is totally acting beyond their self-interest. Of course, this doesn't mean Anti-Work activists can't use Severance as educational or infotainment to recruit and spread the Anti-Work message, but I'd just be mindful that under the current system, Apple's first loyalty is to their largest stockholders, which are usually large institutions.
"Nothing in our culture ever really dies" This really feels like the zombie metaphor of the late 1970s and early 1980s has truly and finally come full circle. This is no longer the outbreak of that story, but rather the extinction event as the last real humans die. Nothing in our culture ever dies, but nothing in our culture will ever be born either. (and yes, I'm aware of my own undeath as I have no way to comment on this without references)
I would LOVE for you to do a deep dive on A Scanner Darkly as it relates to our current world, opioid epidemic, war on drugs, surveillance state… I think you could nail it better than anyone. Your videos are so razor sharp and thoughtful. Big fan! Please consider A Scanner Darkly! It’s underrated and under examined.
When the pandemic started, I was frustrated with why people didn’t want to return to the office. Then I realized I was privileged. I was in my last semester of college when the pandemic hit, so I didn’t know the hell of the office. All I’d known was a communal, egalitarian paradise of dorms, classrooms, and shitty student apartments, all within walking distance or accessible via bus.
I have no idea how anyone can even get the idea that offices are fun. If you have seen any depiction of an office in media its always bad, wonder why that is??
Wow. Amazing analysis, very well researched and you didn't even spoil the show! Very impressed, and glad I found the channel. Liked and subbed. Well done dude!
this was amazing. retro futurism, I think my first taste of it was Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind. this was refreshing, and really funny (both the show, and the writing.) thank you.
@@jloo6822 Well, yes actually. Look at the, admittedly fictional, society at play in Star Trek, a piece of media which I think embodies hope. It's a form of automated luxury communism, where the base needs of every human ate met so that they are left available to find higher purpose, such as exploring space. None of the Enterprise's crew are paid to be there - replicators handle food and vast digital libraries of media from all across human history handle entertainment - they choose to serve of their own free will and interests. Yeah, it is fictional and highly idyllic, but what is an ideal if not something to strive for? If there is a change to be made that will shift our future out of capitalistic dystopias like Cyberpunk and Severance and into something a little more preferable, that change is to be made now more than ever.
the dreadful sense that Fisher is talking about was exactly what I took from Fukiyama's phrase (if not his explication) "The End of History"... essentially, the Western culture since WW2 up to...1990? 2000? are just going to be recycled and remixed ad nauseum until the climate does us in...
or the nukes. I'm betting we'll all be dust and echoes by the end of this year or the middle of the decade got any good end of the world songs picked out yet? for me i'm tied between a bad moon rising or don't fear the reaper
I’ll never watch this show honestly but I enjoyed this video heavily. the intro to how current day cubicles were derived and the amazing commentary of juxtaposition were the perfect commentary on a show I’ve never seen.
My favourite type of futurist satire is portal 2. An AI that kills off all of the staff, a founder who would fire you for the slightest infraction, hiring people to do tests that would kill them. All in the pursuit of endless progress.
I didn't see a link in the description about/from Mark Fischer😢 Could you add it? I'm super curious to learn more about how late-stage capitalism is manipulating our lives!
I know the creator of this show, and the show he wrote in college that loosely turned into this involves an excellent exploration of space via forcing 4 actors into one closed cubicle in which they have to act with only the tops of their heads. And there's a minotaur in the hallways and they bleed packing peanuts.
@@jezgomez It was called Convention and one of the actors was named Dylan and I am almost positive that is who Severance's Dylan got his name. I don't remember a whole lot, it was in like 2007 that it first went up.
This show was so amazing and I really am glad I got to see it one week at a time to ponder the days in between on what could happen the following episode.
That point about culture being "recycled and reused" is to me, what made the pandemic feel like such a big thing. Caught in the drudgery of day to day work life, in the complete absence of mind brought on by repetitious actions like commute, punch in, work, punch out, commute, sleep. The pandemic, ironically, in sending people home for months at a time to give time to their home lives, gave everyone a huge drink of their personal life. Everyone can remember what they did during it; the periphery of events around it not so much but the shutdown and quarantine itself is probably something every living generation will be able to remember until they're gone. It was an earthshaking cultural event. The empty streets, the empty stores and businesses, the screeching halt of society. Then people got to remember who they are, who they wanted to be. It was a twisted version of summer or winter vacation from school. The system of capitalism hates the idea of a worker knowing themselves. That's what makes Severance so brilliant to me.
Best video on severance I’ve had the pleasure of watching so far. I’m also watching your law and order video currently, you’re really good! Providing sources in the description is the only suggestion I’d give
I hope the show doesn't wind up becoming them essentially being at work 24/7 or they're some ai's neuron that those random numbers that make them feel bad are just them fine tuning some algorithm.
This is a weird recommendation, but if you liked Severance, you might like Newsies (the broadway musical pro shot, it's better than the movie). It's unabashedly pro-union and it's from Disney of all companies? And not in the way that say Bug's Life is pro-union with lines like "there's more of us than there are of you" "we're stronger than we realise" "you need us more than we need you". No it's straight up singing lines like "no one can make us give our rights away" "I bet if your dad had a union you wouldn't have to be out on the streets selling papes right now" "we're on strike. even if we ain't got hats or badges, we're a union just by saying so"
From the video and comment section ,i think nobody watched arguably one of the best ben stiller movie, the life of walter mitty... It has the same framing and shots to details of each scene to emphasize the importance between characters and dialogue..
I watched the first four minutes of this documentary then went and binged the entire series in one sitting. My only regret is that I cannot sever myself until season 2 arrives
I just experienced a very severe environment similar to Severance, and honestly I wish I’d watched it sooner bc my manager kept referencing it… and after I quit, so did all of management. Would’ve been nice to know we were all on the same side lol
Speaks to the quality of the show, the script, characters, twists, etc. that I was kinda getting frustrated that you kept going on tangents about the deeper concepts of the premise. Still, very insightful video. Good stuff.
I really liked the show as a solid object. Which is why the criticisms that focused entirely on the issues with the plot felt insufficient - because at least half the story is told through the environments. The isolation that starts at work, continues into their compounds and emanates through the lives of people living in that town. And this layer is cannot be seen without paying attention to the cinematography!
This is a deeply irrelevant nitpick, but that's not a Macintosh II @7:30, it's one of the original Macintoshes (so, Mac 128K, 512K, or 512Ke). The Mac II doesn't look nearly as retro as the classic-style Macs.
This reminds me a bit of the mod/game stanley parable. In that game, the job is to sit at the computer and wait for the monitor to tell you what button to press, the titular character "stanley" not knowing anything else outside his cubicle world. His identity and character (on a meta level) literally just being that he's an office worker. Isolated, alienated he starts noticing strange things, the instructions stop coming, he leaves to search for meaning but his very being and reality breaks down more and more the further he steps away from his cubicle. The office work is all he is, nothing really exists beyond. The slogan of the game being "the end is never the end is never the end" ad nauseam. Pointing out numbers -- or pressing whatever symbol appears on your monitor are both satirical examples of the kind of nonsense, meaningless and menial work done under capitalism. Even when there's enough productivity to maintain every aspect of the material world (food, power etc.) and all the important jobs are being covered by workers, since capitalism demands endless work for endless economic growth, the rest of the population (as opposed to chilling or pursuing their passions) are put to work doing "made-up" jobs instead. Be it artificial sectors of middle-men that fax papers of corporate jargon to other, also artificial fields. Or megaplexes of office workers who send each other emails, the work is purposeless. Work for the sake of work.
Lots of pieces of art (from movies to TV shows to video games) are critiques of capitalism or corporations despite being owned or funded by corporations. If it makes money, corporations will fund it - that doesn't mean they wrote the script.
That is what is happening, just describing reality here. If that is somehow disturbing, go get some help or chill out with other ppl, it should not be that much of a triggering statement. 💀
Good for you for watching all 8000 episodes of Paw Patrol for your video! I tried telling my daughter that I don’t think a place where a 10 year old vigilante and his animal slaves have unrestricted authority over an entire town would be a very nice place to live, but she just likes the doggies. (Seriously though, one thing I noticed is that the bad mayor is always getting forced medical treatment and scans from the Paw Patrol even when he says no. I know that my toddler doesn’t understand and the crap I watched as a kid was probably much worse, but it’s still bugs me slightly every time it happens in the show. I also hate the lifeless, cheap computer animation that PP and a bunch of other kids shows have)
Severance is brilliant on several levels and interpretations that critique capitalism are not unfounded but… Under all systems, people will likely be subservient to a manipulative slave master, industrial Barron, corporate apparatus, or powerful coercive state authority. The issue becomes a matter of who will be the greater threat to autonomy and success, some “greedy” people who want to sell products and services or some angry ideologues demanding you swallow their version of utopia. The “late capitalism” so often referred to by academics and critics is actually corporatism, the wedding of powerful corporations and government (fascism). It can just as accurately be referred to as late socialism as the state’s centralization of power is helped along by compliant corporate interests. A false dichotomy becomes wedded to a common goal of subjugating humanity to the whims of a powerful minority. Put state and corporate interests on the same team and you’re really screwed. Praising Severance’s perceived critique of capitalism is beyond ironic considering that it’s the product of one of the largest corporate/capitalist entities on the planet (Apple). In the current propaganda environment, it’s no wonder that so many citizens now defend or promote authoritarian measures like speech codes, raids on political opposition, and punitive attacks on free thought. The population seems largely unaware that virtually every power-center in society (e.g. education, entertainment, media) is notably socialist in their views and goals. Does it really make sense to despise the power of business institutions while simultaneously praising the consolidation of power into a true mega-corporation - the government? In the end, most people simply have a preference as to who they want to see with power and who they want to see punished for straying from a preferred dogma. We support a certain clique in its will to power in the hopes that we will vicariously benefit from the new order (almost always mistaken). Or, we pretend we are selfless and willing to sacrifice in a contrived exercise of virtue signaling. Severance offers some brilliant insight and entertainment, but some cliche’ interpretations can only go so far in seeking to understand underlying truths about the human condition.
"the consolidation of power into a true mega-corporation - the government?" We have spent the past 40 years in most Democratic nations since the 80s divesting power from the government to benefit powerful business institutions and it's been a colossal failure. When the government can only budget for 40 damn EPA inspectors for an entire state who only manage to check each facility under their jurisdiction once in a blue moon you've got a recipe for constant skirting of regulation that's kinda important. When the government decides it doesn't want to do something like "prosecute wage theft" in an entire state (looking at you, Florida), you're encouraging business interests and owners at the expense of the general public. The Florida AG will sue a school to prevent them from instituting a mask mandate, citing "freedom!", but when it comes to prosecuting people literally stealing from their employees? Won't bother to even issue a citation, the only recourse for their citizens is to go to the fed. Which a certain political party has been trying very hard to remove THAT agency as well. Texas is without power thanks to "freedom", aka, "let power companies outsource risk to their captive consumer base". Texas COULD pass some regulation to force providers to add redundancy, but that hurts profits, and is 'not as free' as 'letting people freeze because they decided to buy a house in the wrong district'. We've decided we'd rather make government useless than actually do its job, and then reward politicians for breaking government functions.
Is it me or did you go the whole video without saying the world liminal? Going to the veyry edge of the concept without explicitely using the world fills me with a weird kind of frustration and unease. ;-)
the description of this show triggered my flight or flight response im not even joking. that concept is so scary, but it's even scarier to realize that we are the innies in real life at times
I think something crucial was hit on in this video, by you and by Mark Fisher. I read an article a few years ago that I sadly have not been able to find in recent time when I reference on it, that living through the changeover of a millennia (2000) broke our sense of time, which is why we always think of the 80's as just 20 years ago. I also think that this could be why a lot of millennials see Gen Z as this breath of fresh air--many of them didn't live through that or were too young to remember, so they're not seeing time through a distortion--everything is new and therefore revolutionary. And they're acting accordingly.
Thank you for this. I am enthralled by Severance and I also said that it's the best show about work NOW, when I was recommending it to people furiously. After I read David Graeber's 'Bullshit Jobs' (which I also highly recommend), I started to really shift my relationship to work and how it is tied to my self-worth and so on. And I am in a new phase now and seeing things so clearly somehow from the outside (I am still working, just trying really hard to get projects I actually believe in and projects I don't want to delete from my mind once the work is over) somehow. I cannot wait for season 2!
Regarding your comments at 10:00, I’ve found that the era setting of retrofuturism in Severance is quite nuanced. On first watch, you can hardly tell it’s different from present day. Obviously the halls of the severed are from the ‘80s, but that’s hardly rare in modern office buildings that haven’t been renovated in decades. But on second watch, you can notice the old cars, the weird styles of Mark’s family, and the lack of cell phones (except in some very specific cases where it’s a shock for iPhones and touch screens to appear). There’s something more to comment on all that for sure.
I think an underrated element of the show is how the protagonist's goofy friends are written. Like they are very earnest weirdos to his disaffected normie, but not in a way that feels unfair to either.
Is Severance the best show of 2022?
Haven't seen it yet, it's on my list, but I'll comment for the algorithm
Yes.
It sure is. Under the Banner of Heaven was also incredible, but I give this the edge for originality!
Tied on number one with Our Flag Means Death for different reasons, but yeah it is.
Yesss
My favorite detail is one that no one ever seems to talk about and I don't even know if this was done on purpose or is just a sweet coincendence. The computers used by MDR have a keyboard layout that is quite standard and modern. Except for the missing key in the top left corner. There is no ESC key... as in... THERE IS NO ESCAPE!
Holy shit, good eye! And what a brilliant little detail.
Oh wow 👁️👄👁️
Oh, that absolutely must have been done on purpose. Absolutely brilliant!
Damn i never noticed that! Great catch
it deffinetitly done on purpose. bruhhhh. thats a crazy detail lmao :D
Severance is so good that I legitimately found myself becoming increasingly angry as the final episode continued, knowing that I was going to have to wait for the next season.
What do they even do !!
You need to get rid of those scary numbers, bud
Damn I never heard of this show until I stumbled onto this video, but good god damn this video has gotten me the most excited I’ve been for a tv show in years.
I legit yelled at the cruel cliffhanger. Can't wait for next season!
@@karl_margs Same lmfao, I also can't wait
This show is the realization of "this could have been a whole show" after you finished a good episode of Black Mirror.
My exact thought. And it's amazing.
@@roseghouldthanks for sharing with the class
maybe they watched white christmas
There are so many Black Mirror episodes that have potential to be so good if they were spun off into their own series.
Considering the lacklustre Black Mirror latest season, than god for Severance lol
One other thing about the MDR cubicle. You mentioned that the workers are simultaneously cut off from each other but constantly surveilling one another. The cubicle design forces them to look at one another either furtively through a tiny slit or “over the fence” like gossiping 40s housewives. That amplifies the feeling that they’re not working together so much as surveilling one another.
Really enjoyed this one!
Not only that, but those partitions can actually slide up and down, meaning someone ELSE always has control over your privacy (which I think is also a subconscious theme in the show.)
L
crucially though, the design *doesnt work as intended*. the design points to an intent to create division, suspicion, and distrust, but the finale only happens because the characters bonded *anyway*, *despite* the despicable design. that gives me a lot of hope.
@@vampireknight1003 Agreed. And also, the sliding shutters are used in opposition to their design. Instead of forming a divide due to mistrust and surveillance, they used it as a small escape from their work to converse and connect with their colleagues. Heck, the supposed "surveillance" purpose of the whole office went down the drain when all four "tempers" consider each other's works as theirs and therefore, collectively cheer for everyone's success!
Not only are the characters seperated from time, but they are seperated from meaning. They have no idea what their work actually does, and if everything works as (lumen) intended they never will.
Everything in the office is painfully functional. Even the events and "fun" stuff feels like what some therapist decided was the minimal amount of "fun" actvivity needed for optimal productivity.
Their entire life is dedicated to their work, and their work has no meaning to them.
2 minutes of mandatory fun.
No shit
Sounds like funny Monday
City and County of San Francisco. All the GMs were indicted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the City Attorney lording over the crooks got a promotion. Ask The VPOTUS. Anyone want a screenplay ?
“You must enjoy each piece of information equally.”
the shot sizes and set design and cinematography is so good but another thing i feel like i havent seen anybody but me say anything about but imo is really important is the use of colour... if you notice it once you really cant stop noticing it. theres such sparing use of anything red in the props or sets that when they do use it its very very deliberate and is almost always used to communicate things that are dangerous (usually to lumon itself but occasionally to the workers too). e.g. ricken's bok, the bench irv's outie is sitting on when he's first introduced + his house, the lighting at the end of the music dance experience, petey's bathrobe (which is also striped blue aka lumon's colours..symbolising the hold lumon still has on him...) you can even see as the show goes on the colours of marks ties go from blues and silvers to browns and reds :^) i love it when film uses colours so deliberately like severance does it's something really special to me because its not something that many shows consider
Do you think helly kinda goes w that, as her hair is a toned down red?
Great observation. Another film that uses color very distinctly, yet subtly is Promising Young Woman
Yeah reminds me of the colour theory of breaking bad. Peoples clothes getting darker the darker if a person they become and the colours reflecting their character at the time. Here's alot of videos on this concept
the game Control is another great example of retrofuturism and corporate liminal spaces for that unsettling ambience feel
Control is an underrated game in my opinion, and it's atmosphere is exactly as described.
The women even look alike
Classical brutalism has always felt somewhat unsettling but after Control, I can only see it as "wrong".
Severance reminded me of Control so much. I love this strange, brutalist, minimalist aesthetic in sci-fi stories.
I was thinking of control a lot while watching!!
This show is so good that I’m concerned that they might not be able to maintain the high quality. I hope they know exactly where the plot is headed and not just scrambling to make it all up on the fly.
I think you helped me understand why I don’t want to go back to this show despite loving it so much (it’s basically cousins with Mr Robot and Devs.) I want to know what the mystery is all about but I feel anxiety when I actively think about watching it again because I can see places Ive worked in the halls of Lumens, the cubicles, the gross carpet, and especially the lighting. Love this show but oh god is it too real
The Matrix as well
It's a nightmare
It's how I feel about the show Deadwood. And I attribute it to some sort of unconscious hell from a past life lol.
Too close to home
Why not go into the show with the anticipation of seeing all of that torn down?
Surely that prospect must grant some catharsis based on your previous experience.
I work at the BellWorks building that all the Lumon shots are from. The place is real cool and props to Stiller and the team for finding it because it is the perfect marriage of the tone of the show. They are shooting season 2 outside my office right now haha
Woah that is actually sick. Nice.
My company built a new headquarters in around 2015 and it’s crazy how similar it looks to this building. I thought if they designed it from scratch they really know what “modern corporate” is going for. I didn’t realize it was also a real life building
Okay 2 months later, are they still there or have they wrapped up?
@@yoyo-lf3ld apparently they will wrap up around May. So probably still shooting
The finale of this show where they finally just blew it all up, where you just started getting these constant bomb drops about who these people are outside, ended up just making me mad as it went on. Because it was so perfect and mind-blowing I wanted like three more seasons right away
As someone who lives right next to the building this was filmed at, shooting for the second season recently wrapped up. i’m so excited for it to release
I literally laughed out loud when he said, "She's French, so it's ok that she said 'ambience' like that."
Scrolled through months of comments to see if anyone else caught this 😂
He's also American so it's okay that he said her last name "gagne" like that...
she's french canadian from her father, and anglo-canadian from her mother
Did you laugh when he pronounced epoch as epic?
As a literal "Consultant" who looks for bad feeling numbers... its never hurt so bad to feel seen.
great video
you haaave to say more
Auditors just dodged a bullet
@@chuckenergy i work with voter, education, and economic data and... well, Harry Seldon was right...from here its All Gas, No Brakes
I mean I don't judge you as a person. So have you ever encountered desperate people ready to suicide at work and actually "failed" ?
Honestly, if it weren't for Skip Intro pointing out the specificity of the set pieces, I'd have just assumed the company was being cheap and the reason there was still all this ancient laying around was because they didn't want to spend the money modernizing. I've worked at places where, since the company never replaced broken equipment or upgraded it, employees would arrive an hour or two year, or as soon as security would let them in. Not to beat traffic or go home early, but to ransack the cubicles of their coworkers in search of working computer monitors, mice, keyboards, and chairs.
Five years ago, I worked at a place that wanted me to work on a computer that was still running Microsoft 1997, and couldn't figure out why I couldn't access my emails from it because the 2015 security protocols couldn't function on a computer with 6mb of RAM and a processor from the 90's.
Another place I worked at had mold growing in the carpeting because they washed the carpets once, but never bothered to rent the giant fans to properly dry them. Parts of the carpet would get replaced piecemeal, which just gave the the mold fresh places to move to since the company just would not commit to replacing all of the carpeting at once.
Absolute nightmare fuel. @.@
This sort of depressing horror seems to be a growing genre. Other recent examples that I would group with this include most Black Mirror episodes, and the movies "Vivarium" and "Old". Early examples might be "The Shining" and "Apocalypse Now" for the same sense of being trapped in a downward spiral.
Vivarium was sooooo good! Omg!
@@busterbluesun it was dogshit
True detective season 1
That's just daily life....
I could never do black mirror, it got so much hype but the episodes I watched made me uncomfortable without any fun. And I watch a lot of surreal horror
i noticed in one scene his room had three bulbs, but one was broken. 24 hours / 3 bulbs = 8 hours. like the "nine-to-five" 8 hour gap where his memories are abruptly taken from him.
Fun fact: the office building they film in was going to be demolished, but some folks got it put on a historical registry and so will be preserved :)
No show has had me thinking and talking about it’s themes as much as Severance has except for maybe the first season of Westworld. This show is such a hidden gem.
Then you should watch Dark
“It Follows” used retro futurism in really interesting ways too. The director actually addressed it. He purposefully tried to make the time period ambiguous and filmed the movie in a way that it would be reminiscent of a dream. One example of “modern” tech was the friend’s e reader that was inside of a vintage makeup compact. So much of the aesthetic was from the 70s and 80s but at the same time you feel like the characters are modern teens.
Wow. Definitely have Severance on my immediate watch list. Of course, humbled to have a video of mine highlighted! For anyone who hasn't checked out Mark Fisher, or critical theory at large; if these things like corporatism, isolation, alienation, etc. feel poignant to you, contemporary theory/philosophy (like Mark Fisher, the Frankfurt School, etc.) has a lot of things that can add context to those feelings in pretty life altering ways.
obligatory "is this a crossover episode?" comment. big fan.
edit: it is a crossover episode.
Severance feels like what happens if the Office meets the Backrooms.
I SCP what you did there.
Honestly, I'd rather work for Lumon than ASync. At least at Lumon, nothing is going to stalk you (well...that we know of....)
Or Lost meets Office Space!
@@UD503J I’d rather have my coworker hold me at gunpoint than never be able to leave my office.
@@Solar_1011 ah true
After i watched this, i started working at a data center/office that was moved entirely remote, so its a big creepy empty maze. Hilariously bizarre, especially when we ventured to the empty vacant building nxt door to find their mail room with the single lone receptionist with no one to wait on.
Remote employees work about 48 minutes longer but are cutting out an average 55 minutes of commuting time, often the most stressful part of the day for many. They also report less stress and a better work life balance. Speaking from experience, it's been really nice to actually get to spend time with my baby while he grows.
Your innie did such a good job here he deserves a raise and vacation. Also he should join with the other innies to unionize for grass touch time
I knew I would like Severance but my god, I was not expecting to love it as much as I did. Great analysis!
Same. It only took a few seconds when first watching the trailer to just KNOW this was going to be my kind of show. Then I started watching it and it exceeded my expectations. Absolute masterpiece of a series.
I also felt it was similar to Lost. The idea of an ensemble cast being bizarrely and inexplicably separated from their real lives as punishment for their sins is such an enjoyable premise. Especially with the inevitable catharsis where they reconcile with their pasts and earn those lives back.
The surrealist elements like the goat farmer and such reminded me more of "the prisoner" than lost.
@@galactic85 Goats = polar bears.
The numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42 are scary numbers. The Data Refinement Team will know what to do with them.
This whole thing makes me remember working overnights especially during winter. Woke up, dark. Working, dark outside. Going home, dark! Just dark. And the days bleed together. You literally only have 1 day where you are not at work and most people spend it trying to catch up on sleep. It's rough and it's like time just has no meaning. It can really drive you crazy. It really does feel like you just left and are back at work. The weekend is meaningless and not really something you 'remember' since you really don't have it. It's rough. I'm not even one of the people that got through the night downing red bulls and 5-hr energies. I've seen people just constantly drinking red bulls and 5-hr energies and never eating anything. I would normally just do my shift and not really do overtime but there were people there for 12hrs and that's how they got through it. It's wild. If you are stalking overnight, you are usually put in the same section of the store, every single night. So you saw the same small area of the store for 90% of your night. It's not a cubicle but it might as well be. And people can get territorial when moved or when other people get in their space. Not a lot of people survive overnight because of the mental and physical toll but watch out for the people who do. That whole experience feels very similar to this.
That episode of Rick and Morty where they have night versions of themselves that do all the housework
I also love how the scenes often leave so much negative space, and the use of physical visual barriers it really shows that the characters have only a half life.
I think the Lost comparison actually does Severance a disservice because unlike Lost, Severance feels like the writers have an end game in mind, instead of making it up as they go. It’s a beautiful puzzle box, but with something actually inside.
Keep in mind I’m only saying it “feels” this way. It’s subjective, but it’s my impression after watching both shows.
@12:12 I've actually been thinking about this specifically when it comes to fashion. Because like y2k is having a moment, but like y2k was literally just a reimagining of 60s and 70s fashion trends. And I've been thinking about 21st century fashion trends and I'm like are we just recycling the same 40 to 50 year span of fashion over and over again????? Like sure things cycle but there was a progression. There is no progression. We've stopped doing it. I didn't even realize this extends beyond fashion, I need to read more into this because this is messing me up. We are 20 years into the 21st century and what do we have to show for it?
Woah that’s so true, I’ve also been thinking about this a lot. Majority of the the things going around right now are all just a recycling of something else and you can definitely have inspiration and have something new but I feel like it’s just copy and paste… there’s not much to represent who we are right now or a sense of collectiveness I feel.
@@janelolita7890 So I did actually follow up on this Mark Fisher and capitalist realism really gets into this phenomenon.
Severance reminds me of a class I took in college where we talked about death and different types of underworlds through the lens of fiction. I would LOVE to do a deep dive on the themes of purgatory and escape from limbo throughout Severance. (Sorry, unrelated to the video but the visual of Helly going into the elevator and a never ending cycle of work is SO compelling as a metaphor for death.)
I originally thought I was going to hate the character of Dylan, as he seemed like that tired old trope of the crass, schlubby, comic-relief side character, but the actor portraying him totally subverted my expectations when the character discovers that *spoiler* he has a kid and gets to experience a moment of life outside of Lumen. His entire demeanor changes, and he goes from being a parody of a surface-level comic relief character to a bitter revolutionary when he realizes that something better is possible, and it's being kept from him. Watching him re-experience the corporate rewards that once gave his life purpose as worse than meaningless is just so damn compelling.
The concept of the 'severance' procedure reminds me of a game called SOMA. It explores the concept of self, what it is to be human, how do we save ourselves and ...well go check it out. It is a horror game that takes place at the bottom of the ocean tho so fair warning.
"Catherine...? Please don't leave me alone."
Literally just binged this show over the weekend, and I'm so grateful you broke down why this show is so unsettling-well done!
Really made me root for the Innies more than I thought I would, like the Hosts in Westworld.
I was going to make a video on Severance but this basically hit all the notes I'd be exploring so I guess I should say...thank you - this was awesome
I really enjoyed Severance. The set design and cinematography definitely elevate the story-telling to the next level, and the performances of the main cast don't hurt either. My only gripe is that it's on yet another segmented streaming platform (this time Apple+) and frankly no single TV show or movie is worth a subscription.
I don't know how but capitalism has somehow simultaneously allowed mega-corporations to swallow up entire markets AND at the same time created so many segmented subscription platforms that make it impossible to share experiences with people without having to upsell them on a new [Corporation]+ service.
Severance Spoilers Below:
As for the plot itself I really enjoyed season 1 but I worry it may go the way of The Good Place or Prison Break where the core setting is kind turned to mush and the Innies develop new ways to experience the outside world. If I'm honest I think the show only needed like 1 more episode (maybe 2) and it could have resolved the current "mysteries" and created an open ending where we can hope for a brighter future for those who suffered at the hands of Lumen. I don't _really_ need to know what the goat stuff is about, or the action cards or anything. I can take them at thematic value and just understand Lumen to be a company that is doing a lot of really weird stuff without any real goal for humanity, just like corporations in the current world. Not to get too concrete with things but I'm pretty sure the flamethrower Elon Musk put out wasn't much more than auto-fellatio.
This is the best god damn show in years, I knew I'd love it from the first shot. Top tier TV on every level.
oh my god i'm so happy i found this video!! i literally thought about mark fisher's essay on hauntology when i watched the show and i was looking for articles or videos that compared the two. glad i found your channel!
I need to watch this. It reminds me of liminal spaces and how I felt the entire time I worked in a corporate office. It was a soul sucking. I would get home from work, eat, watch a show, go to sleep and do it all over. My time off of work felt like it flew by and the managers would pressure the young analysts to stay later and work weekends for no extra money or overtime.
When the woman was getting off the elevator and said “it feels like I just left” I felt that. It’s nice to see a new series with a creative premise that isn’t a reboot or prequel.
Now I work as a photographer and do doordash. They’re always coming up with new ways to screw the drivers, dd takes the majority of fees, and people don’t tip to protest the fees. I haven’t taken a vacation in 6 years, still paying off my student loans, don’t own a house - typical millennial burnout. 🙃
this show is actually a realistic depiction of working at apple
ive thought about this show a lot but I didn't think about the fact that the outies are almost always in nighttime
My best friend works for a very large, very awful law firm (not as a lawyer) that constantly makes her work on her weekends and hours off. This office is her life. 🙃
Another show with incredible retrofuturistic production design is Netflix's Maniac!
Loved that show too!
And from what I've been told, that also lines up thematically with the work of philosophers, namely Gilles and Deleuze!
Quick note about dolly zooms. Whilst a dolly zoom does affect depth of field, the change in depth of field isn't what produces that eerie effect. That effect is coming from a change in 'compression' which occurs at different focal lengths along the zoon range. There are some really good videos and gifs showing this effect if you google "how focal length affects compression". Great video by the way!
Look at Apple's business model: It revolves around ENTERTAINMENT (movies, theme parks, etc.).
The more we WORK, the less time we have to spend money on ENTERTAINMENT.
I love that Apple is slowly instilling a critique of overwork and hyper-capitalism in the cultural zeitgeist, but I'd be careful about thinking a mega-corporation is totally acting beyond their self-interest.
Of course, this doesn't mean Anti-Work activists can't use Severance as educational or infotainment to recruit and spread the Anti-Work message, but I'd just be mindful that under the current system, Apple's first loyalty is to their largest stockholders, which are usually large institutions.
Big fan of Severance and your work, and yet somehow the announcement of the Paw Patrol Copaganda ep was the highlight of the video for me.
"Nothing in our culture ever really dies"
This really feels like the zombie metaphor of the late 1970s and early 1980s has truly and finally come full circle. This is no longer the outbreak of that story, but rather the extinction event as the last real humans die. Nothing in our culture ever dies, but nothing in our culture will ever be born either.
(and yes, I'm aware of my own undeath as I have no way to comment on this without references)
I would LOVE for you to do a deep dive on A Scanner Darkly as it relates to our current world, opioid epidemic, war on drugs, surveillance state… I think you could nail it better than anyone. Your videos are so razor sharp and thoughtful. Big fan! Please consider A Scanner Darkly! It’s underrated and under examined.
When the pandemic started, I was frustrated with why people didn’t want to return to the office. Then I realized I was privileged. I was in my last semester of college when the pandemic hit, so I didn’t know the hell of the office. All I’d known was a communal, egalitarian paradise of dorms, classrooms, and shitty student apartments, all within walking distance or accessible via bus.
bro really wanted an office
I have no idea how anyone can even get the idea that offices are fun. If you have seen any depiction of an office in media its always bad, wonder why that is??
Lmao what the fuck
Wow. Amazing analysis, very well researched and you didn't even spoil the show!
Very impressed, and glad I found the channel.
Liked and subbed. Well done dude!
this was amazing.
retro futurism, I think my first taste of it was Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind.
this was refreshing, and really funny (both the show, and the writing.) thank you.
'Hopeless' is probably the best word to describe capitalism. It really does feel that bleak sometimes.
As opposed to the alternative signifying…hope?
@@jloo6822 i think there is an alternative that gives hope, but hope isnt in the best interest of the powers that be
@@sueno2330 so, for all intents and purposes, hopeless
@@jloo6822 Well, yes actually. Look at the, admittedly fictional, society at play in Star Trek, a piece of media which I think embodies hope. It's a form of automated luxury communism, where the base needs of every human ate met so that they are left available to find higher purpose, such as exploring space. None of the Enterprise's crew are paid to be there - replicators handle food and vast digital libraries of media from all across human history handle entertainment - they choose to serve of their own free will and interests.
Yeah, it is fictional and highly idyllic, but what is an ideal if not something to strive for? If there is a change to be made that will shift our future out of capitalistic dystopias like Cyberpunk and Severance and into something a little more preferable, that change is to be made now more than ever.
the dreadful sense that Fisher is talking about was exactly what I took from Fukiyama's phrase (if not his explication) "The End of History"...
essentially, the Western culture since WW2 up to...1990? 2000? are just going to be recycled and remixed ad nauseum until the climate does us in...
or the nukes. I'm betting we'll all be dust and echoes by the end of this year or the middle of the decade
got any good end of the world songs picked out yet? for me i'm tied between a bad moon rising or don't fear the reaper
I’ll never watch this show honestly but I enjoyed this video heavily. the intro to how current day cubicles were derived and the amazing commentary of juxtaposition were the perfect commentary on a show I’ve never seen.
You should though!
Another video that uses the phrase "late stage capitalism" with an ad break. Classic.
Thanks for increasing awareness of my favourite phrase "worst of both worlds"
My favourite type of futurist satire is portal 2. An AI that kills off all of the staff, a founder who would fire you for the slightest infraction, hiring people to do tests that would kill them. All in the pursuit of endless progress.
Sounds like the main characters need to...
TAKE! CONTROL!
If you got that I love you
I love the way you connected formal even technical aspects with social issues.
I didn't see a link in the description about/from Mark Fischer😢 Could you add it? I'm super curious to learn more about how late-stage capitalism is manipulating our lives!
I know the creator of this show, and the show he wrote in college that loosely turned into this involves an excellent exploration of space via forcing 4 actors into one closed cubicle in which they have to act with only the tops of their heads. And there's a minotaur in the hallways and they bleed packing peanuts.
Would love to know more!
@@jezgomez It was called Convention and one of the actors was named Dylan and I am almost positive that is who Severance's Dylan got his name. I don't remember a whole lot, it was in like 2007 that it first went up.
@@charlottehollingsworth9125 thanks. That's really cool to know!
This show was so amazing and I really am glad I got to see it one week at a time to ponder the days in between on what could happen the following episode.
That point about culture being "recycled and reused" is to me, what made the pandemic feel like such a big thing. Caught in the drudgery of day to day work life, in the complete absence of mind brought on by repetitious actions like commute, punch in, work, punch out, commute, sleep. The pandemic, ironically, in sending people home for months at a time to give time to their home lives, gave everyone a huge drink of their personal life. Everyone can remember what they did during it; the periphery of events around it not so much but the shutdown and quarantine itself is probably something every living generation will be able to remember until they're gone.
It was an earthshaking cultural event. The empty streets, the empty stores and businesses, the screeching halt of society. Then people got to remember who they are, who they wanted to be. It was a twisted version of summer or winter vacation from school.
The system of capitalism hates the idea of a worker knowing themselves. That's what makes Severance so brilliant to me.
The amount of sex had in supply closets would increase exponentially. Also on-the-job drug use.
Wow, a Bernstein reference. Not what I was expecting, but as he was one of my favorite poets throughout the 90’s I appreciate it
Looks like a Black Mirror episode.
Feels like one, more or less.
Best video on severance I’ve had the pleasure of watching so far. I’m also watching your law and order video currently, you’re really good! Providing sources in the description is the only suggestion I’d give
I hope the show doesn't wind up becoming them essentially being at work 24/7 or they're some ai's neuron that those random numbers that make them feel bad are just them fine tuning some algorithm.
This is a weird recommendation, but if you liked Severance, you might like Newsies (the broadway musical pro shot, it's better than the movie). It's unabashedly pro-union and it's from Disney of all companies? And not in the way that say Bug's Life is pro-union with lines like "there's more of us than there are of you" "we're stronger than we realise" "you need us more than we need you". No it's straight up singing lines like "no one can make us give our rights away" "I bet if your dad had a union you wouldn't have to be out on the streets selling papes right now" "we're on strike. even if we ain't got hats or badges, we're a union just by saying so"
From the video and comment section ,i think nobody watched arguably one of the best ben stiller movie, the life of walter mitty... It has the same framing and shots to details of each scene to emphasize the importance between characters and dialogue..
loved that meeting!
I think Lumons goal goes well beyond profit, it's definitely about control, and possibly eternal life.
I watched the first four minutes of this documentary then went and binged the entire series in one sitting. My only regret is that I cannot sever myself until season 2 arrives
I just experienced a very severe environment similar to Severance, and honestly I wish I’d watched it sooner bc my manager kept referencing it… and after I quit, so did all of management. Would’ve been nice to know we were all on the same side lol
wow! that finale was amazing, bummed to wait so long for next season
Speaks to the quality of the show, the script, characters, twists, etc. that I was kinda getting frustrated that you kept going on tangents about the deeper concepts of the premise.
Still, very insightful video. Good stuff.
"She's french, so it's okay she says ambiance like that" LMAO
There's no Friday Feeling if you have never felt a Monday feeling. Or only feel Monday.
I really liked the show as a solid object. Which is why the criticisms that focused entirely on the issues with the plot felt insufficient - because at least half the story is told through the environments. The isolation that starts at work, continues into their compounds and emanates through the lives of people living in that town. And this layer is cannot be seen without paying attention to the cinematography!
This is a deeply irrelevant nitpick, but that's not a Macintosh II @7:30, it's one of the original Macintoshes (so, Mac 128K, 512K, or 512Ke). The Mac II doesn't look nearly as retro as the classic-style Macs.
This reminds me a bit of the mod/game stanley parable. In that game, the job is to sit at the computer and wait for the monitor to tell you what button to press, the titular character "stanley" not knowing anything else outside his cubicle world. His identity and character (on a meta level) literally just being that he's an office worker. Isolated, alienated he starts noticing strange things, the instructions stop coming, he leaves to search for meaning but his very being and reality breaks down more and more the further he steps away from his cubicle. The office work is all he is, nothing really exists beyond. The slogan of the game being "the end is never the end is never the end" ad nauseam.
Pointing out numbers -- or pressing whatever symbol appears on your monitor are both satirical examples of the kind of nonsense, meaningless and menial work done under capitalism. Even when there's enough productivity to maintain every aspect of the material world (food, power etc.) and all the important jobs are being covered by workers, since capitalism demands endless work for endless economic growth, the rest of the population (as opposed to chilling or pursuing their passions) are put to work doing "made-up" jobs instead. Be it artificial sectors of middle-men that fax papers of corporate jargon to other, also artificial fields. Or megaplexes of office workers who send each other emails, the work is purposeless. Work for the sake of work.
/r/Antiwork was/is dismissive of the need for labor to exist. Also, this was produced by Apple.
Lots of pieces of art (from movies to TV shows to video games) are critiques of capitalism or corporations despite being owned or funded by corporations. If it makes money, corporations will fund it - that doesn't mean they wrote the script.
Lots of labor doesn't need to exist though. Only a small percent of people need to actually work.
I love the flyby comment "she's French, so it's okay she says 'ambiance' like that"
The dolly zoom do not change the depth of field, it changes the field of view, while moving in.
That is what is happening, just describing reality here. If that is somehow disturbing, go get some help or chill out with other ppl, it should not be that much of a triggering statement. 💀
@@ReneAlex Go get your own help if you can't find empathy in the uncanny valley
Good for you for watching all 8000 episodes of Paw Patrol for your video! I tried telling my daughter that I don’t think a place where a 10 year old vigilante and his animal slaves have unrestricted authority over an entire town would be a very nice place to live, but she just likes the doggies.
(Seriously though, one thing I noticed is that the bad mayor is always getting forced medical treatment and scans from the Paw Patrol even when he says no. I know that my toddler doesn’t understand and the crap I watched as a kid was probably much worse, but it’s still bugs me slightly every time it happens in the show. I also hate the lifeless, cheap computer animation that PP and a bunch of other kids shows have)
I've never seen Severance, but the visual style of retrofuturism reminds me a whole lot of Maniac
Severance is brilliant on several levels and interpretations that critique capitalism are not unfounded but…
Under all systems, people will likely be subservient to a manipulative slave master, industrial Barron, corporate apparatus, or powerful coercive state authority. The issue becomes a matter of who will be the greater threat to autonomy and success, some “greedy” people who want to sell products and services or some angry ideologues demanding you swallow their version of utopia.
The “late capitalism” so often referred to by academics and critics is actually corporatism, the wedding of powerful corporations and government (fascism). It can just as accurately be referred to as late socialism as the state’s centralization of power is helped along by compliant corporate interests. A false dichotomy becomes wedded to a common goal of subjugating humanity to the whims of a powerful minority. Put state and corporate interests on the same team and you’re really screwed.
Praising Severance’s perceived critique of capitalism is beyond ironic considering that it’s the product of one of the largest corporate/capitalist entities on the planet (Apple).
In the current propaganda environment, it’s no wonder that so many citizens now defend or promote authoritarian measures like speech codes, raids on political opposition, and punitive attacks on free thought. The population seems largely unaware that virtually every power-center in society (e.g. education, entertainment, media) is notably socialist in their views and goals.
Does it really make sense to despise the power of business institutions while simultaneously praising the consolidation of power into a true mega-corporation - the government?
In the end, most people simply have a preference as to who they want to see with power and who they want to see punished for straying from a preferred dogma. We support a certain clique in its will to power in the hopes that we will vicariously benefit from the new order (almost always mistaken). Or, we pretend we are selfless and willing to sacrifice in a contrived exercise of virtue signaling.
Severance offers some brilliant insight and entertainment, but some cliche’ interpretations can only go so far in seeking to understand underlying truths about the human condition.
"the consolidation of power into a true mega-corporation - the government?"
We have spent the past 40 years in most Democratic nations since the 80s divesting power from the government to benefit powerful business institutions and it's been a colossal failure.
When the government can only budget for 40 damn EPA inspectors for an entire state who only manage to check each facility under their jurisdiction once in a blue moon you've got a recipe for constant skirting of regulation that's kinda important. When the government decides it doesn't want to do something like "prosecute wage theft" in an entire state (looking at you, Florida), you're encouraging business interests and owners at the expense of the general public.
The Florida AG will sue a school to prevent them from instituting a mask mandate, citing "freedom!", but when it comes to prosecuting people literally stealing from their employees? Won't bother to even issue a citation, the only recourse for their citizens is to go to the fed.
Which a certain political party has been trying very hard to remove THAT agency as well.
Texas is without power thanks to "freedom", aka, "let power companies outsource risk to their captive consumer base". Texas COULD pass some regulation to force providers to add redundancy, but that hurts profits, and is 'not as free' as 'letting people freeze because they decided to buy a house in the wrong district'.
We've decided we'd rather make government useless than actually do its job, and then reward politicians for breaking government functions.
the big studio video game industry is also slathered in hauntology
Is it me or did you go the whole video without saying the world liminal? Going to the veyry edge of the concept without explicitely using the world fills me with a weird kind of frustration and unease. ;-)
the description of this show triggered my flight or flight response im not even joking. that concept is so scary, but it's even scarier to realize that we are the innies in real life at times
I think something crucial was hit on in this video, by you and by Mark Fisher. I read an article a few years ago that I sadly have not been able to find in recent time when I reference on it, that living through the changeover of a millennia (2000) broke our sense of time, which is why we always think of the 80's as just 20 years ago. I also think that this could be why a lot of millennials see Gen Z as this breath of fresh air--many of them didn't live through that or were too young to remember, so they're not seeing time through a distortion--everything is new and therefore revolutionary. And they're acting accordingly.
my favourite show of last year! i felt sick watching it sometimes because it was so tense.
Great video. I learnt a lot. I was especially intrigued by the gig economy sound bite. Will go listen to that Podcast
Thank you for this. I am enthralled by Severance and I also said that it's the best show about work NOW, when I was recommending it to people furiously. After I read David Graeber's 'Bullshit Jobs' (which I also highly recommend), I started to really shift my relationship to work and how it is tied to my self-worth and so on. And I am in a new phase now and seeing things so clearly somehow from the outside (I am still working, just trying really hard to get projects I actually believe in and projects I don't want to delete from my mind once the work is over) somehow. I cannot wait for season 2!
Iv watched it through twice so far and I really hope it has substance going forward. Thats really what its all about. Substance.
Regarding your comments at 10:00, I’ve found that the era setting of retrofuturism in Severance is quite nuanced. On first watch, you can hardly tell it’s different from present day. Obviously the halls of the severed are from the ‘80s, but that’s hardly rare in modern office buildings that haven’t been renovated in decades. But on second watch, you can notice the old cars, the weird styles of Mark’s family, and the lack of cell phones (except in some very specific cases where it’s a shock for iPhones and touch screens to appear). There’s something more to comment on all that for sure.
I think an underrated element of the show is how the protagonist's goofy friends are written. Like they are very earnest weirdos to his disaffected normie, but not in a way that feels unfair to either.
RIP Mark Fisher :(