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t is obvious from the hype around the world since Severance came out that there is something controversial about the show. When people start talking so much about a show that it becomes a sensation, one can be certain that controversy is involved.
Judging by the pilot, the show seems to be incredibly jarring. Helly R wakes up lying in the middle of a conference table with a speaker talking to her. The room is sterile: too clean; clean enough to be unsettling. The tone of the speaker’s voice is too calm for comfort. This creates great dissonance in the minds of the audience. If one were to say dissonance is the theme around which the entire show revolves, one would not be wrong.
Corporations around the world behave in this way day-in, day-out. I is the kind of dissonance that makes one want to pull their hair out. In the late 1800s, some corporations managed to invoke legislation that was originally meant to cover slaves. More corporate entities were quick to make a case for themselves to be similarly treated as ‘individuals.’ This created the idea of limited liability for the stakeholders in a business. This is all fancy talk for the fact that, under capitalism, corporations shirk away from responsibility. This is encoded in their very DNA. The question here is, why?
There is great variation across corporations, but in plain speak their actions can only be described as ‘dubious practices.’ Historically, the corporation has been exploitative in its nature. This is precisely what Severance is a commentary on.
This question could be answered in many ways. There is great variation across corporations, but in plain speak all their actions can be described as ‘dubious practices.’ Historicaly the corporation have been exploitative in nature. This is precisely what Severance is a commentary on.
Severance builds up around the idea of two categories of employees; the ‘severed’ and the ‘unsevered.’ The ‘severed’ employees are mainly common people. They are lower tier workers in the hierarchy. They are not privy to the inner working of the corporation and the nature of its work. The ‘unsevered’ are those in the upper management of the organization. They are well aware of the work, its scope and its consequences
The process of severance works by creating a split in the mind of a worker by ensuring that their work persona and outside persona are detached from each other, such that they do not remember each other’s lives, memories, emotions, motivations or aspirations. It is as if they are two different people. How much overlap in their base natures still exists is a subject of contention. This is one of the themes the show explores.
The idea of severance as a process is interesting in a world where corporate employees are often unable to detach from their work after hours and where work often seeps into the late hours of the night. The legislation to ban work emails after hours in certain Scandinavian countries comes to mind. This has been a subject of much discussion around the world, both in and out of corporations.
This theme takes on an exaggerated take in the show where one is given the chance to delve deeper into the consequences of what such a split could actually mean should it be possible to achieve. It begs the question: what will it mean for either persona in terms of their aspirations, their rights, their emotional life and matters of the spirit. All of these become themes played out through the characters.
A fascinating aspect of the show is the story of Kier Eagan, the founder of the corporation at the centre of the show: Lumon. In the minds of the employees at Lumon, Kier Eagan behaves like God.
What sticks is how this show makes viewers question the dissonance in their own lives.
Kier is part Buddha and part Lenin. A part of his dogma is about taming the tempers, a commentary on Buddha’s redundant dogma and fixation on taming desires and attachment. The other part of his dogma is about sacrifice for the greater good and the workers uniting in pursuit of prosperity (of the business only).
Stories about Kier Eagan are accessible to the employees through manuals and codes of conduct he wrote. There is also a dogmatic effort to imbibe his philosophy in all those that work for Lumon. This is sometimes done through ridiculously comical and sometimes childish animated films; a jab at how ridiculous real world corporations can be when they try to show themselves as noble in content presented to employees.
Kier and the Eagans become a source of equal parts amusement and nervousness throughout the show. Much of the narrative around them takes apart practices that are applauded in displays of self-congratulation on LinkedIn.
There is also commentary on race through a character in the show by the name of Seth Milchick. There is a very disturbing scene where Seth is presented with a series of paintings of Kier that have been modified so that Kier now appears to be black. Seth, contrary to his usual boy-scout demeanor, seems visibly agitated at this.
Later, Seth is reprimanded for using big words. However, all other white employees at Lumon constantly use big words and a very outdated and colonial vernacular, inspired by Kier’s words from over a century ago. This is a commentary on the issue of persecution of blacks bearing the image of them as lesser beings unable to speak or behave like the white man. In one scene, Seth is dancing with a band with white gloves and shoe spats, pointing to the despicable minstrel shoes that are a disgrace to the history of racism in America.
The show, like every great American story, is at its core about freedom and the human spirit’s resolve to beat persecution. What would a story coming out of America mean if it were not about freedom? That is all great and good fun. What sticks about this show is how it makes viewers question the dissonance in their own lives.
Verdict: Watch it and allow it to make you question the hypocrisy of our times.
Uneeb Nasir writes about culture, art and identity. More of his work can be found oninstagram.com/un.eeeb