By Peg Aloi
Without letter-perfect performances from the actors I’m not sure Severance would work anywhere near as well as it does.
Opening scene of Severance: A white woman with red hair wearing heels and a form fitting dress lies on a conference room table, unconscious. A disembodied voice booms from the tabletop speaker: “Who are you?” The woman gradually wakes but is disoriented. The interviewer prompts her to answer a “short survey” which it suggests might make her feel “right as rain.” She’s asked to name one of the fifty states — it’s the only one of the questions she can answer. She finds the questions annoying and confusing. The last question, whether she can remember the color of her mother’s eyes, seems to cause her sadness and despair.
Isn’t this a dystopia that’s so plausible you can taste it? Science fiction often seems to be nothing but escapism because it draws on so many occurrences and situations that are simply not physically real or even possible. But speculative fiction (along the lines of Black Mirror) takes elements that are eerily close to reality and mixes them into plausibly alarming scenarios (technological, social, political, environmental). The results are cautionary tales that, at their best, illuminate our very near future. Dystopia, where a society has gone off the rails, is the outcome of a social order that has become oppressive or perversely cruel (think The Handmaid’s Tale).
In recent months, Americans have seen some shit. The pandemic, economic and social instability, the continuing climate crisis, emboldened agents of fascism, and the rise of oppressive political factions who seek to do away with basic freedoms, such as voting and reproductive autonomy. It’s little wonder that our entertainment is reflecting the dark and dreadful back to us. Among other shake-ups, pandemic life has put office culture under scrutiny. Many people who formerly worked in offices moved to…