Office Space : The surreal workplace satire of Severance.

 

"“Living to work” instead of “working to live” became the modus operandi for many, especially after upward mobility had long since ceased to be an achievable goal. Now not only is an American what they do, but their place of work is a “home,” even as it provides them with fewer protections and asks more of their time. “When you’re here, you’re family,” preached the famously cheesy Olive Garden slogan, but it chillingly doubles as the motto for the American workplace.

The premiere of the Apple TV+ series Severance benefits from good cultural timing, as many people have started to reevaluate their attitudes toward work and the workplace in the wake of Covid-19. There’s now a premium, however small it may be, placed on decoupling job satisfaction from one’s overall well-being. Fittingly, the premise of Severance asks: What if you could medically guarantee that you will never take your work home with you? In the series, one of the world’s largest corporations uses a surgical procedure to separate their employees’ work and nonwork memories, essentially splitting them into a work self (an “innie”), who “wakes up” every time they enter the office, and a personal self (an “outie”)."

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By Vikram Murthi