In Apple TV+’s enigmatic thriller Severance, employees at the mysterious Lumon Industries undergo a surgical procedure that separates their work memories from their personal lives. This science fiction premise has struck a chord with viewers not just for its mind-bending plot. Also, what stands out are the uncomfortable truths it reveals about modern corporate culture. The show reflects collective anxieties about work-life balance, corporate ethics, and personal identity in today’s professional landscape.
Severance takes the concept of work-life balance to its extreme logical conclusion. When characters enter the elevator at Lumon, they become their “innie” selves. These are versions of themselves who exist only within the workplace and have no knowledge of their outside lives. This stark delineation resonates with professionals who increasingly struggle to establish boundaries between their personal and professional identities. This is especially true in an age of remote work, always-on connectivity, and diminishing separation between office and home.
The show brilliantly interrogates what many workers feel: the expectation to compartmentalize their humanity for the sake of productivity. Research from Harvard Business Review suggests nearly 60 percent of professionals feel they must adopt a different persona at work. This is a less extreme but spiritually similar version of Lumon’s severance procedure.
Corporate mythology and blind loyalty
Lumon’s quasi-religious corporate culture, complete with its founder worship and mysterious handbook, is a mirror. It satirizes how companies today manufacture loyalty through carefully crafted narratives. The reverence the “innies” show toward Kier Eagan, Lumon’s founder, mirrors the cultlike admiration some companies cultivate around visionary leaders.
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