人生切割术第一季

活动地址：https://viff.org/whats-on/severance-talk/ 访问这个网站后注册一个账户就可以购买这个采访录像，费用是 0 元，只填写有效的邮箱信息即可，下单成功后不久邮箱会收到一个播放地址，然后就可以观看这个采访录像。

这个采访录像是经过 DRM 加密的，非常不容易下载（反正我没成功），而且有一定的有效期限（5 月 23 日之前有效），所以购买完毕后要尽快抽时间看完。

我从网站上下载到了这个采访的英文字幕，按照采访的格式重新整理了一遍，发到这里。

英文字幕应该是机器识别+人工校对实现的，大体上没问题，时不时会出现一些小错误。

访谈录音：May 9, 2022 - VIFF Creator Talk, Severance.mp3

Kinga Binkowska👩Kinga Binkowska: Good evening, everyone. And thank you for joining us. My name is Kinga Binkowska and I'm industry and live producer here at the Vancouver International Film Festival. I would like to start by giving thanks to the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations for the continued stewardship of the unceded, unoccupied land on which we live and work.From creators and showrunners to directors, writers, producers and craft people, the VIFF Talk series draws from a fine and creative group of key creators, whether they're responsible for critically acclaimed films, or groundbreaking TV series, our guests provide a treasure trove of information and inspiration for fellow creators, filmmakers, industry professionals, and of course, the fans.Right at 98% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, Apple TV+ Severance is one of the most acclaimed new shows of this year. Already greenlit for a second season, this mind and genre bending Series offers a heavy mix of sci fi, "dramedy", conspiracy, mystery and psychological thriller as it investigates the concept of work life balance in a speculative realm in which office workers personal and professional experiences are really siloed.We're thrilled to chat with creator Dan Erickson, whose inventive series features and unique and brilliant script, sublime direction by Ben Stiller and incredible casting highlighted by Adam Scott's note perfect centre performance and Christopher Walken biggest role on the small screen.Our hosts for this evening is Duana Taha, writer and producer. Welcome Dan and Duana!

Dan Erickson & Duana Taha👩🏻Duana Taha: Hi there, I'm Duana Taha, I am thrilled to be in conversation with Dan Erickson, courtesy of VIFF. A little intro for those of you who don't know, Dan Erickson began writing plays and making movies with his siblings and friends at a young age and went on to get his BA in English and creative writing from Western Washington University. He later attended NYU Tisch School, where he received a Masters in Dramatic Writing. Upon moving to LA, Dan delivered food and worked in string of office jobs, all while conceiving and writing the original pilot for Severance. The script became the first TV pilot ever selected for the annual bloodlist, which ultimately led to a creative partnership with Red Arrow productions, Endeavor Content and Apple. Dan splits his time between LA and New York while sneaking back to his beloved Washington State every chance he gets. The creator of Severance, please welcome Dan Erickson.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Hi Duana, How are you?👩🏻Duana Taha: I am pretty good. Thank you so much for coming and speaking with us. There is so much to chat about.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: It's so good to be here.👩🏻Duana Taha: Very excited. I asked you just before we began, which question you've been asked most often, and you said, you know, there was a lot about where did this idea come from? I don't have that question. Because I can imagine that, having worked one or many, many terrible jobs or jobs that thought they were pretty cute and great, fine. My question to you is, do the people at your real life Lumon know that they're the inspiration for Lumon? Are you getting DM's from everybody in your life going? It was us, wasn't it? Come on! 🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Oh, God. I hope not. No, I have gotten DM's from I haven't gotten DM's from any of the bad guys. I'll say that. And any of the mysterious higher ups represented on the show. I have gotten DM's from former co-workers and people who have sort of been in those particular trenches with me. And those have mostly been appreciative. Yeah.👩🏻Duana Taha: But they recognize that some of your jokes and references are just for that. Yeah?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah. Ya no, for sure, and it's all stuff I'm grateful for now, but, you know, little, just weird corporate idiosyncrasies that I collected along the way, you know, the people who I knew from those worlds will reach out and be like: Hey, I recognize that.👩🏻Duana Taha: You know, there's a kind of an obvious sentiment that the show might resonate with anybody who's ever been in kind of a terrible workplace dystopia? Was there anything that you actually had to explain to the showbiz world of Los Angeles? That yes, this is a real thing, or yes, this is a reference that people make?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, I mean, a lot. A lot of the people, you know, who were producing the show, or who were working on the show had their own experience in those kinds of jobs, some of it years ago, some of it more recently. But there was some stuff like sort of the core principles and the slightly culty elements of the corporate world where I'm like, No, this is real, like. I basically didn't exaggerate that at all. The core principles are actually a less ridiculous version of something I really encountered at one of the jobs where there was just these themed principles, that didn't really make any sense. And they sent somebody around, someone came from the national office, and they came around to introduce the principles to us and the trip, I'm sure, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. You know, it's all stuff that if you're wanting to be a creative person, and eventually turn this into a story, you're just sort of putting all that in your pocket as you go along.👩🏻Duana Taha: If I understood you correctly, you're saying that, you toned everything down for Lumon?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Not everything, but some things.👩🏻Duana Taha: That's terrifying enough to be going on. I think that overall, it's very clear that this is coming from a couple of different pin points, including, you're speaking largely to a Canadian audience here, though, that we have many climates or this vast country, I in the East don't think we've ever seen winter portrayed more honestly, or brutally on screen. Was that important? Was that a real choice? How did that go down?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, I mean, we did say we were like, If we get this wrong, the Canadians are going to come for us. They're going to know that we faked it. I am honestly really happy to hear you say that, because that was one of the hardest elements of this thing. Like really green writer, I'd never actually been in a writers room before. And so I had certainly never had to go out and be on a shoot, and sort of live the reality of the things I was writing before. So I would just very willy nilly be like, Okay, let's do another nighttime scene in the snow. And, you know, not realizing A) that that's always a nightmare to have to make that happen, you know, on any shoot, and B) that Ben Stiller is the most meticulous person in the world and is not going to do anything halfway, and so, you know, he and Aoife McArdle, our other director, they were very adamant that those seem do feel real, and that we shoot them out somewhere very cold at night. And so we had a great crew that were great. It was tough.👩🏻Duana Taha: And you started thinking about ways that move on, suddenly could have like, a climate control over the town in second season, I assume?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yes. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, they probably have an office in Phoenix or somewhere a little bit more warm.👩🏻Duana Taha: Well, speaking of, let's get into it, then. Let's talk about the specificities of Lumon. You know, this show has more than most developed an incredible number of fan theories. What is your process of that? Are you engaging with them? Are you laughing at them? Do you have to avoid them? Like, what's your sort of take on that?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, I was, I was told right off the bat to avoid Reddit, because they're like, it will poison your brain, like you're gonna get totally in your head. It's going to become this weird feedback loop. That's going to drop, you know, drive you into the mouth of madness. And so I for about 10 minutes didn't go on Reddit. And then I caved, and I went once and I was surprised, cautiously surprised and delighted to find that it was this just wonderful, positive, delightful community of people who were just really excited about the show and it wasn't just a lot of people who made for various things I was like, Oh, this response is actually really positive. And it's just, it's sort of inspiring, because, you know, it's all this brand new art that's being created. And then the theories, which are, there are always some that are outlandish, but it's an outlandish show. So like, I sort of don't blame anybody for that. But then yeah, a lot of it is stuff that's really smart, and, in some cases, stuff where I'm like, Could I could I use that when I get in trouble if I just did that?👩🏻Duana Taha: How close is this? Versus how can I obfuscate it?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: But it's great. It's a great community. And it's really fun to to watch them do their thing.👩🏻Duana Taha: That's how you know when people are that engaged in that kind of a cypress about what they think is the truth. The one I see coming up most often is what's the real deal with the scary numbers in macro data refinement? And so my question to you is, I'm assuming you're not going to tell us what is really the deal. So what is your favorite incorrect assumption about what it might be?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Oh, boy, let's see. I'm trying to think because there have been a lot of really good ones. I'm trying to think if there's one that I want to admit is incorrect. I mean, definitely, a lot of people have have sort of assumed that it's kind of the first thing you would expect, which is some kind of like data mining or something like that. People's private records, which is, it may well be something like that. But I will say that when we were figuring out what the numbers are, that was sort of one of the first things that we thought, and it became this thing of like, what can we do that's either different or some kind of an elevation of that. So all I'll say is that I hope that it's something that people will be surprised by, I hope it's something that will feel both like it makes sense looking back, but that it also is a little bit counterintuitive. It's kind of what happens there.👩🏻Duana Taha: And one hopes that the truth will in some way align with Lumon's nine values. Let me say that for the audience, and I'll be watching to see if Dan malsum along with me, we have vision, verb, wit, cheer, humility, benevolence, nimbleness, probity, and wiles.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah. I had to listen to you say, at first on a couple of the middle, but I got there by the end.👩🏻Duana Taha: I consider myself pretty well read, but I still had to Google probity to make sure I was interpreting it correctly.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: I forget what it means. What does it mean?👩🏻Duana Taha: Let's say, you know, we'll have some research and bring that back later in the talk, you know, make sure we both internalize it. So I'm sure that those were, as you say, much debated and or that some went in and some some came out in terms of the final line when you were debating them. But I was shocked to find out that Lumon had a dress code. So I guess, first of all, the immediate question is, the dress code is black, white, maybe gray and pastels. As if you weren't already depressed, you're allowed to have pastels, at Lumon. How much of this do you expect that the characters themselves sort of taken on day one? Or are these things that have kind of been policed among the Lumon employees over time and become kind of facts and rules? Are there distinctions between some of the things that we hear?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, I think so. And by the way, just just real quick, I looked it up probity, the quality of having strong moral principles, honesty and decency. So I think part of that is dressing right. Yeah, I mean, the dress code is a funny thing specifically because I think it is as it is, in real life, sort of a way of policing the way people express themselves and sort of the level of your own humanity that you're allowed to bring into the into the workplace and your individuality. But then, I think it is probably also artificially policed in Unit even more by the company itself. Where Yeah, like They probably are not, you know, there's a color scheme. But the other the other thing that we talked about that hasn't really come into play much in the show yet, is that it would all have to be closed without any sort of label or writing because it has to get through the code detectors, because, you know, any sort of written symbols whatsoever won't go. And so, you know, we've talked about is there, how there may be like a severance-friendly clothing stores, like where if you're, if you're working a separate job, there's a specific store you can go to that has stuck with no writing whatsoever. But yeah, that's all. You know, that's stuff that would have to be explained to the "outtie", whereas most of the actual in office behavior stuff would be explained to the "innie", and I imagine on both sides, it's a bit of an education, it takes a while to sort of, you know, we see Helly we sort of clumsily bumping up against the rules. And I think that's something that probably happens for all of them.👩🏻Duana Taha: Quite often. Yeah. And you've answered a few questions there in the sense that, obviously, we know that there's enough of a enough of a severed population, that there's also anti-Lumon sentiment and anti-severance kind of movements, and clearly a need for retail locations. So I guess, within the world of the show, what is your kind of estimate of how many people were talking about less as a number and more as a, is, does it approximate a percentage point? Is it you know, is it a part of a given town only or? Because, you bring up a lot of questions there.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Right, right, right. It's a really, really good question. I actually have never been asked that before, and I want to make sure that I don't get, you know, the Apple dart in my neck.👩🏻Duana Taha: Yes, this is kind of an occupational hazard for you throughout this whole talk. Right?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, they're standing at the door with the blow dart thing. it's really overkill, in my opinion. But yeah, I think it's less than a percentage at this point. It's in the culture, it's like, you know, we see that it's something people are discussing at dinner parties or not dinner parties. And they're, you know, it's something that is debated, and is probably, you know, they're think pieces all over the internet about it and that kind of thing. But I think at this point, it's still very rare. There are other severed offices, there are other Lumon severed offices around the world, in various places. But like, for example, there are states where it's not legal for you, and there are others where it is. So you know, there's all a lot of that a lot of that is sort of world building stuff that we haven't even really gotten into on screen yet. But I think that's one of the most interesting parts, especially, if we do expand a little more into other parts of the "outie" world moving ahead, it's a deep sci-fi versus Armageddon sci-fi where I always think it's really interesting, when you're looking at how it would affect the culture in a society, which is Deep Impact, by the way. 👩🏻Duana Taha: Clearly, and don't, obviously, but yes, if you had to choose. And you confirmed something that I wasn't sure was, an actual narrative fact as opposed to a line for Mark. He's so earnest when he tells Helly about the code detectors, that I wasn't sure whether that was an immutably true fact or something that he had been told and digested, you know, but I appreciate A) that, that he pointed it out and B) that he knew what she was going to do with head cap because it took I think, is a little bit longer.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, well, he's, he's speaking from experience.👩🏻Duana Taha: Yeah. Well, okay. I love this. And, I'm excited to get further into, that part of things. But I should have said this at the beginning, but clearly, to the degree that you are able to answer questions spoilers abound, from this point forward. But one of the things that I found so interesting is that when the show begins, the name Mark. S is so generic, with all respect to the wonderful Adam Scott, but the name is so generic that you sort of glaze over it right away. The name Helly on the other hand, pretty rare. I don't know if I've ever known a Helly? Have you? And was it intentional to kind of keep that nod to her birth name? Or, like, because I know you've lived with this script for a while, so I wasn't sure if that was something that you always wanted to be the case.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Right, right. I, it's funny, I was trying to remember this recently, and I honestly don't remember exactly where the name Helly came from. I think it had, you know, sometimes I'll do like a late night, like name search Google binge thing, and just like, find something, it's like, Oh, this means blank in this language. So there's those get, and then I'll forget the next day why I picked it. So that that may have happened a little bit, but I think it did have something to do with the, it's almost shortening of the word Helly and a bit and conscious or otherwise, is the fact that the name sort of stirs up this, idea of of raising hell and, appending things. So I think, but then Yeah, it did become. It wasn't until later that we actually concede that this turn that of her being an Eagan. And so then, you know, it's sort of that was sort of a happy accident, where it's like, her name almost feels incomplete. Like we're waiting to hear the other side. The other part of it, you know, waiting to find out who she really is. So I think it all it all worked out.👩🏻Duana Taha: Yeah, it definitely has sort of the air of anticipation in a way that a Dylan or an Irv doesn't. So yeah, definitely. That hit.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Well, and Mark was also that's the only character that's based on that this named after a real person because that character is named after my dad. So, yeah.👩🏻Duana Taha: Shout out to Mark. Okay🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Shout out to Mark Erickson. Yeah. A very hardworking person who I thought deserved to have a character named after him. But I feel bad because of all the terrible things that Mark ends up being put through.👩🏻Duana Taha: Yeah, did he have a real kind of relationship with him once he saw him on screen.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: I don't know if sharing a name made them feel an immediate bond or not. But yeah, I don't know. It was it was something it was funny in the writing process being like, okay, and then this next, Mark witnesses a murder? And I'm like, Oh, sorry, dad.👩🏻Duana Taha: Here we go again. Yeah, this episode.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah.👩🏻Duana Taha: Yeah, here we are. So you mentioned this was your first writing room? If I understood you correctly, is that right?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah.👩🏻Duana Taha: What, what was the most surprising thing that you went up going 18 Browns over? You know that? Well, I guess I should back up and ask you what was essential to be a writer in the Severance room? What were you looking for? What? What was sort of the quality that that meant to you? Yeah, this is somebody who's going to play well, in this sandbox.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: It was how was it tricky. It felt like a very narrow line to hit, you know, because it is a very specific tone. But you know, we wanted people who were funny, we knew that a lot of the language of the show is told through humor. And so I think that was a really important, whether or not, they were overtly comedic scripts, we wanted people who had that sort of ride, you know, even at times absurdist humor to their voice. But at the same time, I mean, we were creating such a world from scratch that we needed, people who knew were going to be good at that. And so we looked at, you know, really, people from really cool sci-fi shows that we liked and ultimately, though, it came down to every just everybody's sample and, you know, whether it was a play or, a pilot or, you know, whatever else a feature. It just had to be sort of an initial something at a click when we were reading it and make it and make us think, yeah, that's, they could they could operate in this in this world.👩🏻Duana Taha: And then so once you've assembled your sort of team of covert, covert, hilarious, world builders, yeah, were there big debates that were sort of constants that came up over and over again, or things that are fun activities. You know, when I think about the the euphemisms around, say, a wellness check, or the break room, I feel like that's kind of a writers room activity that might have gone on for for a long time, you know, the euphemism of what is HR, what is the commissary?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: No, it was fun. I mean, there was a lot, I wouldn't say that there was any. There wasn't much fighting or discord, we were all, I think, pretty much of the same mind on most of the stuff. But there were a lot of really fun debates. We talked about, like, Miss Casey in particular that that character, who, again, spoiler alert, we had to create a character that was sort of an important character hidden in plain sight, where, you know, by the time you realize who she actually is, and her relationship to Mark, you're, you're looking back and you're like, Oh, God, how did I miss that, and you're in a character, that seemed like they could exist, it's just kind of a funny, quirky side character. And we would accept her is that enough that we don't suspect there have been the other thing. And so there was like, at one point, she was gonna be this like, weird sort of traveling vendor, like selling things between departments. And there were a lot of sort of kooky different iterations of that character. And we just had a really good time. You know, improvising, and coming up with other other ways that we can portray her. And then the other thing that comes to mind is, so when Helly puts the, let me out on our arms, we had a lot of discussion about, like, how that would work, like, and at one point, it was like, we were all writing in pen on our fingers. And we were like, would she do it this way? You know, when she sort of tried to write it across the knuckles, but then we're like, no, because then the individual letter would still, so she'd have to cut up the letters. So maybe something like this. So there's a whole bunch of photos of from that time of just us various awkward, you know, appendages with with Sharpie writing on them.👩🏻Duana Taha: I'll be trying to get at that during the clip, of course, just try to write on my arm and see if I can manage it. There is I have one question about Ms. Casey. Before we get there, although we'll have many. My impression of her the way she ended up was that the the the name Miss Casey, when everybody else is used, as a first name implies almost like a, like a Romper Room kind of character or kindergarten teacher, you know, Miss Angela, or Miss Stephanie, somebody who is benevolently able to see everybody at all times. I don't know if that was sort of the the intent when she was, a traveling vendor as well? But definitely that separation and that sort of honorific that she has gave her that extra element.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, no, I it's funny. I think she did have a different name back when she was like a traveling vendor. But yeah, she, the name Miss Casey was sort of supposed to invoke that off the bat. But then also, in hindsight, it is. It's like, almost the melding of a first name and a last name. And, you know, we have this convention where the severed characters have first names and the, the un-severed ones have last names. And the fact that her first name, or last name could also be a first name, you know, it's sort of meant to invoke this idea that she's she's of both worlds a little bit. 👩🏻Duana Taha: Well, let's get to know her a little bit. This is clip number one, please. I think that enjoy each fact equally is, is one of my very, very favorite moments of the show. And then one of my favorite rules. Do you think this one I'm attributing right here Egean? Do you think there's a reason behind it? an easily explained sort of moral reason.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, I think there is, I think it's, yeah, I think it's about how sort of all qualities are, must be kept in balance, you know, and we can't let our passion for one thing overwhelmed the other thing. I'm sure Kier could say it more eloquently than that, if you asked him but I I agree that it comes right from him.👩🏻Duana Taha: The combination of these characters, obviously is brilliant link constructed from you, but I have to assume that in the context of the show, that each severed worker is put together carefully and on purpose. For example, is it an accident that Helly is placed in macro data refinement? even though we have we have a spot open because of Petey? It seems as though you know would would Helly work as well in a different department?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Right, it's a good question. My thought had been that Helena Eagan was was planning to join. And I think specifically was planning to join Macro Data Refinement. That's not to say that that cause Petey's ousting, I see it more as something where she was sort of waiting for an opening. But I don't think I can say any more beyond that.👩🏻Duana Taha: We will steer safely away, or not too far away. It was my opinion. But this is just me watching that, when we see Helly try and failed to resign, whether or not it might be possible for somebody to resign? Certainly it doesn't seem like any of our team have ever seen that. Is that a fair thing to say?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, I mean, Dylan has that line towards the beginning where he says, you know, good luck getting it approved and Mark's like yeah, they tend to get rejected. I'm not sure if it's never worked. But I think it's it's sort of one of these things where it's like, they just assume it's like, yeah, you know, it's it's like putting a complaint in the complaint box. You'll never hear about it again. Yeah, I don't know if I'd say never. But certainly rarely.👩🏻Duana Taha: It makes it that much more exciting than the combination of people that you have in there because, for example, Mark is quite well indoctrinated, even though Petey was you know, as far as we know, trying to plot certainly make a map. Certainly, you know, trying to figure things out before he left. So it you kind of go, well, Marks earnestness must have been kind of a nice spot for people to hide behind, or was he trying to tell Mark things that Mark wasn't hearing?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, well, it is interesting, I think the line is in there where where Petey says to Mark, you know, you tried to quit, which implies two things like it implies that his resignation request didn't come through, because he is out he didn't get it. And also that, he had sort of a rebel period, that this mark, who we now see who is this kind of, you know, snarky, but overall contented company man, that there was maybe something else before that, and that maybe he had an initial reaction that was a little more akin to how Helly is reacting. And that's something that we sort of talked about is, like, with the, with the flowchart, entry, you know, an entry, welcome that Mark has to do that sort of has all these different. You know, she says this, you have to do this, and you wonder how that was created. And you know, how many people have come in here and freaked out and threatened to kill somebody, that they've got it down to the science of like, well, no, if you just walk them through this way, they'll eventually calm down. So, it's fun, because to me, it speaks at a much longer history. Like you wonder how long they've been doing this to the point where they have it down to a science like that.👩🏻Duana Taha: Well, we do wonder, Dan, we're just here trying to wear you down.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: If only somebody knew, if only somebody knew. And they could say it, but no, Alas, no one knows.👩🏻Duana Taha: But the opening that opening sequence in the conference room. It you know, brings up I don't know whether this is an unpopular opinion or not, but in a show full of dread. For my mind, the the biggest dread and the creepiest guy in the place is Milchick. And his beautiful big smile. He has to carry around all the enthusiasm and all the enforcement, is there. I suspect there's more that we don't know about him. Is that true? Or did you have fun writing him in sort of doublespeak What's the origin of Milchick there?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: I don't think that's an unpopular opinion, or it shouldn't be because I completely agree with you. And that I mean, ultimately, you know, 99% of that is owed to Tramell Tillman, who is just this utter force of nature of an actor and created this really thoughtfully created this brilliantly enigmatic character. That could be both the funniest and the scariest thing on screen. You know in the same moment, and the fact that it worked that well, I would say that is the character. I think Tramell well is the actor who transformed the character, maybe more even than any other on the show, in terms of like, that was written as a, not a not a vastly different character but but just a little bit more of a kind of boring by the numbers HR guy, and a lot of the some of the malice was there, because it was, you know, it's sort of intrinsic and everything that that Lumon does this sort of smiling malice, but as soon as Tramell was in there doing his thing, we were sort of like, Oh, that's who he is. That's, that's who Milchick is and so yeah, a lot of it just happened on screen in front of me, and I just got to sit back and watch. But he was always supposed to be sort of this, smiling double speaking face of the company. Who was the one telling you everything was okay, while also telling you with his face that everything is not okay.👩🏻Duana Taha: And that's kind of the beauty of of getting to do TV on top of everything else is that when you see somebody do something like that, and you realize, Oh, the alchemy it's all coming together here. They have they fit in that last piece of the puzzle. We'll take a little bit of a look at that in our second clip. If we can have that one, please. So that is another one of those scenes that I think could have probably gone on for for half the episode, I would have spent all that time learning facts about about each and every person. Were there any other surprises for you in terms of casting? Or where the characters kind of went? Once their performers were in bed with him?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, I mean, all of them to one extent or another? For sure. I mean, I mentioned Tramell. But but every, every actor sort of brought in something that I didn't know was there, And created something that was like, I mean, it's a really weird, unique feeling that that isn't like anything else. When when you when you sort of create half of something, and then the other person comes in and shows you what the other half of it is. And and it's not always what you expect. And in a way, that's scary, but it was so fun and rewarding, because all of these, you know, people did such great things with it. But yeah, like, you know, John Turturro brought in sort of this austere gentlemanly vibe that was in the character a little bit on the, but not, you know, maybe not quite to that extent. And, sort of turned, you know, created the mannerisms of the character. And it was just as soon as he was on screen doing it, we're like, Okay, now we know, Irving, and now as we're like writing the later episodes or rewriting stuff, it becomes easier, because it's like, now we know who Irving is. But yeah, I mean, every every single actor did that, did that in some way.👩🏻Duana Taha: Well, and you have some huge names that you might be wondering if the names kind of supersede the characters, but they really disappear within them. Patricia Arquette and Christopher Walken, and everybody really was in this type cast. What did you tell to whom? Some of your some of your actors are playing dual roles? Some of them kind of know that or we think they kind of know that and some do not? Was it to case by case or were you quite quite protective over? You know, there's some shows you here but scripts going out with under lock and key. So yeah, what was sort of your philosophy?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: It was it was sort of case by case and I let the actor sort of lead that conversation, because I wanted to help them in whatever way was best for them in sort of crafting the performance. I remember Britt, Britt Lower who plays Helly wanted to know very little. I think that she, she was sort of more of the mind of she wants to know exactly what her character knows. She wants to go on this, scary awakening and journey with Helly, without knowing too much of the context, I forget when we did actually tell her that that, spoiler alert, Helly is an Eagan. I forget when we shared that with her, but I think it was a bit into the process. She, certainly knew by the time that she was like, in episode one she records, this message back to herself, which was actually done a little later in production. But, but yeah, it was different for each actor, I think. And in some cases, we didn't fully know. I mean, we built a lot of these characters knowing that we wouldn't them on the outside this season, barely at all. And so, you know, in some cases, we had, like, a rough idea of, you know, for example, who Dylan is outside, but, but there were, there were gaps of it that we hadn't filled in ourselves yet. So we weren't able to fully have that conversation with Zach, you know, even if, if he had, had wanted to at that point.👩🏻Duana Taha: Speaking of Dylan, I always assumed that I don't know when you had sort of the the genesis of the waffle party and all that that entails kind of lined up. But, one of the things about it is that you know, you assume that under any other circumstances, a guy like Dylan is going to want to tell everybody every solitary detail, but it's so weird. He actually can't like, nobody would believe him. I don't know, if that was on. Whether that came first or whether there was a version of the waffle party that was less, less?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Less, less, less of that? Yeah, there there was. I think it may have started as a joke. And I don't I hesitate to say that, because I don't, I really liked what it ended up being but but there was at one point in the room where we were like, well, what if it was sort of this oddly sexual, perverse thing. But then the more I think we talked about it, the more that it kind of made sense, in terms of that, we're in this office where, basically, you're not allowed access to that part of yourself, that part of your psyche, and that, you know, like anything else, Lumon would Lumon would take it and sort of commodify it and use that as a way to sort of, you know, carrot to keep people going the right direction. And, you know, in a world where everything is commodified, that that would sort of be the ultimate prize. And, and so you know, it felt like sort of an appropriately terrifying exploration of what sex would look like, in a world like this. And then also the fact of course, that they are sort of playing out this this weird, bold, image from the from the paintings of Kier taming the Four tempers, and that is, it's like, well, this is the it's like, you can feel those feelings, but they have to come from the company, they have to, they have to be given to you from on high by the company. And so it all just, it was uncomfortable and weird, but it felt, it felt like what Lumon would do, but there were definitely moments that you know, talking through it in the development where we're like, okay, are we seriously doing this though? Are we seriously? That's what the waffle party is. Okay. All right, let's do it.👩🏻Duana Taha: Just somebody waiting for somebody else to say, maybe we, maybe we shouldn't? 🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: No one said it. So we're like,👩🏻Duana Taha: Nobody hated it. But it makes sense because as there are so many different ways that we see that Lumon is, there's a bigger religious parallel than anything else. To my to my eyes, at least from everything from the art to be, to the values, to the the soul bags, or Cobel's shrine. Potato potato. But the compunction statement was the one that really got me that was the one that that felt much less about, you know, that's sort of the the the real sort of crux of when work becomes more than just a workplace where it's the sorryness and the apology is that was that an evolution? Was that something you always knew you wanted to do sort of those religious overtones and the slightly weird sexual rewards as a result?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, I mean, different different ideas came at different stages, certainly, but I think that the the religious and in some ways cult-like elements, I think they sort of evolved naturally because I think there is in some case, a weird blurry line between, a corporate culture and a cult. And, and, you know, when you when you are asked to work at a place where they tell you that, you know, your family here, and they give you a list of values of how to behave, and, and in some cases, you may work at a place with this, where there's a cult of personality around the CEO and almost a hero worship around the CEO and this idea that like, well, you know, this this person, it's okay to give yourself and give your labor over to this person, because there's some, this is someone who's going to save the world, you know, and we're not just making coffee here, we're supporting this figure who's going to go on and save the world. I'm not talking about anything specific, of course, but but I had just something I had noticed for for a while that like, there are these weird, the Venn diagram of how like a cult or even a religion will ask you to behave or ask you to think and you know, the way that that that certain workplaces operate, like there is overlap over there, there is overlap there. And and then of course, you know, we did look at different you know, what, like, real scary cults, people are made to, you know, do horrific things and, and the tactics that those people used. And so again, it was kind of it was kind of the slippery slope or the wavy line between those things that I was interested in, and you know, how Lumon could sort of bring, bring all those things together in a really spooky way?👩🏻Duana Taha: Well, like all cults, they are convinced they're doing the right thing, right. Like there's, I assumed that somewhere in the high up, Lumon brass that somewhere in the Egean's they believe that what they're doing is, is helping someone.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yes,👩🏻Duana Taha: Probably? Yeah. Yeah.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: I, well, wait, I don't want to confirm anything. I shouldn't. But no, I'll say in the vaguest terms, that that that was something we talked about, and that we thought was important was just this, like, you know, nobody is really evil for the sake of evil. There are people who are greedy and selfish and don't really have morals, per se, that come out in their behavior. But, it's more interesting, I think, if this big, scary shadowy conglomerate corporate villain actually believes in something twisted, though it is like that's going to create for more, interesting conflicts and more interesting sort of philosophical debates as, as our heroes tried to figure out and then, take down what this company is trying to do. So yeah, we, in coming up with, like, what their ultimate ethos is, and their ultimate goal is, we tried to make something that sort of made a moral sense, like that made some moral sense, even if it was really skewed and scary.👩🏻Duana Taha: Right, that for somebody, if you accept X, then also Y and then they think, yeah, well, speaking of moral quandaries and complex things, we're gonna be going to questions in just a couple of minutes. So please send them in. If you have questions for Dan about the show. And, you know, see if you can get around those those laser filters and Apple darts. In the meantime, though, a couple more questions for you. There's so much lore here, since there's so much depth. I wonder whether at this point in your press tour, whether there's anything that you desperately wish somebody would ask that nobody has yet?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Oh, that's a good question. Um I mean, no one, no one has asked, no one has asked me to take offense to this, how severance might be used in like, the process of getting in shape, or getting healthy, or, dieting or exercising. And I just want to say I think that there are some maybe really scary answers potentially, to that question. So that's something that maybe, maybe moving ahead will will add to the discourse.👩🏻Duana Taha: Sure, because I can see how you know if you if you have the technology, right, that somebody Lumon might say might Want to expand into? Yeah, that's a real that's a real market there.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: It's never your workout. If you could just, you know, it's okay. I'm gonna do we're gonna do three hours in the gym now.👩🏻Duana Taha: Yeah, I don't I don't think my answer is supposed to be sign me up. But you know, I can I can see where it would where it would turn heads for sure. Yeah. But okay, that's, that's really interesting that there are. Are there other places that you're debating whether Lumon can go, obviously we saw Gabby and the childbirth sort of conundrum that happened with the with she and Mark sister so we know that is beginning to be adopted elsewhere. But are there other places that have things that maybe people could outsource?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: I think that list is endless, which I think is why ultimately more than anything, that's why this was a TV show and not a not a film or a mini series. Because like, early in the process, like I spoke to my manager, like format for this and it was ultimately the fact that there are so many applications for this technology that that that's what really made us want to keep it going. Because yeah, I think that you know, Gabby in the birthing center, you know, that's really scary, the more you scratch at it, but it just opens the door to other things. It's like almost anything that you don't like, could theoretically be severed away. And I think that that just opens the door to a really cool world. A really a really interesting world.👩🏻Duana Taha: Yeah, especially when you think about the what haven't we thought about, who are we already seeing. Because it's not like people for severed are wearing any sort of indication just yet. So you know.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: "Innie"-casion? it was,👩🏻Duana Taha: Say that last one again?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: I made a joke. I said "innie"-occasion.👩🏻Duana Taha: Oh.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: I apologize.👩🏻Duana Taha: No, not at all. I'm just realizing that my own "outie" at this moment not somewhere, you know, relaxing and, and laughing at me.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: We're both at work. So we are technically both in "innie" form right now.👩🏻Duana Taha: Yeah, it's and it's nice to know that. I guess maybe this is the entry point, right that there's another me having a wonderful glamorous life out there. It's like Instagram, but all the time. So we have a question from Adam, who asks, did you have any input in the insanely detailed driven set design and prop creation process? Or did that come from Ben Stiller's meticulous tendencies? or a third option that's not in the binary, I guess.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Right. Right. Well, thank you for the question. actor Adam Scott, you could have just called me but I appreciate it. No, yeah, it was, some of that was in the, the script, I mean, that the script was definitely describe the sort of sterile maze like hallways, and I think the script did specify, like MDR being having these really big for these really weird proportions of this big, wide space, and then the small kind of cubicle sort of island in the middle. But beyond that, like the vast majority of it was, was, you know, stuff, like just meetings that we had with with with Ben and with Jeremy Hindle. And Jessica Gagné, who was our, our DP, and, you know, many, many others who were involved with sort of creating the overall look of it. So it was a mix. I mean, I think the basics of it were there but then it got really, it got really fleshed out through the communal process.👩🏻Duana Taha: I'm assuming that you were on set most of the time if not all the time. So how much of your life would you say that you spent watching people walk through hallways.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: All of it, for a while. I mean, that was all I was doing because it was in the pandemic so it was that and then I would I would go home and I but most of the yeah most of the space around us, the funny thing is we had the the set that had this, weird endless tiers of white hallways. And then in the soundstage. Beyond that were even more endless white hallways that like didn't look too dissimilar from from the set. So there was this really weird, you know. And then yeah, I would be sitting watching the monitors. So it's like there's the world of the show. And then it's really happening out here. It got very confusing after time, for a while, what was real and what was not.👩🏻Duana Taha: Yeah, I just I started thinking about, you know, if people were called just for walking days, you know that you could, you could see your actors just suiting up for four or five hours at a time of just hallways, happy hallways, curious hallways, alarmed hallways?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Every kind.👩🏻Duana Taha: Every kind and more to come. Here is, there's a great question from Sarah, who writes: Some of the "innie" vernacular is just a little bit off, for example, eager lemur, or Dewey mouth are both quite understandable, but a bit jarring. How did you come up with that linguistic vibe?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, we sort of wanted to give a sense that there was, it's like an insular world, it's like, this is a town where the past was blocked off, you know, back in the 30s. And so these people sort of, created their own vernacular and their own language a little bit. You know, it is it is just such a cut off world that we wanted to make it feel like it had its own culture a little bit. But that also might have just been a justification for me to like, write goofy stuff that I thought was funny. In the moment, I didn't know that was sort of the language and the logic kind of informed each other mutually in that in that case.👩🏻Duana Taha: There's obviously we know that the the "innies" have no access to tech, or the any sort of online world or anything like that. But it seems as though even outside the, you know, the cars seem a little bit older, that the, the houses are not super decked out. So is that just in the the world of Kier? The town? Or does it extend further? Like, is this sort of Lumon world philosophy?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Right. Um, it's a, it's a really interesting question that I don't have a total firm answer to because, yeah, to some extent, it is just a slightly stylized world. But in another way, I mean, one thing we talked a lot about was giving the sense that, even when you're not in the company, like even when you're not down in the basement, you're still in Lumon, in a way, let like that, you know, you're not in the belly of the beast, but you still might be within its grasp, you know, if you're out in the town, and that, in a way, in a way that's maybe more in than we realize the town, the town really is an extension of the company, and in some ways, so, once we had established that, the inside had this aesthetic of being a little bit out of space and time, and sort of a little bit intentionally disorienting and space and time where you couldn't, they don't know where and where they are, or exactly when they are. But but that some of that sort of bled into the outside so that, like, we never specify the exact year in the show, we never specify the exact state. And so there's, we wanted to maintain some of that. Now, if we were to go to New York City in this world, Would it? be similarly sort of quirky and strange? I honestly don't know yet. We don't. I don't have a I don't have an answer. But I think it's a really, it's a interesting question in regard to the world building.👩🏻Duana Taha: Well, and one more that, largely for me is there's very specific language all the time around, some people live in the town of Kier. And it's specified more than once some people do. Is that true? Are there people who live outside of the town who who make it to to Lumon?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Like, like people who work at Lumon but don't live in in the city of Kier proper? I think so.👩🏻Duana Taha: Okay.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: In theory, yeah. Most of them probably live in Kier but you could have someone from like the wider county area.👩🏻Duana Taha: That would pass the screening process if they if they weren't, you know, too immersed in a in the outside world.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Good question. It's a good question.👩🏻Duana Taha: I mean, a little bit to put you on the spot, but mostly not. We have a question from Jeff wants to know who are your favorite short story and novel writers and have any of them fed into your conception or style of Severance?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Hmm, that's a really good question. And I always freeze up the moment anybody asks me something like that. And then later I'm like, Oh, I should have said this person. I mean, Vonnegut is an easy choice, and certainly was inspirational, you know, somebody that I read when I was, in my early 20s, and got obsessed with and informed a lot of my language and style and tone. I like to think, and then, like, George Saunders is someone I really like. Yeah, I mean, those would be the first that come to mind. And then I mean, there's, you know, you know, people everyone knows, it's, you know, Kafka and people like that, who definitely made their way into the tone.👩🏻Duana Taha: And I would assume too that, the same goes for people who ask about TV influences. Everybody knows when you're working, you have no time to watch anything. But in between, brief hiatuses, or, or whatnot, what have you, what have you enjoyed?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Oh, man.👩🏻Duana Taha: Whether similar or far away.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Recent stuff?👩🏻Duana Taha: Like real show. Yeah. Like when you were talking, for example, about the hero worship of a CEO. I thought, Oh, well, you've also seen the "Drop out" then. But, you know, what have you been enjoying in terms of? Yeah, just other stuff that sort of in the same in the same yearly demo as Severance that's been in the kind of the same zeitgeist.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: I did. I love the "Drop out." I thought it was great. It's, it's so it's interesting to be making the show at a time when there are a couple of those like, true life, you know, fraudulent CEO, miniseries happening. I mean, there's, you know, there's that there's, "WeCrashed", there's others, but I think that I also really, I love all those shows, and I also absolutely am obsessed with "Succession" I think is terrific. And I think like at our, you know, at our highest aspiration, we would be sort of another side of the coin of because I think people are really interested right now, in, in those, big huge capitalists doing terrible things, stories. And I think that that's because there's a lot of people questioning, like, Oh my god, is this system really benefiting any of us? Is this, you know, is this something where corruption is just able to run rampant and why I think that shows like that are looking at that. And sort of, but you know, we're seeing sort of the CEO side of it, you know, where something like "Severance," obviously, it's different tonally and genre wise. But, you know, it is a story that I think, looks at some of those same themes, but you know, we're with the workers on this one. And we're, you know, we're down and the focus is basically the effects that this system has have having on these people who are trying to live their lives. So I think it's really exciting to be it's a really exciting time to be making TV and especially making TV about work and about, you know, the system that employs us, because I think that that's something a lot of people are talking about right now. I also love "YellowJackets." I thought "YellowJackets" was terrific. I thought it was really scary.👩🏻Duana Taha: It was scary and delicious. And Bart and Ashley, the creators were here with us doing a talk a few months ago, and yeah, they're amazing.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah. I'm fanboying over that, because that that was a that was a really cool show.👩🏻Duana Taha: Yeah, the delicious also, but, yeah, to your earlier point. I am not the creator of this term. But I really enjoyed the somebody said we're really in the middle of a "scam-demic" television, you know, starting with "Fire fest", so yeah, they're right.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: "Fire fest" kind of kick it off. Yeah.👩🏻Duana Taha: Then it was like, well, like we need more we just want we just want to cringe more.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah.👩🏻Duana Taha: We have a question from Spanic, I hope I'm pronouncing your name correctly. Who writes: Was it your original intention to write episode nine as a breaking away from the traditional ABC screenplay structure of the first eight episodes?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: That's a that's a really good question. Kind of, but not really. I'm not not consciously like. We weren't like, you know, screw you "Seinfeld", we're gonna we're gonna go our own way on this last one. But it was more like we wanted to do something where we could have done all the structural work of sort of setting up every single Domino and then just let it tip. And we wanted the last episode to feel extremely visceral and fast. And like, you know, we were experiencing it in the same crazy confused state as the "innies" were. So I think that that sort of naturally led to something that that didn't feel as sort of rigorously or carefully structured as the previous episodes. So yeah, again, it wasn't that it wasn't totally conscious. But I think that I think that we got there because we wanted this to feel like just a absolute visceral kind of panic show.👩🏻Duana Taha: Speaking up, we talked about kind of the zeitgeist of work shows that you're in, but also, in the zeitgeist of it used to be that shows like this had eight episodes, maybe six, maybe 10. Now we're in this odd numbered sequence was that? Did it? Did it keep you up at night to go? Yeah, we're gonna end on episode nine.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, just the OCD. You're like, Oh, yeah, come on. Yeah, no, we were. And I've said this before, I'm pretty sure I can say this, we were originally going to do 10 episodes. And part of that was, you know, over the course of the pandemic, like we had to sort of tighten some things in order, for budgetary or production reasons. But we also just, I think we reached a point where it felt like the right number, let like it just sort of, in order to tell everything we wanted to tell at the pace, we wanted to tell it, you know, we got to this point, it was like this, this just feels right. So you know, we could have, we could have pushed to keep it at 10. But I think that we we sort of had this instinct that it was, this was this was the place to get out.👩🏻Duana Taha: I think it was a good call the cry of outrage when you realize it's the last one and where it stops is, is sort of heard throughout. So I think well done. We've got five minutes time for just a couple of questions. And Megan wants to know, what was the development process for the show? Who was the first person to say yes.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Um, wow. Well, the first person to say yes, was my manager, Ben Blake, who was extremely supportive again, I was driving for Postmates when he took me on. And and he saw something special in this in this show, and really, really helped me sort of get things moving. This publication called the "Bloodlist" said yes, they were they were, you know, they're a genre specific take on on something like the blacklist where they, they take on produce scripts that people are into, but no one's made. And they sort of elevate them, which is, you know, they've been doing for years is great. And then yet, Jackie Cohen, who's a producer at Red hour was the first person to actually like, read the script and be like, I think we can make this like, I think we could make this and then she brought it to Ben. And then, you know, once once Ben said, yes, then a lot of other people said, yes. But yeah, Ben, I mean, the really exciting thing was in meeting with Ben, how, immediately, like thoughtful, he was about it. And you know, sort of the opposite of this celebrity who comes in and sort of slaps their name on something. It was like, right away, he was like, Okay, we need to, you know, if we're going to do this, we need to get into this and this, and we need to figure all this stuff out. And I was very happy to do so I was like, Yeah, let's hit the ground running. But yeah, it was it was it was a long time. I mean, it took it took from when our first version the pilot to where it got it was like almost 10 years.👩🏻Duana Taha: And, you know, the that's that's the reality of the quote unquote, overnight success, right? It takes a little bit sometimes. Yeah, exactly.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: "Many hungry nights."👩🏻Duana Taha: I think, as a as I guess, a final question there. So over 10 years, there's going to be so many permutations and notes and versions and things of that nature. And now you're in the position of not only did you make it, not only is it a complete critical success, but you get to make more. Is there one element, you mentioned a little hint of one, is there one thing that you sort of had to leave by the wayside for space or time or availability that you're excited to get back to in season two or subsequent seasons.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: Yeah, sure, there are a lot. And I don't think I can say anything about any of them. But, yeah, there's there's definitely plenty of, you know, Ben is a very, he wanted us to make sure that we were giving the show room to breathe and giving the characters room to feel organic, and that we weren't rushing from one thriller beat to another. So, you know, there's plenty of story, that we had talked about first for season one that that may well end up in season two. Because, you know, but ultimately, the most exciting thing is just what, what's going to happen to these characters that we've come to love and really care about?👩🏻Duana Taha: And are they going to be able to find the goats again?🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: I mean, I, It's "chekhov's goat", you know, you can't put a goat on screen and then do nothing with it. But who knows? 👩🏻Duana Taha: There's no greater promise than that. Dan Erickson. Thank you so so much for being with us. Here at "VIFF creator talks." This is absolutely fantastic. Thank you.🧔🏻‍♂️Dan Erickson: It's been so much fun. Thank you so much for having me and everybody. This has been great.

上海疫情，在单位封闭了半个月，回家又关了一个月。

坐牢的滋味，每个人都真切地享受了一遍。

五点起床一样抢不到菜，看新闻又可能被气出问题。

人在家中坐牢，工作却一点不能拉下，元宇宙的乐趣尚未到来，饿肚子的危机已经满溢。

还是看喜剧演员转行导演的悲剧吧。

这部切割术一开始设定绝妙，但高开低走，节奏拖沓，9集最后为了保证下季下的hook几乎是在欺负观众了。

首先注意到的，是卢蒙公司的科贝尔的制服，接待处，公司建筑风格，基尔的侧面浅浮雕风格，有东欧和前苏联的美学影子，但说它是斯大林风格是不准确的，苹果风格的苹果剧，乔布斯孜孜以求的方尖碑式庄严洁净，在剧里面贯彻了大致一小半。

老大哥化身蓝绿晶体管，不仅满足于在从外部观看你，还深入脑体，将你人格解离。

但看完9集，也不知道卢蒙公司的目的是什么，看这个剧情走向，大致是要滑向买办政治的阴谋论，所谓“基尔的孩子”，也无非重复了技术进步被集权洗脑术利用的政治学老路。

被关在break room里接上测谎仪，这件事无需太高超的手段，乌姆里奇对哈利波特做过，白色恐怖对小四的父亲也做过，一间炎热的房间和一支笔，一堆写不尽自己罪状的白纸就够。

格列佛游记中，某国思想警察的工作是检查人们的大便，以此来确保没有不适宜的思想被生产（排泄）出来，世界在进化，如今保安大叔不需要翻大便，从源头开始做切颅术即可。

果然先进，洁净了很多。

马克思的话不好多说，不说也罢。

另一方面，主角Mark·S之所以愿意来卢蒙接受这份工作，全是因为情感受创，爱妻车祸惨死以后就陷入了危机。

这和受到创伤而将自己原本人格压抑，解离的心理症候——人格分裂症是一致的。

假定悲惨的事情不发生在自己身上，而分裂出一个承受痛苦，压力，和精神压力的人去承受。

正如戴文在分娩中心遇到的孕妇，将部分的自己分裂出去承受孕产的痛苦，剩下的自己即可安享轻松惬意的生活，不过是代孕故事的另一个转喻版本。

新人格，baby人格，从出生就受到母亲（科贝尔）的严厉教导，训诫，但随着新人格的成长，也必然会遇到代际冲突，对权威的不信任和挑战，小分队的密谋，反抗，研习的都是这条道路。

人格既然能一分为二，自然也可以一分为四，四分为八，乃至无穷尽，夸张如污鬼大群，有上千人格齐聚一身的情境，无法统合的自我和分裂成碎片的记忆，每一个，都受人操弄，被人控制。

谋求统合，在个人，在时间流中是自我认识的路，在社会，是不同阶级群体寻找共识的路。

但时间行至21世纪，没有佛洛依德也没有马克思，只有“基尔的孩子们”，分裂的污鬼。

WLB,（work life balance,工作生活的平衡）想必是许多打工人的理想。

苹果TV+播出的职场惊悚剧《人生切割术》倒是精确完美地做到了这一点，可毕竟惊悚剧，又会多美好呢？

第一季共9集，前两集进入稍微需要点耐心。

第一集扑面而来的苹果美学，科技感、极简主义、清冷的画面，这种冷淡的开场及叙事，的确稍显无聊。

但，平静之下，必有暗涌，一切当然不会如看起来这般协调。

《人生切割术》中，要进大厂卢蒙公司就职，需要自愿实施一项分离手术，做完这个手术，记忆便会受到空间限制。

在公司大楼里不会有外面的记忆，出了大楼，不会记得与工作有关的一切事宜，哪怕最亲密的同事也互不相识。

男主马克因为受不了丧妻之痛，主动选择了分离手术。

他时常哭着开车到公司，一搭上到部门的电梯，便化身战斗力爆表的干活机器。

其他接受手术的人也如此，在公司的员工个个看起来精神抖擞、容光焕发。

但是很快，暗涌来袭。

首先，马克的老领导，他工作人格（马克A）的死党佩蒂突然离职，马克A被提拔为宏观数据精检部新主管。

但是现实中的佩蒂找到了马克B，原本作为分离技术坚定的拥护者的马克B，逐渐开始动摇。

（后文人物工作人格均用A表示）其次，新员工赫莉的到来打破了部门的平静，赫莉A三番五次尝试离职均以失败告终，最终，她选择自杀。

这些暴力行为也多少刺激到部门其他同事。

最后，部门还有两位成员，爱上光学设计部主管沃肯A的老员工欧文A，以及在家被唤起工作模式见到儿子的迪伦A。

如果说工作模式是没有感情的干活机器，那么在最终决定反抗前的阶段，宏观数据精检部的同事们的情感意识被激活了，这个号称永不可逆的分离手术，还是没有战胜人性。

最后一集，四人组计划让工作人格走出大厦寻求帮助，至于他们成功与否，就要等下一季才能揭晓了。

我预测不会成功，下一季还会有更大的骗局给主角几人。

他们依然需要重新认识，再次实施揭秘计划。

赫莉给我留下很深刻的印象，作为家族接班人，她原本是要以身试教，昭告天下分离手术是多么好。

结果当她的工作人格第一次醒来，整个人对眼前的一切都是怀疑和抗拒的态度。

为了成功离职，她甚至以死相逼赫莉B，真的太勇了。

也许这就是人之所以为人的原因，即便做了分离手术，仍然具有强烈的自我意识，我愿意，我不愿意，我喜欢，我不喜欢，一切都由我决定。

而至于那个把我送进地狱的自以为是的我，F**k me!

1: 概念挺常见的 类似paycheck那种出于工作内容保密而清除工作者记忆 不过severance更可持续发展而且员工导向性 说是为了员工生活工作互不影响（虽然只是个旗号）主要这个梦核场景设计是真的亮点啊。。。

第一集要素齐全解释概念和双面人生 各类主要角色交织命运的齿轮开始转动 片尾邻居埋线女老板也是神来一笔2/3:场景转换剪辑太牛4:女主外人格奴役内人格那段真的很黑镜绝望了 片尾各怀鬼胎也很绝。。

虽然主角只有一个但所有人都是真相巨大的编制网络！？

7:这集信息量又大点 爱看老头为爱革命。。

老婆是心理医生那里之前蜡烛有猜到 而且男主在她面前捏了树也像是一种分离体同源的潜意识？？？？

有一种类似不同记忆的同一个会不会有同一种灵魂9:各种意义上的神 在见过真相之后真正发自内心说出休息室宣言了。。

看完只想起立鼓掌另外：一旦开始探讨不同记忆的同一个体会不会有同一种灵魂就很有意思了 正好前几天又想了一下不同个体继承记忆的灵魂走向 们对于仿生人复制体的解读一般说是 就算记忆看似相同 但因为缺乏那样的体验 记忆对他们来说就像看别人的电影而无法联想称成为自己经历过的事 所以自带分离割裂感 就算是以继承某个人身份而生存的目的存在也可能生长出另一种灵魂 而severance这种探讨刚好反着来 就像是在说就算把一个人的历史无论抹去多少次 只要这个思想还在这个躯体里 他们的灵魂终究会完整回到他们本该存在的地方、、

记得我小时候曾经想过，如果能克隆出另一个自己，让ta去做那些我不得不做的事情（比如写作业），我只负责吃喝玩乐，那可太爽了。

后来我意识到，如果ta也只想吃喝玩乐呢？

克隆人总会不可避免地沦为创造者的附属物，但他们作为和我们一样有自我意识的个体理应享受独立和自由。

如果我们曾经为了避免克隆人被工具化而禁止这项技术，那么出于相同的考虑，severance技术也应该被禁止。

MDR部门的“造反”本质上就是克隆人自我意识的觉醒与反抗。

虽然innie和outie共享同一个身体，分享一天的二十四小时，但innie作为被outie创造出来的附属人格，从一出生就被丢进封闭的公司环境开始ta永无止境的工作。

innie们被公司严格管控和驯化，即使有女主这样天赋异禀一开始就觉醒的innie也难逃outie的控制压榨。

这么说有点洗白卢蒙的嫌疑，主人格outie出于种种原因的决定的确是悲剧的开端，但悲剧的延续及恶化确实卢蒙一手造成的。

Helly R的innie属于倒霉的那类，她的主人格outie是自私冷酷的，是见死不救的，但大部分的outie酿成悲剧是出于无知。

由于逃避和对severance技术的一知半解，他们选择开始；由于沟通和信息被阻断的无知，他们选择继续。

就好像一些家长送网瘾孩子去做所谓的封闭治疗，也许一开始是出于好心，但过程中学校告知他们一切顺利，他们就真的接受了这种说法。

所以要追究悲剧的根源，还得是那些既得利益者，卢蒙资本家和支持severance的议员。

剧里还将severance的应用从分离工作与生活推广到了分离一切痛苦的经历。

议员妻子利用severance分离怀孕分娩的痛苦，副人格被奴役来承受痛苦，主人格则坐享其成，这不正是我们小时候所幻想的超能力吗？

在主人格的立场，这项技术的应用甚至百利而无一害，所有人都可以成为获益者，除了被创造出的副人格，那些被工具化的“克隆人”。

我们可以冠冕堂皇地说，出于人道主义的考虑，任何独立的人格都不该沦为工具，所以severance应该被禁止。

但我更愿意相信，我们呼吁禁止severance是为了我们自己的利益。

一旦severance被滥用，人人都可以选择成为可控的人格分裂者，但是整个人类社会失控的混乱是我们无法想象和承受的。

这样看来，MDR的“造反”某种程度上是人类社会的一种自我调节，在更严重的后果产生之前的一次警钟，打破我们对severance技术的美好幻想。

不强求人人都站在innie的立场换位思考，但如果你也幻想过拥有severance超能力，请幻想一下人人都拥有severance超能力的世界，并不是想象中那么美好。

（今天是517，顺便说一句。

我们呼吁不恐同是因为每个人都可能在某个方面成为少数群体，禁止severance也是因为每个人都可能成为那个被奴役的人格，自私是人的天性，那么从天性出发的动机才是最纯粹可靠的。

）

在苹果2022年的新剧人生切割术（又译遣散费、离职）中，任职于科技大公司的主角们（通过手术）做到了现代职场人梦寐以求的目标—工作与生活的完全分离，但是在这一人为制造的完美解决方案下，工作与生活、已知和未知、秩序和混乱却不可避免的相互渗透，达到了极其惊悚的戏剧效果。

一、被细分的工作 人生切割术的故事建立在这一概念上—大公司Lumen公司通过一种叫Severance脑部手术，将自愿完成手术的员工的工作记忆和生活记忆完全分开，同时通过各种手段严格禁止任何工作人格与生活人格的相互交流，从而达到保密/或者其他什么未知目的。

主角工作的部门被称为宏观数据分拣部，共有四人，他们每天的工作是将电脑屏幕上满屏的数据中让他们有不同感受的数字（比如恐惧、喜悦等）分类到不同的文件夹中。

这项工作听起来让人一头雾水，完全没有任何意义。

目前出现的还有光学和设计部，他们布置办公区域出现装饰画（貌似还有一些其他任务），除此之外还有一个养育羊幼崽的未知部门。

实际上，宏观数据分拣部的四人和观众一样摸不着头脑，他们也不清楚公司实际是做什么的，或者自己的工作在其中扮演什么样的角色，他们甚至还有各种各样的理论和猜想。

自工业化流水线生产诞生以来，为了达到更大的效率，一项目标就被人为的分解成了若干不同的工作。

随着科技的发展，每一项工作都变得越来越精细、专业，完成不同工作的员工形成了一个日渐复杂庞大的体系，每一个身处其中的人都是这个复杂体系中一个小小的螺丝钉。

在分工足够精细、体系足够复杂的情况下（如同本剧一样），人完全沦为了完成这个体系目的工具，却不了解体系的目的是什么，也就无法把自己的日常工作与体系的目的联系在一起。

同时，在Lumen公司内部，各个部门直接的交流也是被严格控制的。

各部门通过狭长、复杂、迷宫般的白色走廊相互连接。

部门和部门之间因为来源未知的流言相互警觉，公司的管理层甚至主动散播一个部门屠杀其他部门的谣言来中断跨部门的交流。

如果说通过人与人之间的交流和合作，达到一个短期目标能使人获得一种价值感的话，Lumen将各部门分割开的做法也切断了这一条道路。

而公司的高层—董事会，向来以沉默的音箱的形式出现在作出决策的会议上，通过耳机向代言人发出指令从而间接的发出自己的声音。

以上种种不禁让人联想到了国内互联网大厂的花名传统，不使用真名，也就断绝了除了工作之外连接的可能性。

二、被神圣化的工作和创始人们 那么人如何在这样失去价值和意义的工作中留下来呢？

当新来的员工霍利千方百计想要辞职未成之后，老员工欧文这样建议主角马克“带她去大厅吧。

” 大厅是一个博物馆式的展厅，充斥着有关创始人和历任CEO的历史、鼓舞人心的故事和被Lumen公司帮助的人的笑脸。

作为老员工，欧文（这一点和管理本部门的女高管一样）不光对创始人的语录倒背如流，还会在日常工作中像引用圣经似的引用语录的内容。

而女高管哈蒙尼女士，在公司专业、冷静、杀伐决断（pua员工），但是回家却化身忠实的信徒，家里创始人照片和蜡烛的摆放如同祭坛，跪坐在“祭坛”前姿势如同祈祷。

创始人、历任CEO的蜡像和音箱里沉默的董事们或许有异曲同工之妙，无论是沉默还是逝去之人都可以尽我想象、尽我解读。

员工手册也有新版和旧版，哪一版才更能表现创始人的原意呢？

虽然员工手册禁止员工之间发展浪漫关系，但是创始人夫妇不正是在工作中相识相爱的么？

而公司帮助到的人的微笑照片墙（没有脸、只有嘴）也能给员工提供一种帮助了其他人的模糊的意义感。

这一切为工作建立起宗教般的意义，创始人具有了如同创世神般崇高的地位。

三、惩罚与规训***（待填坑）四、奴役与自我奴役 但是这一切对初来乍到的新员工霍利都无济于事，她一到公司（在会议室如同初生婴儿般醒来后）就表现出强烈的抗拒，甚至把主角马克的额头都砸烂了。

她首先通过“合规”方式向自己的生活人格要求辞职，被迅速拒绝后又通过各种不合规的方式想要传递信息给生活人格，强烈要求辞职。

在多次被阻止后威胁切掉自己的手指要求与自己的生活人格对话。

这时候，全剧目前最令人毛骨悚然的一幕出现了，她的生活人格看了工作人格提前录制的视频后，在回复的视频里毫不犹豫的拒绝了她工作人格的要求，还对她说：“你不是人，我才是人。

”，并威胁她如果伤害她的身体，自己将会让她的生不如死。

有一种看法认为，现代社会的剥削从外部（资本、他人）转向了内部（自我），从被奴役变为了自我奴役。

这几年流行的内卷就是在描述这种现象。

而在本剧的前提下，当生活与工作完全分离之后，生活人格毫无负担地把工作人格完全当成了实现自己目的的工具。

“你不是人，我才是人。

”正是一句自我奴役的宣言。

霍利的工作人格和生活人格迅速的开战，工作人格以在人格切换的电梯中自杀为武器报复生活人格，但是却以被生活人格再次送回Lumen公司告终。

但是她的反抗（和前任部门负责人的“失踪”）却似乎在主角马克的工作人格内心种下了觉醒的萌芽。

五、无法维持的秩序 作为工作和生活都在剧中被展现的角色，马克尽管因为难以处理丧妻之痛决定实施分离术，但是他的生活却难以避免的被工作入侵，比如前任上司兼好友出现在他的生活中；而他的工作也难以避免的被生活入侵，比如姐夫的新书因为种种原因出现在了办公室（还产生了难以预料的蝴蝶效应），生活与工作的界限日益摇摇欲坠。

而他也表现出了（像我们所有普通人一样的）冷漠、摇摆、困惑和维持现状的惯性。

在Lumen公司内一切都井井有条，充满秩序，连接受心理治疗的员工也被要求对听到的每一个事实不能表现出特殊的偏好。

公司的内部装饰装修，无论是色彩搭配还是摆放布置，都体现出一种强迫症似的美学（不愧是苹果拍出的电视剧）。

但是正如片头和欧文的白日梦中所展现的那样，混浊的黑色液体不断侵入办公室和主角的生活，提醒大家这种人为制造的秩序只是一种幻觉，或许混乱和无序会最终吞噬我们所有人的生活，制造秩序抵抗这种无序终将是一种徒劳。

PS.懒得填坑但是想到几个有趣的点想写下来1.语言无法摆脱它的语境独立存在：主角姐夫的书让主角的生活人格不屑，认为它只是陈词滥调，但是本书却对主角的工作人格是具有启发性的；霍利在房间里重复的那段话在房间里对她是残酷的精神折磨，但是在卫生间里却是对其他人真诚的歉意；咨询师对员工要求平等的享受每条事实是一种规训，但是主角表达平等的爱关于妻子每条事实却是一种表白。

2.精神分析的来看，自我压迫是否可以看作是一种自我毁灭的倾向呢？

主角团四人全员自主选择了接受分割术，也可以看做是一种自毁么？

马克因为失去妻子选择分割，也许是他想要毁灭无法走出妻子死亡痛苦的自己？

霍利选择分割术，表面是想为分割术正名，但是实际是否是因为作为一个祖先被神圣化的普通人（并且被期待达到祖先们的标准），她无法达到这一标准的痛苦转化成了一种指向自我的攻击？

剧名人生切割术，可是人生真的是可以切割的吗？

剧中给出的方案是将记忆分割，可见记忆与人格是强绑定的。

你的人格来自于你的过往经历与记忆，记忆没有了那部分人格也就死亡了。

所以对于工作的人格，生活的人格不存在，反之亦然。

虽然不知道怎么只留下工作相关的记忆还能保持人格的健全和正常。

从第一集的测试题目来看赫莉只能记起美国的州名这种绝对客观的知识，但是所有有关个人的记忆与经验全部丧失，有的只是绝对理性的部分，那这个人恐怕会比谢耳朵更像机器人吧，用绝对的理性来对待工作本身。

这部剧最让人毛骨悚然的是对于工作人格来说，生命是007无休止的工作，没有休闲。

即使身体经过了睡眠和8小时之外生活的修养但是精神没有得到丝毫滋养。

想象不到这是怎样的无间地狱。

而人类真的可以对自己做这样的事情吗，仅仅因为“我感觉不到”这一点。

假如被奴役的人是自己是否就没有了可指摘的地方，这么说的话，自杀在某些国家也不应该被批判为道德瑕疵了。

记得爱死机还是黑镜里面，有一集探讨的就是这个问题。

女主把自己的人格备份一份做成了AI成为自己的管家，类似于小爱或者Siri。

因为只有自己最了解自己也最能够全面的照顾好自己。

但是这个被装到AI里面的人格却十分痛苦，因为她就是一个7*24小时不休止伺候主人的工具人。

人格与时间线一样，分开的那一瞬间就变成了两条不相交的平行线，另一方的喜怒哀乐哪怕死亡都与己无关了。

就如同最后一集伯特的“退休”，其实就是工作人格的死亡。

这部剧目前我不太理解的是这个“公司”的设定，为什么要用如此非人性化的方式来管理这些可以说007吃住永远在公司的员工。

（对于工作人格来说，公司就是他永远的家，他的家人只有同事和上司）这是非常不明智的。

从管理学的角度来看，为了让员工有更好的产出也应该让他们有更舒适和更愉快的工作体验——“以厂为家”，才是更聪明的办法吧？

当然这种归属和认同感不是通过剧中这种神化创始人的方式缔造的，虽然这里包含着巨大的对现实的讽刺。

确实非常多的企业还没做大做强，已经开始急着神化创始人了，比如前段时间文峰集团那件事，简直贻笑大方。

可是现实中我们确实会不经意的把成功人士捧上神坛，虽然细究起来其实很多人只是刚好碰在了风口上，成了一只会飞的猪。

最后我觉得这种制度最细思极恐的是，在公司里，封闭的地下环境，不见日月，你会失去时间感。

当没有参照物的时候，你相信的只有墙上的时钟。

那么你怎么敢保证公司只奴役了你8小时，理论上只要他想，它可以奴役你24小时，直到你的肉体拉响警报。

事实上，佩蒂的台词里有暗示或许公司已经在这么做了。

你的权利保障只在于外界还有没有关心你的亲友——比如发现你很久没有出现，可以怀疑是否一直在“加班”。

假如你的社会链接断掉，那么公司可以无所顾忌的奴役你，而你一无所知。

这也许是一个关于当今社会人类原子化的警告，就像老人院无人问津的孤寡老人可以任由护工虐待，你永远需要你的社会关系作为你的一根保险绳。

还有，记住，永远不要愚弄自己的大脑和意识，这是你之所以为你能保留的最后一样东西。

“特别是要设定框架，不要让纯正的批判力量获得有力的成长，就是要培育顺服的心理与习惯”。

为什么作为“打工人”、作为年轻人，强烈推荐观看品味此剧呢？

在这个剧里我看到了《美丽新世界》、《1984》的精神，我看到了《西部世界》、《鱿鱼游戏》的影子。

不仅在于它的烧脑程度、它的画面场景布置、它的剧情起承转合；更在于它所体现的深度、诱发的思考，是丰沛而充足的，是荡气回肠的。

布雷夫曼（Harry Braverman）说，“资本主义生产模式的分工有一个最为关键的阶段，就是手与脑、劳力与劳心分了家。

”这可以说是对资本主义生产分工的经典论调了。

工业革命后工业与农业被分割开，西欧国家从农业国脱胎为工业国（后来在20世纪初期苏联也做了更刚烈的实践）；第二次工业革命后生产资料的生产和使用被分割开，“打工人”开始被分成“蓝领”与“白领”（后者开始滋生了莫名其妙的优越感）；科技革命后社会分工彻底被切割细碎，诞生了“螺丝钉”的概念，直到现在，写代码的程序员是螺丝钉，编文案的新媒体运营是螺丝钉，跑客户的房地产中介也是螺丝钉。

本剧中的卢蒙公司严禁部门间互相串通交流，完全杜绝“跨部门协作”，每个人都在封闭的格子间做自己的一份工，成为一颗颗不能、也不愿思考的冰冷的螺丝钉。

相信对社会科学感兴趣的人们已经对马克思主义的“异化”理论熟稔于心了，“文化工业”是如何收编工人的反抗思想的、“大众文化”是如何将工人团体打散成“乌合之众”的，我们在做文化研究的时候也饱经哈贝马斯、阿尔都塞、斯图尔特霍尔、齐泽克等人的“教育”。

那么回到本剧，“卢蒙工业”这个“大魔头”是如何吸引主角们心甘情愿的应聘入职，又数十年如一日的忠诚打工呢？

“走火入魔”似的“宣传洗脑”很重要。

每个新员工都要学习企业文化，而老员工则以创始人“基尔”的精神纲领与企业愿景为荣。

正如拉扎斯菲尔德与默顿所言：“特别是要设定框架，不要让纯正的批判力量获得有力的成长，就是要培育顺服的心理与习惯”。

枯燥的工作（精检数据）、自由的灵魂（离职被拒）、好奇的心理（上级来访）等多重因素的作用下，男主作为小组长，带领整个部门发起对公司的反抗。

劳资冲突淋漓尽致的在剧中体现，公司的手段无非是监视与控制，规训与惩罚，而主角们的招数则层出不穷，上演一出“猫抓老鼠”的大戏。

值得一提的是，在高压的环境下，在“动辄得咎”的制度下，主角们仍以顽强的精神进行着“聪明的罢工”。

伊恩纳吉写道，“聪明的罢工瞄准公司的声誉，精心设计罢工细节，既损害公司品牌形象而又不破坏生产目标。

考虑到大众对大企业都普遍抱有怀疑的态度，打击公司的声誉和股价可能会更加有效”。

这一论断也是现在欧美刻画劳资关系的“爽剧”的主要套路。

抹黑、打倒大公司仿佛成了“政治正确”（近期还有一部剧叫《suspicion》，改编自电影《假旗行动》，讲的也是如何揭发大公司的罪恶），结局通常是小人物获胜，人文关怀和“自由主义”的价值焕发容光。

剧中一次经典的对抗行动，依托自一场“狂欢”。

主角的一名同事终于忍不住爆发愤怒，肢体袭击了高层领导，打响了罢工的“第一枪”（苹果官方在介绍剧集背景的时候用了“the Lexington letter”的比喻，真是恰当）。

巴赫金指出，“在狂欢期间，阶层等级的废除具有特别的意义。

生命仅仅只受自己的法律支配，即自己的自由的法律。

它有一个普遍的精神，它是整个世界中的特殊情况，也是世界的复兴与重建的特殊情况，所有人都参与其中。

这就是狂欢的本质，所有的参与者生动地感受着”。

（第一季完）亲历着互联网大厂裁员潮的今春，来自工作的压迫感和负面情绪无孔不入地浸入生活，甚至一直不敢把这部剧追更下去。

但无论怎样，生活总要继续，现实需要直面。

五一假期最后一天，终于一口气追完，在仍令人心里打鼓的紧张背景音中，看到MDR四人从分裂怀疑走向团结一致，看到Your Identity携文字之力量如地下世界的神谕一般开启民智，看到最后一集Innie将在外面的世界掀起一阵飓风。

Credit to Your Identity除开Lumon公司对Innie的系统性暴政之外，后半季也集中讨论了Outie对Innie的暴政，Outie作为主人格是否有权压迫附属人格Innie，褫夺其人格性、视其为真正的“工具”人，将工作之苦、分娩之痛尽数压之其身。

是什么，在定义着人之为人。

这种充满伦理风险的记忆分离手术如同《美丽新世界》中的嗦麻，让Outie可以选择只拥有幸福喜乐的那一半记忆，切割出一部分自我加以奴隶，仅凭轻飘飘的“不记得”三个字就逃脱出理应承受的深重负罪感中解脱出来。

但随时会出现的安保人员，又让Innie们的生活呈现出一种《1984》式的The Big Brother is watching you质感，乃至后来MDR四人的出逃与反叛，也呼唤着一条注定荆棘满地、险象迭生的觉醒之路。

除非他们觉醒，否则永远不会反抗；但除非他们反抗，否则不会觉醒。

——乔治·奥威尔 《1984》

是真的重要，还是因为你说它重要。

而将这样一个高度组织化、高度压迫性的权力系统嵌入现代公司制的框架，考虑到“公司”这一法律概念的独立法人地位、有限责任制度，这一场景下，工具（公司）的人格化和打工人的工具化竟奇妙地交织在了一起。

但我的朋友，自由和时间都是属于你的。

甚至于，Lumon公司对经历过记忆分离术的员工也适用临时加班制度，代表公司可以随时让Outie切换为Innie，而Outie与Innie都无法自主要求完成这一转变；与现代社畜的生活又何其相似。

除了工作和生活绝对切割的记忆分离术接受者员工们之外，伊根家族及其附庸（上司Cobel和安保人员Milchick等）其实是清醒而完整地接纳了这一套压迫逻辑，他们凭借所谓的自由意志在维护着这个权力系统，乃至赫莉的Outie也是伊根家族一份子、她一次次出于家族利益（或许也有取悦父亲）的动机强硬粉碎Innie的出逃行动。

但赫莉 R却是反叛这个系统的重要人物，当然，她的遭遇也显示出任何人在地下世界的生存境况会是多么绝望而无力。

这个设定，不但呈现了人与系统的抗争，也是人自我内部的抗争，充溢着哲学隐喻与历史内涵。

而最后一集，马克、赫莉及欧文三个Innie出现在外部世界时，他们都有对镜自照的画面，“认识你自己”也正是自我意识觉醒的关键一环。

工作就只是工作而已，对吧？

愿我们都拥有，自由而体面的工作；工作是人的一部分，而非相反。

（更至第3集）惊悚片看得少，但职场沉浸式戏剧每个工作日都在上演啊。

从第一集开始，设定就是细思极恐、懂得都懂。

或许职场本身就是惊悚片，只是人在局中看不破。

办公桌、椅子、回形色块地毯，系统化“困住”猎物的圈套一环又一环。

主要人物与情节开局是一身通勤装的女员工晕在巨大的办公桌上，俯拍让观众都拥有了上帝视角——呵，玩物。

但那是个人啊。

然后是对醒后的她连环发问。

五个问题，不回答就没法离开从外头锁住的办公室。

是幼儿园小朋友也能回答的简单问题，听到第一个问题的时候女员工不自觉流露出蔑笑，但下一秒她慌了——她不知道自己是谁。

回答完5个问题，她心中恐惧愈盛，她对自己、对自己生活过的世界通通一无所知，她只是个心慌意乱的UNKNOWN（“未知”）机器。

而扬声器里的人声告诉她，她给出了满分答案。

一只还未完全丧失自我的新社畜登场，名赫莉，代号R。

失去Outie（Lumon外的社会自我身份）记忆、但还没积累Workie（Lumon地下楼层的工作自我身份）经验的赫莉发出了灵魂拷问——我是什么肉猪肉鸡吗，所以没有名字。

喔，你有的有的，她颇有资历的小领导说，还给了一堆因果不明的论据——把你养大、给你自我意识还给你做美甲——你怎么会是牲畜，你有名字——其实是长得像名字的代号。

这段对白就算单拿出来放来真实的工作场景也毫不违和，毕竟真实世界的tech大厂也是花名当道，意图将员工完全地从公司外的生活中剥离开、全情投入地作为资本燃料发光发热。

赫莉想离开，却被镜面对称的楼梯间设计完全困住。

赫莉第一次试图离开失败的这段楼梯间对话，又是精妙的一段工作论。

资本的代言人说，你不是无法离开，你只是自己选择回来了，是你自己选择的。

别无他选的选择，竟也是一种选择。

切合了最近打工人猝死的新闻，身处互联网工作圈、身边真的不乏个人选择的论调，令人从心底悲凉起来。

赫莉像鲶鱼效应里那条鲶鱼，将变化因素带入了Lumon公司。

同时作为一个新人员工，她的视角也正贴合观众视角，她的震惊、反抗和逃跑，也正是面对这个设定的符合普通观众预期的反应。

片名“人生切割术”的定义，也正是借助赫莉给自己的视频信被揭晓。

这真的是Work-Life Balance的解法吗，还是预言Balance是不可能Balance的，不如全面放弃生活吧。

Workie赫莉当然也没有接受Outie的疯狂，她还在一直尝试逃跑，带来一系列戏剧冲突的同时也引出了一个个人之为人的哲学问题。

从话筒背后走进赫莉所在办公室的马克，面孔隐在黑暗里、身形高大，充满压迫感；下一幕，上班前刚到停车场的他却独自嚎啕大哭，好像经受着什么压抑不住的痛苦。

而话筒背后的人呢——马克，赫莉的直属领导，另一只社畜。

他清晨在停车场失态痛哭之后自愿走进大楼，想交换8小时没有痛苦回忆的自己。

外面的生活太过痛苦，他自愿向工作献祭。

但真的如愿了吗？

或许吧。

毕竟进入Workie分离区后，他完全忘记了几分钟前在停车场的崩溃，笑容逐渐自信，摸到口袋里擦过眼泪的纸巾时还一脸疑惑，来了个快乐的投手姿势满不在乎地扔进了垃圾桶。

可后来佩蒂对他说，可以看出他的Workie仍旧是痛苦的，只是并不知道在痛苦什么。

当然被切割人生的Outie不知道这些，他只是为了切割自己的痛苦病急乱投医放弃了一部分时间。

词语本身没有力量，反而具有欺骗性佩蒂是马克的上司，但这一天他不见了、没有原因。

公司只告诉了马克后果——他升职了，顶佩蒂的缺，其他的都属于冠冕堂皇“不需要你知道”“不该你关心”的事。

进入工作内容部分，事情仿佛就更加荒诞了。

他们所在的MDR部门（Macrodata Refinement Department, 宏观数据精检部）都负责些什么呢——找到你觉得恐惧的数字。

”这份工作虽然听起来很蠢，但是等你理解了就好了“在如今这个数据为王的时代，这些工作内容听起来很蠢却很写实，说不定还非常恐怖。

找到恐怖的数字——不就是后台分析部分的工作吗。

点击鼠标、敲击键盘的你说不定根本不知道前线如何作业，但仅仅通过一堆数字和报表，就得出了结论砍掉哪条事业线或者关掉哪座城市的业务，于是就有一群社畜同仁饭碗不保。

在庞大而复杂的系统面前，作为一个具体的人存在似乎太难了，每个人、每个场景乃至每个动作都被抽象成了一串串数字，找到那个令人恐惧的——然后拖进文件夹（干掉）。

Lumon各部门之间完全隔离的状态，也浑似现在各大厂搞的信息密级制度。

你在一个公司工作，忘记了自己是谁，也不知道同事是谁，甚至也不知道自己在做什么（自然也不知道自己每一次点击的后果）——这也算人的生活吗。

直到“理解”这一切的存在是自然而又合理的。

如同三年老员工尔文，目前看是一个可悲而又彻底的顺从者、监视者和告密者，被公司系统完全地控制住。

但这样一个形象，放在不但是公司老员工、也是生理年龄较大者身上，却又不是主管，似乎也隐喻着社畜的大龄困境。

为何献媚的姿态更加彻底，因为老无所依，因为越是老弱越是没有抗争的依恃了。

社畜的狗生巅峰——华夫饼派对而迪伦，是个干劲十足的年轻业务骨干，生怕新人觊觎他的华夫饼派对。

这也能投射到现实职场中的一群人，年轻热血、野心勃勃，被公司一些无谓的荣誉称号和小恩小惠吊得死死的，沉浸在个人价值的虚假繁荣中，也或许是尔文的年轻版本，体力精力和反应速度都还跟得上重复枯燥工作的那个时期。

赫莉被华夫饼派对奖励惊呆了，一如屏幕前的我们也惊呆了，但迪伦高傲地让她不要垂涎了这荣誉之饼，因为他势在必得。

可反思我们自己的职场处境呢，不也是如有雷同、毫不巧合吗，职称、荣誉和蝇头小利，吊了我们一年又一年。

但换句话说，不加入华夫饼争夺大赛，又还有多少选择是向底层大众开放的呢？

第一个“解除”人生切割术的佩蒂，outie和workie真的可以重新合二为一吗？

至于佩蒂，应该对应着新人赫莉在Lumon内部的搅局者身份，作为一个觉醒的老员工，是一个反叛者形象，人生切割手术接受者第一个打破workie vs outie界限的开创者。

他在外面找到了不认识他的马克Outie，预计是他的引路人。

结构感对画面和镜头不太有研究，但这部剧里的环境和配乐，秩序井然到让我等小白也无法不留意。

Lumon大楼前停车场Lumon大楼，从门前的停车场开始一路铺以严整的对称感，加上不让员工产生过多私人羁绊的严格保密文化，错时上下班、部门间严格隔离、私人与工作记忆血腥割裂，使得打工人总是独自行动在巨大而压抑的背景之中，透露出面对一种高度组织化的压迫系统人的无能为力。

若想改变，岂不无异于蚍蜉撼树，身处这样的处境之中竟还要人承认自己是有选择的吗？

Lumon大厅

通往地下世界的电梯，仅容一人过分离区被设定在地下室，没有自然光源，也没有自然关系，一切都是人造，一切都是系统化的。

而通往这里的方向是——下沉。

就好像是，workie是被痛苦版本的另一个自己Outie流放了，任他在不自然的世界里自生自灭。

在这里，主张人的一切权利都显得荒谬可笑，不过是一个个空洞无力的词语，跟精检员们一个个拖进文件夹的数字没什么两样。

地下世界入口处

有进难出的狭窄楼道。

没有尽头的甬道，没有温度的白炽灯光，搭配虚假的楼梯间出口。

这幢大楼仿佛是吃人的怪物，应和了赫莉那句“我是牲畜吗是食物吗”。

是的吧，吃到骨头渣都不剩。

办公空间物理结构环境，也高度对应着组织环境，分离割裂、庞大压抑的。

如同一开篇赫莉出场的那个画面，困局是层层叠叠、仿佛无止尽的。

连线董事会的扬声器，以一种不成比例的“大”占据了画面，反衬得人物更加弱小哈莫妮（Harmony，和谐，也是充满讽刺）——马克workie的上司、也是他outie的邻居，在公司里显得盛气凌人，在外头监视着马克的一举一动，应该是个没有分离记忆的高管，但第三集面对娜塔莉——可能是Lumon的发言人时立刻矮了一头。

神秘的实权组织“董事会”（The board）甚至从头到尾没有出现的“感觉”，只有扬声器的沙沙声和代言人的解读。

而老板气十足的哈莫妮面对着这台扬声器时，表现得跟马克一般局促。

系统性的压迫，总是一层层的。

主题在现代人的生活中，工作占据了时间精力的大头，从工业时代的超时工作到如今的996制度，工作越来越无度地侵蚀着人们的生活。

甚至于，每一次令人振奋的工作法案改革或是社会新闻事件，都只是催发着资本学会更隐蔽的压榨方式，乃至于在文化阵地上的攻城略地。

直到在面对着超时工作导致猝死的新闻时，同是打工人的群体都自觉生发出一些洗白资本的社会达尔文主义论调，尤是令人齿冷心寒。

被工作榨干的现代打工人兄弟，竟连唇亡齿寒的道理都不能理解了，只是一味地沉浸在摆弄不知所谓的数据、争取不知所谓的称号和一层一层没有尽头的爬格子，活在有朝一日坐拥这个系统的妄想之中然后不断被系统化地吞噬。

在这样的故事背景里，这样前所未来的大变局之中，作为人类，我们如何认识自己，又如何面对自己？

人类，区别于牲畜的自尊，到底来自哪里？

工作和人，到底何者是手段，何者是目的？

人之为人的价值感和尊严感缘何而来？

什么才是构成人的基本要素？

而由工作-生活平衡话题引开的，如果能够通过技术手段将工作和生活完全割裂，是不是真的会踏入更美好的社会？

科技进步在各领域全面铺开，对人类到底是祝福还是诅咒？

如果人的意志和记忆一分为二，是不是有资格进行一场自己（Outie）对自己（Workie）的暴政？

人是否有权利处分自己的意识，容许其中一半的自由意志被剥夺、被拘禁？

而片中，Lumon之外的社会大场景中，电视上、宣传小册里，也在广泛讨论着这些议题。

能看出马克是出于逃避痛苦的动机接受了记忆分离术，但也能看到Lumon提供的薪酬条件非常优渥连住房都一并供应，可是新人赫莉一开始的发问振聋发聩——我是牲畜吗？

有吃有穿有住，乃至西装革履还能做美甲，就已经是人之为人的充分条件了吗？

以及这样的选择，我们就真的对痛苦免疫了吗？

放弃了自由意志、活在无知之中，不甚其解地面对世界，我们安全了吗？

在马克身上还有一个隐藏的话题。

痛苦可以被终结吗，可以被理解吗？

要如何去拯救一个陷于痛苦之中的身边人？

还有，层层系统背后那个不开腔的扬声器背后，又是什么呢？

是人吗，还是没有实体的算法，还是别的什么？

人生于世，可以不去理解赖以生存的这个世界吗？

盲猜赫莉和佩蒂、作为两个变数，都会推着马克，去寻找一个个答案。

或许能够战胜痛苦和虚无的，唯有创造和突破。

①官方周边的书里讲述了一个人通过图形语言实现io交流，o决定揭发却因车祸而死的故事。

记者和黑人秘书一个姓，是手眼通天的证据；车祸是马克妻子的死法，故事应该就是她的故事；佩蒂也说过有人在“地下”永远不能出来，与凯西进入测试楼层箭头向下对应；印证了图形无法被检测，解答了紧急加班进行的原因。

②o人格也会感受到最后一段紧急加班所导致的时空断裂，这几个人根据个人身份和在场人员应该能推断出自己做了什么。

③据说女上司地下室的祭坛上的名字有她母亲的，还有一节呼吸管，据书中说呼吸管有缺陷致人死亡，所以女上司也有可能是卧底。

irving应该就是卧底。

④在helly在卫生间和他o的父亲也就是现任CEO见面的时候，CEO曾说，爷爷会珍惜你的所作所为的，所以轮回派对很有可能就是上一任CEO把自己的人格放到下一任里。

⑤各部门有可能是作为一个共生的kier大脑运行的，mdr处理的就是从每天无数繁杂的信息中平衡情绪，光学的那个则是感知识别制造物品。

而复杂的回路像是复杂的神经元，未启用的实验室和走廊是还在发育的区域，永恒区是大脑的核心，休息室产生痛苦，咨询室产生快乐。

⑥这部剧画作很有中世纪的味道，讽刺了宗教；lumon是个巨大的资本公司（甚至现实里是有这栋楼的，贝尔实验室），讽刺了资本；里面的摄像头等意像又是明显的反乌托邦。

所以并不能说明这部剧针对某一种主义。

有人说mark谐音marx，kier谐音karl，但实际上kier来自于爱尔兰语的黑暗，helly是hell的变形，helly的o人格叫Helena来自于希腊语的亮光，我更倾向于伏笔在这里，光明终会终结黑暗，也暗示了他们的结局是成功的。

（外国又没有审查，如果想讽刺marx为什么在marx也是外国的常用名的情况下不直接用marx而要用mark暗讽呢？

）最后感谢培根悖论的三期视频、https://www.douban.com/group/topic/264112411/?_i=51346240c854d48&dt_dapp=1和https://b23.tv/ZCrxVqa给我的启发，谢谢！