#Mining Institute

[whooissthissdivaa]

[mumblesplash]

something scratching at the back of my mind about the underlying premise of severance is the way they make you accept certain ideas about what it actually IS, and it feels intentional.

from the start lumon is shown to be VERY insistent about controlling information and language, from the bizarre interdepartmental mythology (the fact that mammalians nurturable and the graphics department both think MDR have stomach pouches is played as a joke, but it also confirms those rumors were planted and encouraged deliberately by lumon) to the way they talk about severed workers in general

the ‘innie/outie’ terminology feels particularly insidious because at first it seems like language that would have developed naturally to describe memory barriers locked to a specific location, but the existence of the OTC protocol reveals that’s not actually the case. the chip can be activated anywhere, and the beginning of season 2 shows that they can also *not* be activated anywhere. the fact that the innies only exist at work and the outies only exist when they leave is entirely a matter of company protocol, but the descriptive terminology makes it feel inherent.

watching the show, i kept getting a little stuck on the fact that lumon even calls it that. 'severance' 'getting severed' 'severed workers'. it's euphemistic to an extent, but still feels strangely violent and visceral for a procedure they're otherwise bending over backwards to present as humane and painless. thinking about it in the context of the way they use language to control reality though, it makes sense. because they're very, very insistent that it's permanent. almost desperately so. enough to push terminology that invokes amputation when it could just as easily be conceptualized as a shield, or a filter, or a blackout. but a human shield is a hero, a filter is permeable, and people don't draw the same kind of distinction between 'me' and 'me under anesthesia' as lumon needs them to draw between 'outies' and 'innies'.

there's a number of directions the show could take this, and i'm curious how far it'll get deconstructed. regardless i think it's a very, VERY effective commentary on propaganda and dehumanization. there is no one you cannot be convinced to see as the inhuman other, not even yourself.

or to put it another way: the procedure is just selective amnesia with a toggle switch. 'severance' is the ritualistic maintenance of the belief that anything that happens when it's switched on isn't happening to *you*

[ebenelephant]

so funny to me how some avengers fics will depict steve as being a stickler for rules. did you somehow miss his three films, "follow your moral compass and go AWOL", "follow your moral compass and tear down a government conspiracy", and "follow your moral compass and commit treason"?

[eccleston]

Rafael Barba appreciation ➩ 253/∞ | ep: Institutional Fail

[chez-cinnamon]

Aquarium date 💕

Also bonus sketchbook art -

She’s so touched by all the love 💕💕

[essektheylyss]

I do find the uptick in folks who got upset that some of us felt like there wasn't enough follow-through on narrative consequences suddenly turning around wanting the Hells to be hunted by Vasselheim very funny, because I'm just like... so what I'm hearing is that you want your faves to be on the run from religious leaders because the choices they made had such massive ramifications and so aggressively spurned that religion it demanded exile if not outright execution, because it makes for a more interesting story with more interesting characters.

I understand the canary in the role mine now: you're jealous of me. You want what the Essek stans have.

[stegulus]

watch.

“You who watch and know and understand none. You who listen and hear and will not comprehend. You who wait and wait and drink in all that is not yours by right.”

the others

[hayaomiyazaki]

I couldn't hurt you. It's so nice to talk with you, like we are almost related. The way you speak, your gestures, your mouth, everything. It's delightful to behave in that rather weak sort of way with you. Just think: me, your master, confessing to you, my pathetic little worm whom I could utterly crush if I chose to.

Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life — 1995 dir. the Brothers Quay

[horns-and-teeth]

Michael as The Fallen Angel~

[warpfactor9]

hey. can anyone hear me. did anyone else reach part 2 chapter 2 of A Stitch in Time and get gut-punched by Garak receiving a crumb of support and affection from his distant father (a gardener who has dedicated his life to lovingly raising flora in harsh areas where it struggles to survive) and saying that, in that moment, he felt like one of his plants. is anyone out there. oh my god.

[whooissthissdivaa]

[bitchkovsky]

another meaningful contribution i make to black sails analysis

[damnamour]

ICI TOUT COMMENCE ― E514

[librarycards]

if you see me, an observant jew by choice, siding with anti-theists / defending those who dislike and distrust religion writ large, just know that i have seen catholic school horrors beyond your comprehension

[susie-dreemurr]

I miss the “everyone thinks Alice and is suspicious and secretly evil” era because at least then people theorized on her. I have too little brain cells to make theories myself. Where is the speculation on her tape trauma, on Connor Dyer, on “I haven’t watched someone die since…” or “No! Not again!” or “(in blank horror) I think they’re after us, all of us.”

Just because we believe she’s genuine doesn’t mean she can’t have skeletons in her closet please guys pelase

[beforethepoison]

Jesse Eisenberg | OCD and What I Would Tell My Younger Self | Child Mind Institute