#s3:ep6 “Party Politics”

[har-har-harvey]

also, since tumblr won’t let you post more than one video unless they’re links or embeds, here’s a link to another clip i posted that adds a bit more context to the scene :)

[transmutationisms]

hi !! i know you've touched on food + succession before so i was wondering if u had any thoughts on why roman seems to be eating for almost all of the shots he's in with mencken in what it takes? (s3 ep6) the cokes been picked apart beautifully but ive never seen anyone mention him nibbling all the way through the party

honestly, i hadn't noticed him nibbling any more than usual in that episode. that's pretty typical to how roman eats i think—most often we see him do it with fruit (medieval fasting girl ass), but there's also the cake he takes a bite of at connor's bachelor party, whatever he's eating in the beginning of 'dundee,' etc. it's pretty common for him to graze like this.

in 'what it takes' in particular, though, i think you could read the food, similarly to the coke, as signalling the relationship between waystar and american politics, and between logan and specific politicians as a consequence of that. acting as a representative of waystar and an emissary for logan, roman is flirting with mencken, and eating the rich people party nibbles is part of that. additionally, the entire event is playing with the tension of being simultaneously the very highest echelons of corporate and political power, & yet at the same time being something that has to be kept somewhat discreet, on account of the subversion of liberal democratic ideals. eating the food can thus be indicative of roman's overall willingness to buy into the whole arrangement, and to take in mencken's verbal bullshit as he takes in the bullshit food—again, roman's body as a site of waste and a means of clinching a deal. of course, the 'waste' is powerful political rhetoric and catered food, because in truth the event is not a deviation from capitalist democracy but its normal mode of functioning. finally, because of the implications that mencken is also catholic, you could read roman's eating as echoing taking communion, an act that plays into some of the homoerotic tension between them, roman's view of sex and intimacy as cannibalistic, and the show's running elision of the father, ceo, dictator, and god figures.