Core Response #1 by SMDI

Gitlin’s text reminds me of other Marxist work of its period that laments how institutions or markets absorb the otherwise revolutionary potential of the avant-garde to suit a liberal agenda. The scholar acknowledges, with a dialectical mode very characteristic of historical materialism, that what marks a hegemonic ideology as defined by Gramsci is conflict and contradiction: a society that encourages hard work promises leisure as a form of satisfaction. This ideology manifests itself practically and empirically, Gitlin argues, in a structured from of television that in its careful manipulation of time, ritual, and routine rekindles for the bourgeoisie a life not dissimilar to that of the factory. In its cultural prominence, television incorporates “alternative material” and overrides “oppositional forms,” institutionalizing ideological critique and forcing it into “compatibility” for its own dominant systems.

On one hand, it is disheartening to think that a 1979 article, written as global capitalism consolidates itself and as neoliberalism gains academic prominence, describes what I feel is the dominant mode of media distribution today. On another, Gitlin’s provocations serve us to understand, for example, such recent shows as Severance, distributed on Apple TV. The question remains: how could a show that blatantly criticizes office work oblige the needs of such corporate giants as Apple? I would argue, tentatively, that Severance’s existence lies in parallel with several other promises of our neoliberal age: the very concept of work-life balance, fulfilled through superficial efforts in the workforce, appeases ideological opposition while reconsolidating the very structures that expunge any semblance of worker satisfaction.

Formally, the distance that Severance maintains from a reproducible present represents the distance it takes from any criticism that could kindle political consciousness. The office we see is not one of 2023: Severance operates in a technological present nonetheless adorned with midcentury aesthetics and late-century media. It excuses ordinary work as we know it because “of course Apple wouldn’t implant chips on its workers, that’s dystopic and absurd”; it forgives exploitation with a cinematic promise of fictional spectacle. Naturally, Severance only exists in a subscription-based platform, tailored and optimized for Apple devices.