‘Severance’ Is TV’s Best Depiction of the Pandemic Its Aftermath Without Ever Even Mentioning It
They say that art imitates life, but perhaps what we consider to be imitation is more accurately described as reflection. Take the American government intervention in the Vietnam War. When our country’s true motives became increasingly opaque, the antihero was born: think John Rambo from First Blood, or Mike Vronsky from The Deer Hunter; young adult men, often white, who’d grown disillusioned with authority and represented a challenge to Hollywood’s hero trope. This critical eye toward U.S. involvement in foreign nations—and whether the ends justify the means—continued post-9/11 with films like Zero Dark Thirty, The Dark Knight and Sicario; whole hosts of films with narratives in which society faced profound collapse.