{"id":14602,"date":"2022-04-17T16:36:16","date_gmt":"2022-04-17T20:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/featured-news\/severances-creator-explains-the-self-help-book-at-the-heart-of-the-show\/"},"modified":"2022-04-17T16:36:16","modified_gmt":"2022-04-17T20:36:16","slug":"severances-creator-explains-the-self-help-book-at-the-heart-of-the-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=14602","title":{"rendered":"Severance\u2019s creator explains the self-help book at the heart of the show"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It would be easy to dismiss Ricken\u2019s self-help book, The You You Are,<\/em> in the first season of Severance<\/em> \u2014 it is, in fact, what happens a lot as the copy Ricken (Michael Chernus) leaves on his brother-in-law Mark\u2019s doorstep shuffles from one person to the next. Without even receiving a copy, Mark (Adam Scott) is ready to scoff at Ricken\u2019s attempts to philosophize his way through the world. <\/p>\n
But Severance<\/em> creator Dan Erickson isn\u2019t so sure. To him, the book represented more than a silly joke. And to that end, he never wanted the book to be just a funny voiceover. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obviously a sort of heightened take on a self-help book,\u201d Erickson tells Polygon in a Zoom interview. \u201c[But] I didn\u2019t want it to be so silly that it felt out of the world. And also with this knowledge that it was going to become a serious plot device later on. So we wanted to write something that, taken out of context, could believably inspire people and had ideas under that bluster that maybe had actual value to them.\u201d <\/p>\n
To him, Ricken\u2019s ideas represent an important undercurrent of the show: making the mundane startlingly, stiltedly profound. When Chernus\u2019 buttery voiceover reminds us that \u201cYour so-called boss may own the clock that taunts you from the wall, but, my friends, the hour is yours,\u201d it\u2019s at once corny and provocative. (Erickson\u2019s favorite of Chernus\u2019 delivery is: \u201cMachines are made of metal, but man is made of skin.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n
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That delicate balance for a self-help guide set the tone for how Chernus thought of Ricken as a character. The first thing he shot in 2020 was the book cover, which is all flashy, \u201cDianetics, or like Tony Robbins,\u201d and \u201cvaguely cult-y\u201d with its bright colors. (\u201cSelf-help maybe isn\u2019t even right,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s sort of like aggressive help.\u201d) <\/p>\n
But the voiceover came later. While the script called for someone to read The You You Are<\/em> aloud, it wasn\u2019t always clear who that would be. When Chernus finally got tasked with it, he worked hard to dial in to the right balance for Ricken\u2019s tone, calling on his theater and Julliard background to heighten Ricken\u2019s read with a mid-Atlantic accent. <\/p>\n
\u201cI know a type, an artistic type, who believes that what they\u2019re doing is the most important thing in the world, and [has] this conviction that the stakes are so high,\u201d Chernus says. \u201cThere\u2019s something \u2014 of course \u2014 pretentious and grandiose about that. But there\u2019s also something incredible about someone just being so dialed in to their vision and their point of view about the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
In short: He didn\u2019t feel a need to make fun of the guy. Instead, he saw Ricken\u2019s grandeur as fitting in with the same sort of formalism as Irving or Cobell. And like so many other puzzle pieces in Severance<\/em>, The You You Are<\/em> finds an audience among the innies, dazzled by his insight. (His favorite line from the book was \u201cAt the center of industry is dust.\u201d) <\/p>\n
To Erickson, it\u2019s a delicious irony that came about in the writer\u2019s room: \u201cWhat if the person that outtie Mark disdained more than anybody ended up being the father of the revolution on the inside?\u201d But ultimately, what he and Chernus like most is that the book reached the people it needed to. <\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n
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\u201cThere\u2019s a commentary on how context influences what\u2019s good art, or good writing, or good media,\u201d Chernus says, citing media he consumed as a college freshman trying to read auras or an adult trying to get through the pandemic. \u201cI agree that it\u2019s the sort of stuff that sounds profound, but actually isn\u2019t. But you can\u2019t fully dismiss it if it\u2019s doing something for the innies. If it\u2019s doing something for them, who are we to say it\u2019s objectively bad?\u201d <\/p>\n
Perhaps the most surprising person it reached was Milchick (Tramell Tillman), the supervisor on the severed floor whose devotion presents as a middle management enforcer. A stickler for the rules, even Milchick doesn\u2019t end up reporting the copy of The You You Are<\/em>; instead he sits and reads it. <\/p>\n
When asked what that interest means for Milchick\u2019s role in season 2, Erickson deflects, noting he\u2019s seen people interpret his reading as either genuine interest or a nice chuckle. <\/p>\n
\u201cI guess maybe that paradox sums it up pretty well,\u201d Erickson says. After all, haven\u2019t we all received advice before we were able to really hear it? <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/p>\n![\"Milchick](\"https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/5_rk5UUZxpjoc-jGHzv0MC6nNL0=\/0x0:2878x1194\/320x0\/filters:focal(0x0:2878x1194):format(webp):no_upscale()\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/23393183\/Screen_Shot_2022_04_15_at_2.08.36_PM.png)
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