One of the many persistently interesting things to me about Control is how Jesse and other characters address each other. With everyone she meets, she introduces herself as Jesse (sometimes Jesse Faden) and asks that she be addressed as such. I’ve tried to isolate these moments, as follows:
With Arish, “My name is Jesse Faden...Let’s skip the formalities, please.”
Arish, who introduces himself with only his title and last name, continues to use ma’am, but actively tries to refer to her just as Faden, especially later in the game. It’s a kind of middle ground, but he’s trying.
With Langston, “I’m Jesse, the new Director.” Every time he uses ma’am, she intentionally does not refer to him as Fred, as he requested, and instead uses his last name. It’s a wonderfully passive-aggressive little thing she does.
With Marshall, “Just call me Jesse.” Marshall continues to refer to her as Director Faden, I believe without fail. This is an interesting detail, because in this conversation, Marshall refers to Trench just as Zachariah, perhaps giving insight into what their relationship was before the events of the game.
Jesse tells Emily to call her Jesse and Emily introduces herself as Emily, with that adorably goofy smile. Emily is the ONLY ONE to refer to Jesse as Jesse AND the only one whom Jesse addresses by first name. After exiting dialogue with her in Central Executive, Emily jests with a “Yes ma’am, Director Faden!” to which Jesse responds with “Please, Emily. Not even as a joke.”
All of this leads me to believe that Jesse is still coming to terms with her new position, and is very uncomfortable with formalities. When someone refers to you as ma’am, out of respect for your rank (as opposed to like customer service or whatever), the rank they are conferring to you is one by which you can give orders, make decisions, and in literal ways, take control of a situation. Perhaps her dismissal of that formality is representative of the subversion of rank as her authority, so she can instead prove that she herself--just Jesse, not her position of Director--has the power and abilities to make things right, regardless of where she is in the hierarchy.
And yet the persistence of some characters to use ma’am and Director Faden are reminders that her personal power within the FBC only exists because she is the Director--the two are intertwined and inseparable. But she does have Emily, the dear scientist, who seems to see Jesse as just Jesse, listens when she needs a friend to work stuff out with, and asks the personal questions that could lead to further revelations about what’s happening both within and without our dear protagonist.
[Edit: I didn’t include Underhill, Dylan or the Board, for these reasons:
Underhill gives no fucks, responds with “I’m sure you are,” to Jesse introducing herself, and avoids actually addressing her with a name or title
Dylan is a complicated case and is not in the same NPC category as everyone else
The Board does not adhere to normal human language conventions, though I do love how they communicate]