thinking more about disability in severance, and Bassam Sidiki's article about s1 now that we are at the midpoint of s2
Sidiki writes about the severance procedure as a process of capacitation — "If memory or nostalgia is a form of disability that capitalism both produces and shuns, then Mark’s traumatic memory of his dying wife is a problem that must be rectified [...] The home itself is a liability—nay, a disability—of capitalism"
in s2 we see how this analysis also applies to dylan, who's outie has various obligations and pressures beyond work (a relationship with his wife, caretaker of his children, needing to be able to secure health insurance for his family) and has had trouble maintaing employment. one aspect of the severance procedure for him is a capacitation — these pressure are removed, and he excels at his job in MDR
historical legal definitions of disability were defined by level of capacity for work — Sidiki notes that in US "Social Security law, “disabled” refers to someone who cannot engage inwork activity due to medical reasons" and that historically, "Because disabled bodies are not as exploitable to capitalism as nondisabled ones, they are shunned, segregated, and isolated from the workforce."
by attempting to remove disability, then, Lumon is attempting to make non-disabled workers that are exploitable in practically every way. they don't entirely succeed in this, though, as we see in season 1.
disability still finds a way in. the environment itself is disabling (see helly s1, esp. eps 4 & 5). outie!irving's disruptive tactic is to disable his innie by making it so he experiences overwhelming fatigue, so innie!irving can't help but sleep on the job. as soon as Lumon makes one slip and lets the outie/home world in (dylan ep 6), dylan can't think of anything else. he has been discapacitated.
and this is how the seeds of a rebellion (the OTC) are sown.
and so all of them have now gotten glimpses of their outside worlds.
and so (tl;dr) that's what i'm thinking about, in season 2. now that innie!irving has been killed. now that all of them have experienced the outside world, puncturing holes in lumon's capacitation experiments. now that all of them are dealing with various new traumas.
now that outie!mark has fully decided to mess with the system — and in order to do so, now finds himself with a live-in brain surgeon and pillbox full of daily meds.
yes there is plenty to say about a season touted as the adolescent season, touted as featuring not just romance but love triangles and quadrangles and shapes we've never seen on tv before.
but is this also the season of letting disability/disabling factors in? of our bodies are not meant for this system? if individualism won't save us? if we need to try and understand interdependence and precarity and entropy rather than lean away from it?
