Examples Of Forced Conformity

Being forced to conform as an individual in a society of conformists can alter a persons morals and cause a loss of self worth. The tv show, severance, directed by Ben Stiller, (2022), is a psychological thriller about an office, lumon, whose workers memories have been surgically divided to so they have no recollection of when they are at work when they leave, and don’t remember their past lives when at work. This results in confusion for the innie , a term used to describe who the character is when at work, as they are constantly trapped in the same place with no recollection of who they are and how they grew up. The characters are thrown into strict work conditions to keep them in check and instill a sense of fear. Helly a worker at lumon

However, forced conformity is also very prominent. For example government or people you look up to, who shape and feed you ideas to the point where you become a reflection of others opinions. This is portrayed through the individual in severance, Helly. She tries to defy the rules and escape Lumon but becomes isolated as a result, portraying how hard it is to be an individual in a society of confomists. The company persists in trying to get her to fit in so she is easier to control, but through the use of darker lighting it foreshadows that she is not okay with the conditions she was forced into. For instance she tried to hang herself as a way to escape from the job and send her outie, who she is outside of work, a message. As a form of punishment she has to repeat the same line over and over again until upper management is content. “again, no, wrong, again.” This is a reflection on the message of forced conformity. The noose represents the hold that negative conformity has on people, symbolising how suffocating it is trying to be someone and something that you are not to fit in with a society of conformists. This additionally shows the dangers of both extreme conformity and individuality due to the dangers and pressures it puts on