KULTURA CULTURE
else: the death of the abuser who ruined their lives. Logan Roy’s pulmonary embo- lism brought out the worst in his children. ese tormented souls who didn’t learn during their lives that unity could save them in the cruel world left to them by their fa- ther, would grab each other by the throat like hungry wolves, in a tragic and nightmarish conflict to snatch the position of director. e comi- cally frigid and intolerably uncom- fortable atmosphere of angst that is a trademark of Succession reaches its spectacular crescendo in the fi- nale. In an ironic twist of life, all of Logan’s ex-wives and former lovers can bury the hatchet and sit togeth- er in the front row of the church in front of the eternally resting man who left them nothing nice to re-
er opportunity. ere is no fortune in misfortune, but there are offers. ere are no emotions in love, but there are deals well struck. ere is no family in relatives, only inform- ants and assistants. Among the ranks of the Roys, there are no Roys that work together, they are all against one another. And after the departure of Lo- gan Roy, Logan Roy remains. e dark shadow hanging over his chil- dren never left them. It remained as a contour on their faces, in order to remind them that they weren’t hap- py and will never be happy. Interest- ingly, but also tragically, their desti- nies aren’t merely inscribed on small screens that we can turn off and for- get about them. Regardless of wheth- er the show’s finale met your expec- tations, the series did leave us with a
covery – an international centre in London and Zurich that offers med- ical assistance, therapy and counsel- ling – notes that almost 40 per cent of its patients struggle with Succes- sion syndrome – a term that’s used to refer to a range of mental health problems and addictions. According to Paracelsus, it is in- dicative of real-life afflictions faced by wealthy and powerful families like the Roys. While the children of wealthy parents grow up with count- less privileges, many suffer from what psychiatrists have dubbed “af- fluent neglect”, which actually refers to the perpetual physical and emo- tional absence of parents. As the Centre adds, such situa- tions increase the probability that a person will abuse alcohol by about 27 per cent, while narcissistic per- sonality disorder is also common among patients. In Succession, this is demonstrated by Kendall’s con- stant shifting between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, Shiv’s disre- gard for other people’s feelings and Roman’s inability to connect with others. “We see so many children of af- fluent families suffering from men- tal health and addiction problems that we’ve started calling this Suc- cession syndrome,” said Jan Gerber, founder and CEO of Paracelsus Re- covery, adding that the syndrome is characterised by anxiety, depression, narcissistic personality disorder and sometimes other conditions like bi- polar disorder and alcohol and sub- stance abuse. It is perhaps not surprising that countless media articles have called Succession the King Lear of the age of media empires. Shakespeare’s trag- edy delved into the power struggles and conflicts that arose within a fam- ily when Lear decided to divide his kingdom among his daughters on the basis of their public declarations of love for him. is theme has always appealed to both creators and con- sumers - Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane also drew inspiration from the life of media mogul William Randolph Hearst and the succession battles for his media empire.
Pozivnica za pridruživanje stolu porodice Roj pre pet godina delovala je kao poziv koji se ne sme odbiti Five years ago, an invitation to take a seat at the Roy family table seemed like an invitation that mustn’t be turned down
member, apart from money and priv- ilege, but his children are unable to reconcile their differences even then. ese selfish, vain, privileged, vin- dictive and, ultimately, egocentric, power-hungry maniacs will have to learn their lesson the hard way. In its five-year history on HBO, Succession will undoubtedly be re- membered as a huge dialogic pro- ject packed with vivid corporate car- icatures, a fantastic cast, dry and shameless humour, and for its big- gest tragedy: a family that was nev- er a family, but rather a business. In death there is no mourning, rath-
syndrome that has been increasingly mentioned by psychiatrists recent- ly. is is a situation that emerges in extremely powerful households, where children develop a strong fear of failure, just like the one we saw in this series. Paracelsus Recovery, one of the world’s leading addiction treat- ment centres, has warned of the increasing prevalence of succes- sion syndrome, whereby success- ful and wealthy households “create a deep-rooted fear of weakness and failure” in children, reports UK news- paper e Guardian. Paracelsus Re-
50 | Fenomeni » Phenomena
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator