2025 EXHIBIT
“The past [is] all made up”
Memory and Disconnection in HBO’s Succession
“The future is real, but the past, well. It’s all made up.”
HBO’s satirical black comedy Succession holds up a mirror to the corruption and excesses of modern media and politics with its portrayal of the Roy family, ultra-wealthy owners of a global media empire fighting off decline. But beyond its criticisms of the elite, Succession is a story about human beings and their flawed relationships to reality and the past. Deeply dysfunctional and tragically human, the Roys are a startling example of the brokenness that comes with a denial of and disconnection from memory. The Roy children’s arrested development, fueled by their father’s attempts to reshape reality to his liking, leaves them seemingly incapable of growth and trapped in an endless struggle to prove themselves worthy successors to a man with no interest in stepping aside. They are protected from the struggles of life in every way possible by their extreme wealth and power, and yet their disconnection from memory and reality leaves them mired in uncertainty, incapable of moving forward or connecting with anyone around them. This exhibit will explore the consequences that denying the past has on the human person as portrayed in Succession.
EXHIBIT PRESENTATION:
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15 | 3:15 PM
ALTMAN AUDITORIUM
With Sophia Sorensen, curator
