Eat the rich

Consumption, food, Industry

Nobody eats in Succession. For four seasons we travelled around the world with the billionaire Roy family and their entourage and non of them ever ate anything. If a character was seen eating they were an outsider, committing an accidental faux pas. When Greg brings his nouveau riche date to a party, she’s laughed at for her Burberry bag and for scoffing canapés “like a famished warthog”. When Tom overplays his hand for interim CEO, he’s seen chewing on a fish taco while another character reminds him he’s a “clumsy interloper and nobody likes [him]”. The characters of Succession are too big to fail and too rich to eat. They have everything, and having everything eliminates need. To need food, in the Succession universe, is to admit vulnerability. In Industry the opposite is true.