时间:2025-07-09 16:11:33 来源:网络整理编辑:知識
Throughout time, humans have theorized about the afterlife: Would the world beyond our own be pearly
Throughout time, humans have theorized about the afterlife: Would the world beyond our own be pearly or dark? Boring or active? Up or down? As Peak TV increasingly explores the great beyond, it’s become clear that omnipotent beings are concerned with a lot of things — but they’re primarily interested in mid-century modern decor.
The aesthetic has been the guiding hand most recently of Loki, whose earthy tones and 1950s-inspired offices of the Time Variance Authority made it stand out from other Marvel properties like a brown paperclip. But it’s not alone in seeing mid-century modern as a guiding philosophy of the metaphysical realms: Forever, The Good Place, Good Omens and The Umbrella Academy all outfitted themselves in the same way.
There’s a logic to this — after all, the style is innately rigid and scalable. Whether it’s in architectural, graphic, or interior design, mid-century modern philosophy is guided by simplicity and straightforwardness: clean, practical lines; geometric shapes; bright colors and wood accents. Many of the most iconic designs — your Eames shell chairsor Isamu Noguchi’s coffee tables— eschew traditional ornamentation to simplify the form. The pieces are polished, but still a little bureaucratic. And their use on TV reflects this, often becoming the design of choice for a place that is as streamlined as it is uneasy — your time agencies (Umbrella Academyor Loki) or an afterlife where something is off (Foreverand The Good Place).
And while those sleek lines might make for attractive furniture, that chair may not always be the comfiest thing — something everyone from Good Placecreator Mike Schurto Forever’s production designer Amy Williams sought to exploit as they needle their show’s inhabitants. “It’s perfect looking, but the reality is, is it comfortable? It’s the classic form versus function conflict,” Williams explained to Apartment Therapyabout setting their version of the afterlife in SoCal’s mid-century modern houses. “Would you really want to sit on it forever? We loved the idea of ugly beautiful and finding beauty in the faults in the different homes and environment.”
Loki’s production designer Kasra Farahani sought to evoke something similar, albeit rougher, with brutalism and Eastern European mid-century modernism as “big influences for these imposing monolithic, intimidating scaled spaces in the TVA,” while using the “warm and whimsy” of American styles. “Those influences worked into what that expanse would be, which is quintessentially TVA in that it’s a place outside the physical world,” Farahani told Polygon.
It’s an odd thing to say of a design style which is just as if not more popular now (and largely unchanged) as it was between the 1940s and ‘70s. But its long tail might be another reason mid-century modern is the aesthetic of so many great beyonds: its age brings the perfect nostalgia hit for creators whose parents and grandparents houses might’ve gone in on the design. That timing helped drive The Good Place’s use of mid-century modern, both in its most severe (The Bad Place’s 1950s styling) and its lightest (Eleanor’s clown house). “What architect going to school, at any stage doesn’t love mid-century modern?” Adam Rowe, art designer on the show in seasons 3 and 4 told The Atlantic. “Plus the age of the actor … If he was designing kooky ’80s architecture or ’70s skyscrapers, I don’t know if those would fit.”
Mid-century modern also plays directly into a current theme of the zeitgeist: reinterpreting and recontextualizing historical events. High-profile cultural touchstones like the O.J. Simpson trial, President Clinton’s sexual impropriety, and even #MeToo have been reexamined on everything from TV to podcasts. There’s a cultural hunger to seeing black-and-white establishment muddied with gray and turned on its head. And it’s something Loki, Good Omensand The Umbrella Academyplay with as their protagonists battle against enforced destiny. It seems no coincidence that the byzantine structures are guided by mid-century modern, a design philosophy at once lightly eccentric but still slavishly functional.
Modernist pioneer Le Corbusier once said that “A house is a machine for living,” a reasoning evident in the base functionalism of mid-century modern design. It seems natural this ideology would guide otherworldly realms — and just as natural that the characters in these stories would rebel against its dictums. If mid-century modernism was originally borne out of the elegance, simplicity, and optimismof modernism, then these shows’ casting off of is just another way to mutiny. What each of these shows reveal is that we’re not interested in the perfection or order either mid-century modern or the metaphysical brings, and we want no part of the past or future they represent.
Airbnb activates disaster response site for Louisiana flooding2025-07-09 16:06
比賽日:格德斯傳射瓦倫西亞32025-07-09 15:51
C羅三年尤文生涯數據 :134場轟101球 奪5座冠軍獎杯2025-07-09 15:40
頂級流量 !C羅回歸曼聯社媒熱度遠超梅西加盟巴黎2025-07-09 15:39
'Rocket League' Championship Series Season 2 offers $250,000 prize pool2025-07-09 14:42
記者:8月多哈非常悶熱 站在國足訓練場邊很快汗流浹背2025-07-09 14:20
好事多磨!C羅回歸曼聯首秀還得等 兩周後迎戰紐卡2025-07-09 14:15
巴黎尋姆巴佩替身鎖內馬爾隊友 埃弗頓要價1億歐2025-07-09 14:06
Pole vaulter claims his penis is not to blame2025-07-09 14:04
董方卓感慨C羅重回曼聯 調侃等等冬窗重溫舊夢(圖)2025-07-09 13:57
Olympic security asks female Iranian fan to drop protest sign2025-07-09 16:08
國足訓練安排在當地晚間進行 教練組提出紀律要求2025-07-09 16:08
武磊:陳主席等我到淩晨十分感動 前兩場非常關鍵2025-07-09 15:30
若日尼奧:奪歐冠歐洲杯情緒不同 戰比西都很特別2025-07-09 15:14
You will love/hate Cards Against Humanity's new fortune cookies2025-07-09 15:01
魯尼:無法想象C羅去曼城 我絕對不會投紅魔死敵2025-07-09 14:39
國足新聞官 :380餘件行李破紀錄 傷員已開始穿釘鞋訓練2025-07-09 14:18
啟程!武磊飛往多哈與國足會合 手提7號行李箱(圖)2025-07-09 13:58
Mall builds real2025-07-09 13:43
胡爾克發文慶祝重返巴西國家隊 塔爾德利武磊留言送祝福2025-07-09 13:36