I've been thinking a lot about this multi-media trend that I've been calling "cryptobureaucracies", that feels like a close cousin to halogencore. I'm looking at Loki, Severance, and the game CONTROL -- all of which feature these halogencore-style offices which house companies that do inscrutable things that require lots and lots of paperwork. The protag spends a lot of time exploring "what the fuck do they even do here?" and encountering bizarre revelations that only serve to make the world more confusing.
Any thoughts on a better name for this micro-micro-genre?
Great comment, something I need to think about a little bit, and definitely an interesting microgenre. Another movie in a similar but not identical vein is (and it's sort of a spoiler to even say so?) Cabin in the Woods...
I love this neologism... where does Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy fit in - if it does? It has relatively high stakes, and maybe a dearth of halogen, but I can't think of a movie more redolent of bureaucracy, moral compromise, and sheer office-bound grubbiness (and the incredible BBC version doubles down on all the above...)
Yeah I think arguably Le Carré "invented" halogencore -- or you could say halogencore is like Alan Pakula x Le Carré or something -- especially the really grimy books like "Looking-Glass War." The BBC TTSS is so great, but some of the recent JLC adaptations are even closer to the "halogencore" ideal, not least because there's some actual flourescent lighting in them. Thinking here in particular of Anton Corbijn's "A Most Wanted Man," but also of Susanna White's "Our Kind of Traitor" and the new TTSS movie.
Yeah I like JLC as the godfather of halogencore. Thinking about it more there's also a clear divide between its antecedents in British fiction/movies, where the point is about a rot caused by age and stagnation (and often signaled by scenes taking place in old buildings whose functionality has been obliterated by repurposing or decay), and its full flourishing in the US, where the point is rather the shoddiness of the present - thus the halogen, drop ceilings, cubicles etc - things built quickly not to last.
I've been thinking a lot about this multi-media trend that I've been calling "cryptobureaucracies", that feels like a close cousin to halogencore. I'm looking at Loki, Severance, and the game CONTROL -- all of which feature these halogencore-style offices which house companies that do inscrutable things that require lots and lots of paperwork. The protag spends a lot of time exploring "what the fuck do they even do here?" and encountering bizarre revelations that only serve to make the world more confusing.
Any thoughts on a better name for this micro-micro-genre?
Great comment, something I need to think about a little bit, and definitely an interesting microgenre. Another movie in a similar but not identical vein is (and it's sort of a spoiler to even say so?) Cabin in the Woods...
I love this neologism... where does Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy fit in - if it does? It has relatively high stakes, and maybe a dearth of halogen, but I can't think of a movie more redolent of bureaucracy, moral compromise, and sheer office-bound grubbiness (and the incredible BBC version doubles down on all the above...)
Yeah I think arguably Le Carré "invented" halogencore -- or you could say halogencore is like Alan Pakula x Le Carré or something -- especially the really grimy books like "Looking-Glass War." The BBC TTSS is so great, but some of the recent JLC adaptations are even closer to the "halogencore" ideal, not least because there's some actual flourescent lighting in them. Thinking here in particular of Anton Corbijn's "A Most Wanted Man," but also of Susanna White's "Our Kind of Traitor" and the new TTSS movie.
Yeah I like JLC as the godfather of halogencore. Thinking about it more there's also a clear divide between its antecedents in British fiction/movies, where the point is about a rot caused by age and stagnation (and often signaled by scenes taking place in old buildings whose functionality has been obliterated by repurposing or decay), and its full flourishing in the US, where the point is rather the shoddiness of the present - thus the halogen, drop ceilings, cubicles etc - things built quickly not to last.