Homecoming's "midcentury macabre" is the aesthetic of modern prestige television horror

The New Republic

The Amazon series has "what I can only describe as a 'midcentury macabre' look—a sleek, aloof style that signals something is not quite right," says Rachel Syme. "The walls are smooth redwood panels with sculptural silver sconces; the couches are low, tufted, and lemon yellow." She adds: "This is the aesthetic of modern prestige television horror. It keeps popping up again and again: Black Mirror showed us subtle dystopias unfolding in pristine modernist homes, while Mr. Robot offered besuited executives planning the downfall of humanity in slick corporate headquarters. The look clearly references a bygone era—the 1950s, when America’s growing military-industrial bureaucracy provoked fears of surveillance, repression, and a state dangerously empowered by devastating new technologies. But it also pulls from the stylings of Silicon Valley today. With its tasteful, Rothkoesque wall art and quirky geometric touches, the Homecoming facility could pass for any well-funded tech start-up, an incubator of disruption. We are supposed to guess, from all this, that Homecoming is not what it seems. It’s too manicured, too monotone, too minimalist. Something is lurking beneath the tasteful, marbleized surfaces."