Opening Credits of “Succession”
There is no denying that the HBO show, “Succession,” is a huge hit. It is currently in its fourth and final season, and I am as hooked on the show as anyone else — I watch every new episode on Sunday nights as soon as it airs. It is extremely well-written and directed, with top-notch acting by a talented star cast, so it’s hardly surprising that so many people find it compulsively watchable.
However, I have to say that what I have come to enjoy most about “Succession” are the opening credits. Most TV-watchers typically skip the opening credits of shows they routinely watch so they can get to the show, and I did this too when I was younger and more impatient. However, I now spend some time sitting through the opening credits of a show to take in the accompanying theme song or score, the visuals, and the graphics. I am finding that these are getting increasingly more sophisticated and creative, and I watch them for at least a few episodes of a show before they get too repetitive for me to sit through every time.
However, this is not true of the opening credits of “Succession.” As I watch more of the show, I have grown to love the opening credits even more than the actual show itself. It is an amazing piece of artistry, blending together grainy home video footage with contemporary scenes of New York and accompanied by a dramatic musical score that brilliantly ties them together. The “older” home videos, in standard 4:3 resolution, are obviously intended to be of the Roy clan when the four kids were smaller, and the contrasting shots of present-day New York, in full widescreen glory, show where Waystar Royco, the global conglomerate at the heart of “Succession” is headquartered. The visuals alternate between the two, and the musical score captures the transitions between them so hauntingly, it sends a chill down my spine.
It is not just the brilliance of the filmmaking and the score that has me hooked — it is also all the questions about the opening credits that puzzle me each time I watch them. First and foremost, is this someone’s actual home video footage that the production team were able to procure, or did they shoot new footage and apply some filters to make it seem old and raw, with the graininess, flickering, and the 4:3 aspect ratio?
And then, while the home videos show three boys and one girl, the girl seems to be more prominent in them. Does that show a bias towards Shiv? Is she going to become the “successor”?
Also intriguing is the last sequence. The four kids are posing and they look to their left as a man (presumably their dad) walks away. Even at that age, there is a palpable sense of nervousness among the kids, at the authority the man seems to exude, at the way they look to him, as if craving his approval. This is, of course, what they do as adults, and the show revolves around this theme. But to have it captured in a home video? It always leaves me wondering. Did they actually create this footage from scratch and are the kids in the video professional actors who were directed to perform this way?
Even more intriguing, the opening credits end by zooming in on the kids’ feet. If there is some symbolism here, I just don’t get it.
Of course, I could research all this online and find out the answers, but I think it would spoil the mystique for me.
Here is the link to the entire opening credits sequence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G29EyeGzm9w
