Watch Black Mirror
Created by: Charlie Brooker
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Toby Kebbell, Rory Kinnear
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| Black Mirror - Dark, twisted, gripping. |
Plot:
Black Mirror examines the pitfalls when technology and society intersect. What happens when technology goes off the rails, creating a horrifying situation? Ultimately the questions are, does technology make us happier? Is being connected at all times beneficial? Does it do more harm than good?
Black Mirror is an anthology. Each episode is self contained with completely different actors.
Season one and two each have three episodes and an additional Christmas special. Netflix is going to release twelve additional episodes in 2016.
Review:
The title is derived from the reflection from a blank electronic screen. I'm going to delve into each episode so be prepared. If you're spoiler sensitive, it's time to bail out.
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| Black Mirror - The National Anthem |
A ransom note demands that the Prime Minister must have sex with a pig on live television to save the life of the royal princess.. What a question. Do you save a life or your honor? Of course the PM is looking into backup plans, tracking the cell phone and hiring an actor and CGI artist. These backup plans keep the plot moving. I wondered if the actor didn't know what he was getting into, but he definitely did, adding to the dark humor. When the body doubles pose against the green screen for lighting, I wanted to laugh, but at the same time it's sickening. This isn't some soft core shoot.
This show is taking the craziest idea and running with it. After watching seasons one and two, I do think they put this first to make a statement. It worked.
The show, and the seasons, don't just explore the main question, but the resulting ripples. What does the press do? How does the public react? The episode takes a jab at both parties.
Much of the public were rooting for it to happen, thinking there was no way. When it actually happens, the public gets what it wants and realizes it never wanted that. It goes on for an hour!
Each episode has a stinger at the end, a final twist. The ransom was an artist playing a joke, seeing how he could leverage the media. He released the princess before the act occurred, though he definitely kidnapped her.
One year later, the PM's approval rating is higher than before the incident, though his wife has rejected him.
Politicians profane themselves in private and finally it's done in public. Stories often come to light, of theft, coverups, and more. This is all the more relevant with the allegation of David Cameron's hazing ritual in college.
Look at how powerful the media is. Before technology made information instantly available worldwide the 'stunt' in this episode wouldn't have worked.
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| Black Mirror - Fifteen Million Merits |
We don't know much about the world or this sect, but there is a point system for everything. It costs points for toothpaste even. Everything is computer controlled and fake. There is no daylight, only a facsimile. The objectification of women is pushed on the main character Bing in the form of videos, and it costs points to avoid it.
This episode riffs on talent judging shows which is a great subject to tackle. Everything preceding the competition is a construct. To escape the strict regime, to win, you forsake one form of servitude for another. And the winner's prize doesn't seem any better.
The episode started with a love triangle that went nowhere. A girl that likes Bing is ignored and she becomes a background character. Though it does underscore the fascination with talent that we seek on the internet.
Bing has a crush on a girl and funds her so she can try out for the talent competition which is a direct parody of American Idol. She wins, but the award is nothing she would have wanted. She is belittled on stage, and it doesn't help she was forced to consume a 'compliance drink' beforehand. Her prize is the inclusion in porn videos. This point system isn't quite fair as the system ensures Bing doesn't have enough points to skip the video of his crush and even forces him to watch, pausing until he opens his eyes.
Not only do we see Bing broken, but this girl who wanted to get out, who wanted to be successful and actually had talent suffers a cruel fate.
This is exactly what we do with talent shows. We judge contestants, make them famous, and monopolize their talents. We dress them up and give them commands, bending them to our wills, either the public or the producers.
Bing makes a decision, though we don't know what. We see a well-done montage where he earns points. His goal was to enter the talent show himself.
Despite the degradation and trauma contestants have seen winners endure, they still want to win the talent competition. Is it because they are told they should? Is it because it's advertised as a way out?
The spectators are in their own servitude, mindless drones peddling bikes. They try to earn points for entertainment. Their sole focus in life is entertainment.
Bing delivers an amazing speech revealing the truths to the system as he holds a shard of glass to his neck, threatening violence. His heartfelt thoughts are reduced to a gimmick. The judges applaud 'the show.' Even this underlines the response to internet personalities. Someone becomes internet famous and then touts the one thing they did or unsuccessfully endeavors to do the next big thing. It's all a gimmick, and what made them famous is lost.
I was surprised at the amount of depth the episode has. Anything that's done well, that is new or different will be copied and overused and reduced in value. Bing 'won' the competition and now must peddle products for points while holding that same shard of glass to his neck. Being a mindless drone was better than that.
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| Black Mirror - The Entire History of You |
Each person has a recording device that records everything they see. It's like the Robin Williams movie Final Cut, though this episode delves much deeper.
Instead of living people are reliving past memories. Why try a new experience when you can relive that great moment you had a decade ago? This episode tells us these recorders are superior because half of organic memories are false. Even a leading question can implant false memories.
We have memories we dwell on but they lessen and fade over time, but with this pain and sadness live on forever. In this world, you don't deal, you don't move on. Even with this amazing technology, every single person dwells on the bad. Liam is hung up on a bad job interview. He replays it time and again, settling on a turn of phrase an interviewer said.
When he and his wife return from a night out, they review what their baby saw.I loved the detail that babies are a nanny cam. This show excels at adding these small moments. Something you wouldn't have considered but makes these worlds real.
Liam is suspicious his wife may be having an affair. He spends the night drinking and replaying his memories. He confronts his wife and in the argument, pulls up specific events to argue his case, transferring the memory to a television in the vicinity. His wife denies it and he's able to replay memories and throw the lie right in her face.
Liam had confronted the man he thinks his wife is seeing and was able to record the smoking gun. She can't deny the evidence. Liam demands that she replay the infidelity. She refuses, citing she deleted it. He demands to see the gap in her timeline.
Liam's wife left, and he's left with nothing, reliving memories instead of making new ones. This is an incredible episode of television. He ultimately decides the recorder does more harm than good.
Reality television would be watching people's memories. With an audio only option it would replace podcasts. Upload you memories straight to Youtube for your vlog. The episode hints there is a black market for memories, one woman having her implant stolen.
We've all wished we could replay a memory, good or bad. With the ability to do this, the characters dwell on small details. Would the population resign themselves to reviewing their own memories, wondering what they could have been? Not everyone, but I expect many would. It would be difficult not to fall into that rabbit hole.
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| Black Mirror - Be Right Back |
This episode tackles another subject we've seen into before, but it does it better. If a company could recreate consciousness and bring back a loved one, would you do it? In this case, a company uses the social media profile of Ash to generate a voice so that Martha can hear and talk to him after he is dead. Posting to social media could be good, except it's another instance where a person can't grieve and thus they don't move on. Is that what technology would do to us? Prevent us from dealing with emotions?
With similarities to the movie Her with Joaquin Phoenix, Martha creates a boyfriend that was better than the one she had despite the fact it's only a disembodied voice. This voice is always there for her and always listening to her.
This is a clever company, they lure you in with the voice and then spring it on you. For a large sum of money, you can get a body. It will look and sound just like Ash. This is what technology will do. Dupe people.
Despite how real it looks, the body isn't Ash. It doesn't know everything Ash does and it doesn't always act like him.
Martha hides this from her family. I don't know how you would introduce this to somebody. It's a few steps above (or away from) a sex toy. The general population would know about this. I'm sure the company is public. I also have no idea how Martha would have gotten the money, but that's irrelevant.
The uncanny appearance is too much. The reproduction isn't close enough. Martha can't dispose of it, so she keeps 'Ash' locked in the attic.
We don't know if Martha ever moved on or if she sometimes relives memories with this Ash that never ages. She did introduce her daughter to it.
You could argue it's cruel to leave Ash in the attic, but he's a toy. A toy that can mimic feeligns.
If you could have a loved one back would you do it? Of course, but it's never real, and that will always nag at you.
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| Black Mirror - White Bear |
The opening feels almost like the start to a video game. Victoria wakes up in a chair located in an unfamiliar house, pills are strewn about the floor, and she has no idea what's going on. People just watch or take photos as this girl is being chased by mask wearing, weapon wielding hoodlums.
I wondered if it was some kind of demonstration like the movie The Game with Michael Douglas.
Victoria is a criminal convicted of kidnapping and an accessory to murder. Every night her mind is erased and she relives this horrifying scenario in a theme park where spectators can watch her run for her life.
The episode doesn't explain if this for all criminals or just a select few. For how long does this ocur?
Ostensibly she'll die at some point with lack of sleep and food. While Victoria feels bad about what she is told she's done, she doesn't feel directly responsible. In flashbacks she sees bits and pieces, thinking the girl she abducted is her daughter. It goes beyond justice to torture. If jails are for rehabilitation, is this torture just for victim satisfaction and public spectacle?
It's an eye for an eye in one sense. She filmed the murder and did nothing. Now she experiences the part of the victim. As people come to this park to watch her and do nothing.
I wonder if people would watch this? They probably would, which is really the most horrifying thing about it.
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| Black Mirror - The Waldo Moment |
This episode feels weak, though the message is as strong as any episode. A weak Black Mirror episode is still excellent, though a cartoon overtaking the polls isn't far off from the current presidential primaries.
Candidates wear a false visage, spouting nonsense. Candidates are cartoons. They dress and speak the way their campaign manager thinks will garner votes. As Waldo states, poltics isn't about helping people it's about self aggrandizing and helping yourself.
It seems ridiculous to have a cartoon participate in a debate with candidates, but the only difference is that the cartoon's facade is larger and easier to identify.
The voice actor for Waldo gets lost between the blurring lines where Waldo starts and he starts. Do politicians ever pause and wonder what they're talking about or do they just read the cards their campaign gives them?
Are politicians just voice actors, parroting the information that will get them elected? Last year an Iowa teenager registered Deez Nuts as a candidate for president. Deez Nuts polled better than many real Republicans.The underlying issue is that politicians are a joke. They obscure important issues causing the voting base to become disenfranchised.
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| Black Mirror - White Christmas |
Two men at a remote outpost swap stories.
In the first story, you can broadcast a live feed of what you see and hear to others. A confidence coach Matt, played by Jon Hamm, uses the media to conduct training, commanding the student how to dress and act as others remotely watch the live feed. These broadcasts are illegal and the training session ends unexpectedly.
The coach's day job is automating homes. You can convert your consciousness to digital data and a digital person who believes they are real interfaces with the controls. The technology seems cumbersome at best and impossible at worst. At it's root it has to be an elaborate algorithm. Why take the extra step of creating a world and an avatar for this algorithm? Why hasn't this led to cyborgs and robots. Black Mirror speculation often leads you down a rabbit hole. This works, because the plot needs it do. Is it torture if it's a digital avatar and not a real person? Is it possible to torture a computer program?
As you can digitally transmit what you see and hear, you can also block someone. Both parties are completely muffled from the other, and both look like a a filled region of static. Used in an argument, it can be quite upsetting. Potter's pregnant girlfriend leaves him without warning, blocking him. Potter spies on them when they visit family for Christmas. All he can see of his daughter is a static blob.
When he is finally able to see his daughter, he realizes why his girlfriend left. The kid is not his.
When we cut back to the outpost the clock from Potter's story is present. Matt is actually interrogating Potter, they are in a program similar to the home automation construct. Matt has relayed these stories to Potter to coerce a confession, but Matt's stories were real. Hamm is released due to his aid, but he is marked by an offender. He can't see anyone and they see him highlighted in red. They may as well have put a target on him. You know something will happen to him as he walks through a sneering crowd. If I were him I'd rather be in jail. Some criminals should be marked, but while Matt wasn't a violent offender, his harm is nearly assured.
Can a confession from an avatar, a computer program, be admissible? The actual person didn't confess and the avatar was tortured to effect submission.
The digital area for confession is similar to a concept in the book Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan.
This episode is about control. Matt helped coach and in effect control his 'student'. His job was to create programs for home automation. When he's released from prison, the justice system controls how the world sees him.
Verdict:
Black Mirror is my new favorite show. Even the lesser episodes are still amazing. Technology isn't all bad, but the series posits intriguing ideas about how it could go wrong. Movies and other shows have looked at some of the same issues, but Black Mirror does a great job of world building and how technological advances can affect even minute areas of life.
Season one episode three The Entire History of You ranks as one of the best episodes of television I've seen. Black Mirror does in one episode what some shows take an entire season.
Watch it.
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