Black Mirror (UK)

[Totenkindly]

Okay, I figured I'd start a thread on this because it was my new momentary obsession -- once I started watching this show, I couldn't stop until I'd seen every episode. it's kind of a modern Outer Limits / Twilight Zone spin on the interface of culture and technology.

It's a bit cynical and even sarcastic at times, but never to the degree that it just seems like an assault: THe scariest element of the series is that so much of it seems believable (at least, if certain technological hurdles could be cleared), and some of the tech being explored is actual tech we're seeing either developed this very day and/or companies investing lots of money to develop right now.

So far there are seven episodes that have been released (the latest being the "Christmas" episode); the production quality is very clean and appropriate, the directing and editing and tone is great, and each episode typically features a decent fairly well-known actor along with very solid supporting cast. This ain't Tales from the Darkside or some "schlocky" production, this is the same quality as House of Cards for example.

I don't want to go into a lot of detail in the OP, since part of the fun is watching these and seeing them unfold. But the current seven episodes and reference points:

1. The National Anthem: YouTube culture, video terrorism, newsroom dynamics, public opinion fluxuation/reinforcement due to speed of Internet news

2. Fifteen Million Merits: Commercialistic dystopia, personalized advertising, consumerism, TV reality competition shows, voicelessness/meaninglessness in the Internet age where anything can be packaged and sold

3. The Entire History of You: Subjectivity of facts/memory; human need for control; electronic self-absorption; living in the virtual past vs the authentic present

4. Be Right Back: Human simulation; dealing with loss; relational dynamics between AI and human

5. White Bear: Perceptions of reality; voyeuristic culture; social tools of crime and punishment

6. The Waldo Moment: Reality and politics; issues versus image/entertainment; anti-politism as a stance; fluidity of substance under the static image

7. White Christmas: Cross-spoken communication, electronic voyeurism, "blocking" others / pervasive social alienation, enslaved AI, perceptions of time

Like I said, the scariest thing is that the kind of tech and scenarios represented here are actual things that seem plausible -- Episode 1 could actually happen today, and the tech in the rest is something we've partly developed and/or companies are investing money to develop, although we might never be able to take it quite so far. But it's all very relevant and real.

 

[miss fortune]

haven't seen the christmas episode yet, but we watched the others a few weeks ago

actually sparked some interesting discussions... especially the entire history of you (heard somewhere that there's talks about making that into a stand alone movie, but I won't believe it until it's more than talks)

 

[Totenkindly]

For now, spoilered, but maybe we should just spoiler the thread so that we can talk openly. There's a lot to discuss.


The most poignant for me was probably Episode 3 (The Complete History of You).

It's basically watching a guy ruin himself through obsession of recorded history -- he loses himself in reviewing and rewinding all these moments in his past to see what "they really meant" and ends up overanalyzing himself out of probably his job and definitely out of a marriage. The beautiful part is that his suspicions are actually validated over time, so he's not completely wrong; the nub of the episode is that "just because something is a fact doesn't mean it's true," which he never understands until the end. he gives too much weight to certain facts that he misses other facts completely, and thus punishes himself and the people he loves, in the end.

The most disturbing, Episode 5 (White Bear). You need to watch that one through and not assume where it's going.

It starts out as a hash of the VHS movie series and ends up as a disturbing exploration of the mores of social justice. Yes, the protagonist is guilty of what she is being punished for; is the punishment worse than the original crime? And how does participation change the participants and even the idea of modern justice for the worse, in the end? So help me, I don't know. But it's not even clear how long she will be punished or whether the punishment offers any form of rehabilitation, it's just this frightening ongoing means of torture. And yet she did something horrific. I can't compute a response. That's why it's disturbing.

My least favorite was Episode 6 (Waldo).

It was kind of the most infantile in some ways, and banging an old drum about image over reality and a type of cynicism well known in American politics at least with our talking heads and sensationalism. Interestingly, though, I still found it disturbing (1) how change is impossible, because if the voice of cynicism rebels it is simply replaced with another interchangeable cynic without even a blip in the noise level and (2) even if the stuffed shirts are frauds and flakes on some levels, they "still get the roads paved." Shit still happens, and is that all that matters in the end?

The Christmas special was pretty delicious. I think the last few minutes are kind of skin-crawling, even if the effects made me laugh at one part.

Jon Hamm getting perma-blocked by society because of being a convicted sex offender again raises the question of whether complete isolation is an appropriate punishment, and whether he will even survive since he can be singled out as a target so easily. He's essentially become a ghost. And the other guy, with his AI stuck in a perma-loop with the same damn song and location and whatever else.... is the punishment appropriate?

 

[Eilonwy]

Haven't watched the Christmas special yet. Looking forward to it.

 

[Riva]

Watched it and hated it.

I watched the first and the waldo episode. Hated them both

Where were the plot twists the show promised???? It's been the most obvious depressing plots and most obvious options for the protagonists so far.

It deeply u derestimatss the potential of the victimized politicians. You think a kidnapper or jerk with a mike is the best at swaying the public, then you haven't met politicians.

 

[Cellmold]

I really enjoyed this series myself and I've always been a fan of Charlie Brooker anyhow. I have to give thanks to [MENTION=5143]Salomé[/MENTION] for putting me onto it.

Fifteen million merits stood out a lot at first as it seemed omnirepresentative of what's happening right now, but of course on further watching, every episode was a picking of the scabs of humanities relationship with technology and with itself as a species.
In fact I share your view of White Bear [MENTION=7]Jennifer[/MENTION]. The questions raised on the old ' punishment fitting the crime' notion of justice, which is really a packaged version of vengeance, and what it reveals about the brutality of human nature through the justification of being wronged, were well presented. Also as you said, the crime itself was horrifying and is part of a deliberate ploy to make sure you have nowhere safe to turn morally.

It's an aspect that is often, though not always, explored in this series. That is to say: there is no clear answer and it's the bane of black and white thinking.

 

[Eilonwy]

Watched it and hated it.

I watched the first and the waldo episode. Hated them both

Where were the plot twists the show promised???? It's been the most obvious depressing plots and most obvious options for the protagonists so far.

It deeply u derestimatss the potential of the victimized politicians. You think a kidnapper or jerk with a mike is the best at swaying the public, then you haven't met politicians.

Here's my take on the series: Like any fable parable, it's not based on facts, but realistic enough to be relatable so that the viewer can be led to whatever moral the story is trying to get across, or to prod the viewer into thinking or seeing a different pov.

I thought the first episode was weak compared to the others, but I focus mainly on the human interaction and the lessons I can learn from that, not so much on plot twists.


ETA: Clarifying--The first episode was weak for me because the moral was obvious--not much ambiguity or room to think critically about the lesson being presented. Lots of disgust/shock factor instead. Even Waldo had more layers to it, making it more interesting to me on a human level as opposed to just as a story.

 

[Totenkindly]

The first episode was more straightforward than the others, but not entirely. Should he have capitulated to demands? Does his wife have reason to behave as she does? What were his real motives in succumbing? Did the guy behind it all still win? What if the PM didn't go along? Was it a lose/lose scenario all along? Etc.

----

I found Waldo kind of boring as a cartoon character, although the style reminded me of Joe Cartoon a bit. Also ironic, I recognized the one actor because I had just watched lock stock and two smoking barrels the day before.

Watched it and hated it.

I watched the first and the waldo episode. Hated them both

Where were the plot twists the show promised???? It's been the most obvious depressing plots and most obvious options for the protagonists so far.

Watch them in order next time.

 

[Eilonwy]

The first episode was more straightforward than the others, but not entirely. Should he have capitulated to demands? Does his wife have reason to behave as she does? What were his real motives in succumbing? Did the guy behind it all still win? What if the PM didn't go along? Was it a lose/lose scenario all along? Etc.

True. There was the "should one give in to terrorist demands?" issue that isn't easy to answer one way or the other. I think I found it weak/obvious because the episode didn't seem to add anything new to that particular debate besides the shock factor. That said, I still liked the episode. I just liked the subsequent episodes better.

 

[Totenkindly]

True. There was the "should one give in to terrorist demands?" issue that isn't easy to answer one way or the other. I think I found it weak/obvious because the episode didn't seem to add anything new to that particular debate besides the shock factor. That said, I still liked the episode. I just liked the subsequent episodes better.

Agreed. I thought it was a decent "intro" episode, since the later episodes seem to really dig into things. I did like the ending, where it was clear there were ramifications to his choices + the fact

she got released half an hour before he went on the air.

 

[Eilonwy]

Agreed. I thought it was a decent "intro" episode, since the later episodes seem to really dig into things. I did like the ending, where it was clear there were ramifications to his choices + the fact

she got released half an hour before he went on the air.

It's been quite a few months since I've watched any of the episodes, so I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly, but

wasn't it inferred or stated outright that the antagonist did what he did as a form of artistic expression? That was interesting to me, to put that sort of a twist on the usual "give in to terrorist demands" plot. He wasn't a terrorist at all, just a very misguided artist. He even sacrificed his own finger for his artistic expression. And when his attempt to create went so horribly wrong, he killed himself.

 

[Eilonwy]

The Christmas Special was brutal.

 

[Eilonwy]

I'm tempted to say that the blocking tech was an example of the ultimate doorslam. And the horror of isolation and repetition added to being shunned--it was all so inhumane. 1000 years a minute? Leave him on over Christmas?

No one was blameless, except for the child. There were consequences to everyone's actions. And while there were obvious crimes committed for which those who committed them should be held accountable, the punishments, and the actions of the ones imposing the punishments, were sorely lacking in humanity.

I found Jon Hamm's character was unlikeable yet sympathetic at the same time. How did he do that?

 

[Totenkindly]

I've seen him in many things, and Hamm has this crazy ability to be likeable/ attractive with a hint of slime/sleaze, kind of like a smooth piece of cheesecake that you suspect has gone a bit bad and can confirm after you take a bite. (Yet you still might be tempted to take one more bite... or at least consider it.)

 

[Eilonwy]

I've seen him in many things, and Hamm has this crazy ability to be likeable/ attractive with a hint of slime/sleaze, kind of like a smooth piece of cheesecake that you suspect has gone a bit bad and can confirm after you take a bite. (Yet you still might be tempted to take one more bite... or at least consider it.)

That is such a wonderful description!

It just occurred to me that they were punishing the cookie, not the man who actually committed the crime, and they were unnecessarily cruel to an AI that technically was only guilty of sharing the same thoughts, not doing the same actions. Where is the justice in that? We don't get to see what punishment is dealt to the real man. Except for Hamm.

 

[Adam]

Great show. Too bad they're so slow with the production of new seasons.

 

[Totenkindly]

This is a big deal: Apparently Netflix just picked up the series as producer, with Brooker and his company still creating the show. So he got funding for more episodes.

Black Mirror: Netflix to Produce New Episodes | Collider

 

[Riva]

I watched two episodes and hated it.

Great show. Too bad they're so slow with the production of new seasons.

It's a uk thing. If a show is good, has great reviews, fans are eargerly waiting make sure to make only a mini series with less than 3 seasons and make sure the seasons are 2 years apart.

The fans have doctor who anyway. They wouldn't mind.

I actually enjoy it when usa picks these shows up. They produce more episodes and much faster. The quality might be a bit less though.

 

[Totenkindly]

I don't think Netflix is going to rush Brooker and risk losing quality. They know what they've got, and it's quite a win for them even if it's more of a niche market.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I watched the White Bear episode, and it was pretty effective. I found it a little too intense. There's something about crowds hounding someone whose guilt or innocence is unclear that terrifies me.

I mean, I never saw any concrete evidence presented. Nobody provided it. It's impossible for a viewer who wasn't there to know what really happened, especially when neutral observers are so cagey about details.

I'm not sure I can watch another episode of this.