‘Black Mirror’ and the Horrors and Delights of Technology | Hacker News Reader

‘Black Mirror’ and the Horrors and Delights of Technology

nytimes.com

83 pointsr0h1n33 comments

For anyone who hasn't seen it, I would highly recommend it. It's basically a modern day Twilight Zone.

As some of the other comments have pointed out, episodes 1 and 2 are good but not great. There's a review on AV Club [1] that address it really well, but the general sense is the producers were not quite sure what tone to strike. They tried to mix shock value with sci-fi, a bit of audience pandering and some humor, and it ended up kind of flat.

Episode 3 is where it really takes off. I won't give spoilers but it hit so hard I later realized I wasn't prepared for it. I watched it twice to see whether or not it still had value outside of the "shock", and even the second time I found that it was a fascinating look at where we might be going.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, Robert Downey Jr. bought the rights to turn episode 3 into a movie. The story will center on a widower who uses the technology to reconstruct a vast conspiracy. [2]

[1] http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/black-mirror-the-national-anthe...

[2] http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/12/robert-downey-jr...

One thing I have noticed from reading reviews and comments about the show is that there is little consensus about which episodes are the best. Many people (I being one of them), actually think episode 2, "Fifteen Million Merits" is the series best.

Personally, I love every episode, and I even think the "The Waldo Moment," which is by far the messiest episode, made some important points about the dangers of bad and lazy criticism.

This AV Club review of seasons 1 and 2 (http://www.avclub.com/review/black-mirror-is-a-brilliant-cal...), which contains fewer spoilers than the episodic reviews, really captures the goal and the value of the series as a whole (see: its title.)

I'd say some other things but want to refrain from spoiling anything. While I usually hate it when people care too much about spoilers (as you note, a work should still stand up upon re-watch), this show at some points relies on the viewer's lack of knowledge to create a tone/mood/point.

EDIT: Grammar.

Brilliant show. Black Mirror is a bit cerebral, thus not everyone's cup of tea. The episodes I've seen seem to show one sort of technology that's different from what we have, but reminiscent of something common. By the end of the episode, you find yourself wondering if the harmless tech you use is really so harmless.

I find it intriguing that the author of this article places "Her" in the "path of least resistance" camp. Specifically, the author states that "Her":

> focuses more on the male protagonist’s inability to connect with other humans than the implications of unleashing such powerful programs on the world

I thought "Her" had an incredible amount of restraint, and the story of the AI itself was told through a human lens. This is actually exactly what I observed in many episodes of Black Mirror: normal people living their daily lives, and an exploration of what happens when human nature is enhanced or challenged by advanced technologies.

Really, when I first watched Black Mirror, "Her" came to mind immediately. "Black Mirror" is perhaps more overtly bleak, but I feel that's a choice of tone rather than a decision to take a somehow more difficult path. "Her" raises a lot of the same questions, even if it doesn't judge quite as harshly.

Either its about art, or its about the loss of innocence caused by technology forcing us to pit moral values against each other that we didn't have to before due to technology increasing the available options.

http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2015/01/01/black-mirror-as-hell-is...

White Bear , S2E2 was as good as I could imagine a modern version of the Twilight Zone can be. Blurring modern day life, SciFi, surrealism, entertainment, and 4th wall breaking oddities.

If you appreciate the underlying vibe, you might also like the 'weekly wipe' series. Different format, it's news / political satire. It's created by the same guy - Charlie Brooker.

Don't forget 'Dead Set', a really good zombie TV series set in the Big Brother house (Very critically acclaimed).

Also 'A Touch of Cloth' is funny, essentially British 'Police Squad'/'Naked Gun'.

Terrible show. I can't speak to episode 3 and beyond because I didn't watch it, 1 and 2 were so bad. I only saw the episodes that were available on Netflix. Episodes 1 and 2 (PM Pigfucker and Reality TV Ad World) were HORRIBLY paced, slower than molasses in January, with so much wasted time that should have been either cut, or filled with more story. Instead, we're given the basis of the episode in the first few minutes, then we get that concept beaten like a dead horse for 30ish more minutes, then a completely unsatisfying ending. There was a minor twist in 1 that could have been more enjoyable were I not so annoyed at how bad the rest of the episode was, and the twist in episode 2 was just obnoxious and completely unoriginal. There were so many moments they could have done interesting things with what happens in the episodes, but instead, they just leave half finished statements all over the place. A complete waste of time, money, and talent.

It reminded me of Blair Witch, which was a fantastic 20 minute short film that for no reason was padded out with an additional hour of footage of snotty college kids crying and yelling "FUCK!" in the woods.

Terrible comment. I can't speak for previous comments because I did not read them, but this one is really judgmental. First sentence clearly communicates the point of the comment, yet it drags for two more paragraphs completely beating around the same dead horse that could be summarized in one sentence: "I did not like the show because I did not agree with pacing of the story or understand why directors made certain stylistic choices."

I was clear that the show started off so poorly that I skipped the third of the three episodes available to me. This is called "honesty" and lets the viewer know exactly from where my comment comes. They can then chose to say, "Wow, the first two were so bad he quit there!" or "maybe it gets better later, I'll skip those two" rather than me bashing the entire series with people think I saw every episode.

Your summary is incorrect. I enjoy a deliberately paced show or movie, I felt the pacing here was BAD, not that I didn't agree with it. Also, I at no point felt that I didn't understand the stylistic choices, I felt the writing was terrible. That's not a stylistic choice by the director. Visually the shows were very well done, and I thought aside from pacing, which was a flaw of the scripts, the directors did great jobs.

Your comment is just snark for the sake of being snarky. I gave an opinion on the show, you're free to disagree, but don't be a dick just because you can. That impresses no one.

I love Black Mirror but I don't understand why people feel the need to downvote you for expressing your opinion.

I've been noticing more and more perfectly acceptable comments greyed out that I'm starting to wonder if I should just create a bookmarklet that just ungreys them all since I can't trust HN users to use their downvote privileges properly any more.

Looking at the thread as a whole, I'm the only commenter stating they disliked the show. I think I'm just being downvoted for an unpopular opinion. I'll live. :)

I agree about the trend, but in this case I do agree with the downvotes. OP states that 'the show is shit' and then makes it clear they have only seen two episodes. In the context of discussing the show, that seems like a comment of very low worth to me.

There were three episodes available to me on Netflix. I said I skipped the last one and why. Isn't that me just being honest? I'm explicitly telling you that I'm only references the first two episodes because I made a conscious decision to not watch the third based on the terrible quality of the first two. Rather than ripping it all for no reason, I'm telling you EXACTLY what I didn't like and why, and how far that opinion should be taken. I'd think that's a legitimate expression of opinion.

I took the advice of some reviews on Netflix and just skipped the first episode altogether. I didn't find the second episode very believable (the setting seemed really over the top), but thought I'd try one more episode. The 3rd and 4th were significantly better.

I liked the 1st episode, but when recommending the series I advise that each episode is different and stands alone.

The 1st episode is extra-crude. It's very realistic in one dimension, its setting: it could be today, with no extra technology or cultural assumptions. But then it's absurd in another dimension: the extremeness of its unfolding events. I could tell right away that particular mix might not sit well with many people, even as the bold choices in the service of its themes impressed me.

I suspect the episode has more impact the more familiar the viewer is with British culture around royals and tabloids. I liked its big questions: what happens when trolls/terrorists can outpace traditional authorities? How do you weigh embarrassment against life? Actual incidents since its original airdate – from the 'fappening' to ISIS to terrorists-wearing-GoPros – are only bringing us closer to its absurd world.

I just started watching this actually, and have only seen 1 and 2 so far. I'm already interested enough to watch some more, and this makes that sound more rewarding than I would have thought.

I didn't like 2 that much actually. I feel like there wasn't enough of a background explanation of the world that the episode was set in to really relate to the characters or their situation. Where did all of these people come from, why are they riding bikes all the time, and why are they living in this crazy merits-based world? Exactly who is building and maintaining all of this high-tech gear for them? What are the rules, who is enforcing them, and why? What is the point of making people ride bikes all day? Etc, etc etc.

I felt fascinated by the first episode, though. Yeah, the subject is crude, but I think it serves well to illustrate a number of trends of the modern world - just how much power there can be in mass media, and how impotent traditional authority structures can be against it when organized well. It's striking that, absurd as the situation is, no individual part of it is really impossible even today.

Well, I will say that, while the individual pieces are not impossible, they would each take a lot of expertise in the appropriate field to set up. I don't think it's possible for all of that experience to exist in one person, or to find people with experience in the appropriate fields, bring them together, and get them all working towards a shared goal of something as absurd as getting the PM to fuck a pig, without the authorities finding out somehow.

'15 Million Merits' (S1E2) is my favorite. I see it as an intentionally abstract and allegorical world, more like a cartoon or fairy-tale. Yet even not knowing a realistic origin-story, its major characteristics are recognizable, as reductio ad absurdum extrapolations from our world.

And in our world, aren't there an awful lot of arbitrary demands and limits we just accept, or are supported by thin just-so rationalizations? And why? Simply because it's all we've ever known, and everyone else is accepting them, and all the little rewards and penalties and media-messages from our engineered environment combine to just make us play our role.

I think of this episode as "THX1138 for the American Idol/Candy Crush generation".

Yet it's also separately interesting to wonder: could this be a literally-depicted location, somewhere in our future? A synthetic subsistence environment offered to surplus people? It's not blatantly cruel, and it offers plenty of entertainment and status-competition and food and exercise – even though we recognize it as a very small and manipulative sandbox.

I think it's even possible, as an exercise, to imagine all the Black Mirror episodes as being different parts of the same continuity. 'The National Anthem' (S1E1) and 'The Waldo Moment' (S2E3) are both set any-day-now, with essentially no technology that doesn't already exist. 'White Bear' (S2E2) comes sometime not too far off, with only a smidge of new tech. 'Entire History of You' (S1E3) and 'Be Right Back' (S2E1) arrive a decade or few from now, then 'White Christmas' (S3EX?) another decade or few after that.

And '15 Million Merits' (S1E2) occurs sometime indeterminate... but potentially as early as 'White Bear', as a engagement-optimized, 'compassionate' poor-house or prison or nursing-home for those with no prospects outside. (Compare to the synthetic Dutch 'village' for dementia patients: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/11/the-dutch-...)

I certainly hope so. I dropped out after the first 2, with the impression that it was among the worst shows I've ever seen. The second episode was just boring imo. The first was...well....a prime minister screwing a pig. I get that they were going for shock value, but usually there is a payoff for the viewer because the shocking part serves some larger purpose in a great story (like you might find in a show like Breaking Bad). No such payoff came in this case.

I don't think it was meant to be believable. It was a parody. Also it seemed a bit autobiographical of Charlie Brooker to me (he was an anonymous internet critic first, then continuing criticizing the media that now pays him (TV wipe, weekly wipe, yearly wipe, etc.)). Also I think his wife was a casting show host or something like that.

I really liked all of them, but episode 2 was probably my favourite of season 1. It is over the top compared to other parts of the series, but not compared to other experimental far future or alternate universe scifi. For example: Dark City, Idiocracy, Cube, Moon, Battle Royale, Maze Runner.

I didn't get that advice. There should be a warning on the site. I didn't find the episode shocking, just plain dumb. The rest of the episodes were much better but I do agree with the parent that the end of 2 was a bit meh.

Maybe I'll jump back in to later episodes. It's hard to get things right directly out of the gate.

What did you find to be dumb about the episode?

The Prime minister screws a pig on television to fill a ransom demand. The shocker after the ordeal is the victim was released an hour before he did.

That's setting the bar pretty low. And for me, there were no redeeming qualities to raise it back up.

Well, for me, the shocker was the public reaction to it. That people thought it was hilarious and goaded the Prime Minister into doing it, making it into a viral sensation. It was only as the act began that they realised the horror of the situation.

More to the point, someone could have found the victim within that hour and stopped the whole thing, but no-one did because they were too preoccupied watching it on TV.

Exactly. The "oooooh" moment isn't when we find out about the early release. It's when we realize that the people the camera is showing you during the, ah, main event aren't the ones watching the most disgusting and degrading thing happening at that moment—that pleasure's been reserved for us.

Then there's the framing and lighting on that last shot, which made me sit up straight and go, "oh, crap, I need to start paying closer attention to the film-nerd details in this show!"

Wish I saw that advice! I didn't like the first episode at all, but the rest were great. My favorite episode was the Christmas Special, which is not on Netflix, but you can find it on youtube.

Well, you have a large number of people telling you that the other episodes are well worth watching. What you do with that advice is up to you.

If "Black Mirror" is too slow for you, you have the attention span of a gnat.

You should probably stick to fast-paced shows with satisfying endings, like Scorpion or CSI: Cyber.

I appreciate your comment, but I prefer well paced shows and movies, and good writing. Slow pacing is bad, deliberate pacing is good. "There will be blood" is a deliberately paced movie. "Django Unchained" is a deliberately paced movie. "Fargo" is a deliberately paced TV show, they're all good. Slow is when the audience is looking at their watches wondering when the end will come.

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