Black Mirror: Back and… Different Than Ever
For fans of the dystopian and sci fi genres, Netflix’s highly acclaimed anthology series Black Mirror is a viewing essential. From the very start, the series dares to tackle topics related to technology and social media in the present day, including cancel culture, the culture of instagram in general, online catfishing, location trackers, dating apps, and more. Each episode explores dark and unnerving consequences of different aspects of internet usage, which can be disturbing for the viewer, as ordinary people in the dystopian world often meet unfortunate fates due to technology that is only slightly more advanced than what we have today. There is also technology unique to the futuristic worlds of the different episodes that I hope to never see created in our world. My favorite example is the “cookie” technology that lets someone create a copy of you from your DNA, which, for those that have seen the episodes in which this technology is accessed by those with evil intentions, is something that can be akin to torture for the newly made digital “you” that still has human emotions. Though I could go on long tangents about some of the episodes in the early seasons, I am going to focus on the latest season, which came out this year after a four year hiatus. Many loyal fans of the show believed that it changed for the worse, but I believe that the show kept its main focus: how social media and technology can negatively impact society. This can be clearly seen with my two favorite episodes from the new season, “Joan is Awful” and “Loch Henry.”
“Joan is Awful,” written by Charlie Brooker and directed by Ally Pankiw, is set in a world similar to ours, where the only difference is that instead of Netflix they have “Streamberry.” Streamberry and its executives are the main villains of the story. Joan, a very ordinary working woman, is browsing Streamberry with her partner when she comes across a show called Joan is Awful that shows embarrassing events taken from her life mere hours before. Joan is played by none other than Salma Hayek. How Streamberry knew these details about Joan's life and why Salma Hayek agreed to play Joan are all answered in the episode, and the technology of this world plays a pivotal part. The twist at the end is hilariously unexpected and mind blowing, and is worth watching the episode for. Instead of being a downgrade in terms of plot from the episodes of the previous seasons, I believe that this episode was exactly what Black Mirror has been about all along, and it’s hard not to appreciate how they openly mocked the streaming platform that Black Mirror is featured on. If you are looking for a less disturbing and relatively light hearted Black Mirror episode, “Joan is Awful” is for you.
Another season six episode that showcased Black Mirror’s theme is “Loch Henry,” written by Charlie Brooker and directed by Sam Miller. The series takes place in Loch Henry, Scotland where a young man named Davis McCardle is visiting his childhood home with his girlfriend Pia. After learning about a local serial killer in the 90’s, Pia suggests that they make a true crime documentary about the killer, whose name is Iain Adair. The story of Adair is personal for Charlie as his dad was the policeman called to investigate Adair’s house which resulted in him being shot and kille. How the making of their documentary unfolds is unsurprisingly eerie, and is also accompanied by a disturbing twist. This episode is Black Mirror’s take on the true crime genre and how concerning it is that people seem to be enthralled by these disturbing stories. Like “Joan is Awful,” this can be seen as a jab at Netflix due to the quantity of true crime documentaries the platform has. Coincidentally, when Joan browses Streamberry in “Joan is Awful” they stumble upon the fictional Loch Henry documentary, revealing that the two episodes are in the same world.
Because of how both of these episodes focus on streaming platforms like Netflix, they are highly relevant to our lives today. While clear that Black Mirror has not completely shifted its focus from the past seasons, it is nevertheless focusing on a different sector of the world of technology. If there is a season seven, it will be exciting to see what the series explores next.