Black Mirror:
The reflection of our destined future?
After the UK show, “Black Mirror,” made its successful transition to Netflix, avid watchers or new fans of the techno-paranoia have recently tuned into the newest season to experience more futuristic sci-fi anthologies that are bound to have the world questioning its universal obsession and dependency on growing technology.
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If you are new to the show or plan to start watching, you’re in luck. Each episode and each season are completely different with different storylines, characters, and even directors. However, each stand-alone drama follows one overall theme: the unanticipated consequences in which modern society faces with new technology.
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With the contemporary reworkings of the late 1950’s sci-fi drama, “The Twilight Zone,” “Black Mirror,” has captured a new generation of technological advances, terrorizing modern society’s views with their own black mirrors, or technological devices.
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After three eye-opening seasons, “Black Mirror” returned with season four, kicking if off with one of its most high-ranking episodes, “U.S.S Callister,” directed by BBC Journeyman, Toby Haynes. The inventive episode channels the mind of an insecure and awkward game creator, Daly, who develops the virtual reality game, “Infinity.” His obsession with “Star Trek: The Original Series,” inspires his game to follow similar ethos and style, but with a twist on parallel universes. Ignored by the woman he's drawn to at work and mistreated by his cocky co-creator, Daly develops digital clones of his fellow co-workers through DNA samples he swipes from coffee cups and other items they leave behind in the office. The adoring crew members of the space fleet, “U.S.S. Callister,” he dictates and controls in the game are actually his real-life coworkers, where memories of their real-life counterparts are trapped in their digital clones. Daly finds sweet satisfaction in torturing and toying with his co-worker’s digital copies, until his dictatorship is disrupted when he decides to clone his real-life crush, Nanette Cole (Cristin Milioti), into the game.
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Cole encourages her fellow co-workers to stand up to Daly, despite the threats he makes when she refuses to obey his fantasies, and devises a plan to escape and send an SOS message to their real-life counterparts. The episode is an entertaining journey between two interconnecting worlds, as the modern idea of virtual reality games reaches a whole new level. Although most of “Black Mirror” episodes end on a mysterious and oftentimes dark note, “U.S.S. Callister,” is a fresh new taste which lights up the doom and gloom of the futuristic technology failures in which each character experiences.
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However, a handful of episodes in season four tend to get lost in the hustle and bustle of previous season’s storylines. “Arkangel” is another episode in season four which channels a modern-day technology, but this time with child safety. Directed by Jodie Foster, “Arkangel,” refers to an implanted chip that allows a parent to track and monitor their child, as well as censor real-life scenarios or images that may cause the child distress. A single mother, Marie (Rosemarie DeWitt) decides to implant the chip into her daughter’s head after she went missing at a playground. However, as Sara begins to grow up, Arkangel becomes more of a hindrance as Sara’s perception of the outside world becomes a censored and blurry misinterpretation. Marie decides to deactivate the chip in hopes that Sara will become more aware and comfortable with her surroundings. However, as Sara grows into a rebellious teenager, Marie is tempted once again to activate her daughter’s chip to witness what she sees and does.
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This episode is yet another perfect example of how near-future technology can have its ultimate failures. Being the first episode of the series to be directed by a woman and relate so personally to family, “Arkangel,” really captivates the desperate measures a parent will take to ensure the safety of their child. The awkward and misguided mother-daughter relationship is only seen through Marie’s electronic tablet which activates her daughter’s chip, therefore, emphasizing the idea that technology’s motive in connecting people can ultimately result in tearing them apart.
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The episode, “Hang the DJ,” interconnects people through a futuristic dating app known as the “System.” The compatibility algorithm device acts like a personalized matchmaker as people are required by law to go on multiple dates with random people until they have found the one. Only then will the device allow the person to stay with their soulmate. Otherwise, each date is set on a timer based on compatibility. However, one couple, Frank and Amy, decide to test the system after their short date turned into love at first sight. After only 12 hours, the two were forced to go separate ways and continue dating other people. Unfortunately, the dates that followed landed them in incompatible year-long relationships based on the system’s expiration dates, while several others appeared to be a series of worthless Tinder hookups.
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Over a year passes until the two are matched on a date once again, but this time, the two decide not to check the expiration date and date on their own terms. However,even in the future, technology is designated to have its technical difficulties as the dating app begins to reduce the time they have together after Frank secretly looks at his time with Amy without her. The two decide to rebel against the system and run away, worried that the final soulmate they are forced to stay with will not be each other.
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The episode, however, does not just end on that note. It is much more complex than this, as we see continuously in the series that advances in technology tend to manipulate and control its own creator: humans.
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The new season explores even more through several other episodes such as “Metalhead,” and “Crocodile.” “Black Mirror,” is a clever and tasteful perception of this generation’s potential future with technology. Each episode is a refreshing new blend of different directors and actors, all of which are exceptional. The show really makes you question the dependency and manipulation technology already has on us, and how much of a threat technology can have on us in the near-future.
