by Sujoy on December 19, 2011
Charlie Brooker’s final episode closes the Black Mirror trilogy in epic fashion. Episode 1 dealt with the power and reach of non-traditional media, and how it could even lead to bully the most powerful person in the nation. After all, it managed to organise revolutions in the real world. Episode 2, was a bleak look at a future ruled and governed by entertainment, sans any attachment and emotions. And with Episode 3, The Entire History of You, we get a taster of another dystopian future, and shows us what the next level of personal video sharing or redo-memory could lead us into. Would Tivo-ing your memories be a gift, or a curse?
Hit the jump, as we discuss Episode 3 of Black Mirror – The Entire History of You. SPOILER ALERT. [click to continue…]
by Sujoy on December 14, 2011
After a cracking Episode 1, which left us with a sense of awe, Black Mirror returned with a second episode. This time around, we switch gears to enter the world of reality TV in a dystopian futuristic society – an age where iPad and Kinect have taken over our lives, and consumerism has become omnipotent, almost to the level of a totalitarian government. With sleek visuals and a claustrophic environment surrounding the entire episode, this dark face of our not-so-distant future, might probably be the best of genre television of the year. But it is not just the scifi elements which stand out in this episode. There’s pretty much everything for every one – a doomed love story, a clear villain, and even that annoying sidekick which we want to get killed. Read on, as I discuss the key points of Episode 2 of Black Mirror – Fifteen Million Merits. Needless to mention – SPOILERS ALERT.
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by Sujoy on December 7, 2011
Charlie Brooker’s three part mini-series Black Mirror is definitely not your typical Sunday night entertainment. For those like me, who expected a light entertainment program, how wrong was I? This turned into a wickedly twisted idea, which continued to surprise me with every passing minute. Titled – The National Anthem, episode 1 was centred around a what-if scenario, of the kidnapping of a pretty princess by a smart and artistic terrorist. And in ransom ,the Prime Minister is demanded to perform an obscene act involving a pig, on national TV. It gets even more demented, when it is revealed that the ransom video was delivered via YouTube, and hence, the video goes viral, and the impact of the social media kicks in, and the Prime Minister has no way to go, other than giving in (pun intended). What starts as a bizarre premise, becomes deliciously tense and devilishly dark and twisted. But there’s more to it than just that.
There are multiple layers of social commentary that have been made in mere 45 minutes of its runtime. And I’d like to highlight them in this post. Hit the jump to join the discussion. Of course, SPOILERS ALERT.
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