
'Black Mirror' Is Back, Reflecting Our Technological Fears - evo_9
http://www.npr.org/2016/10/21/498734538/black-mirror-is-back-reflecting-our-technological-fears
======
krylon
Black Mirror is really, really, really good. The writing, the cast, it is just
incredible.

But it is also incredibly depressing. Maybe depressing is the wrong word.
Emotionally exhausting, you might say. Well worth watching once, but I
recently could not bring myself to re-watch it because it so dark. And not
even dark humor, which I like, just dark. Maybe in the spring, I'll come
around...

~~~
jacquesm
What makes it so good is the fact that it is so believable. I wished I could
come up with a 'white mirror' alternative where all our tech is used for good
but it wouldn't be nearly as believable. Human nature being what it is you'd
hope the future isn't even darker than what black mirror shows, it easily
could be.

~~~
drewrv
Star Trek TNG is as close to 'white mirror' as we'll ever get. A universe
where human nature advances alongside technology. It's obviously way more far
fetched and the show hasn't aged well though.

~~~
jacquesm
I don't find Star Trek believable at all, starting with the 'Warp Drive'. As
soon as you add a device like that to a plot it becomes impossible to see it
as a possible future.

~~~
tedunangst
You can reimagine most episodes without it. They're not visiting different
planets in a spaceship, just different cities connected by a monorail. Er,
hyperloop.

~~~
jagermo
Or use wormhole technology to connect planets via a hyperloop like in
"Pandoras Star". Interesting read how humanity would conquer other systems if
space travel was irrelevant.

~~~
LeoPanthera
This is basically the plot of Stargate SG-1.

~~~
jagermo
Less ancient aliens, more political backstabbing.

And SG1 had that horrible starship spinoff

------
thom
I've never really enjoyed Black Mirror, I've always found it too sneering and
pessimistic (and I speak as someone who has enjoyed Charlie Brooker's sneering
all the way back to his prank call days).

So I sat down to watch this series, and in some ways the first episode
confirmed all my biases, hitting all the usual notes about technology we use
and like actually being a terrible slippery slope and you should all feel bad
about yourselves.

But then I got to the San Junipero episode, which is so magnificent in every
way that I immediately forgave everything. Character driven, subtle,
sentimental but optimistic. And probably, over Stranger Things, the piece of
sci-fi 80s nostalgia that I'll remember most from this year.

~~~
m_fayer
I had the same experience with "Be Right Back", the first episode of season 2.
I thought the show was cynical, cutting, ruthlessly executed and a bit too
polemical. And then there was this episode, which leaned on a common sci-fi
plot device but took it just far enough, and stayed focused on humanity as
opposed to technology. The writing displayed obviously genuine respect and
empathy for human love, grief, and powerlessness - no cheap cynicism to be
found. Astounding what this episode did with all of 44 minutes.

------
eludwig
This is truly a beautifully produced/written/acted series.

They are all eminently watchable. My personal favorite episode?

White Bear!

Please don't google it. Just do yourself a favor and watch it.

So good. The series has lots of future tech stuff to noodle over. It's one of
those that sticks with you long after you finish.

Warning: the series can be very brutal at times. No holds barred.

~~~
untog
It fascinates me - White Bear seems to be the most divisive Black Mirror
episode out there. For me it's one of the weakest episodes of the series, but
I know others who love it.

Personally, the Entire History of You is the pinnacle of Black Mirror.

~~~
acchow
I'm in complete agreement. I've had long, deep discussions about the
implications in Entire History of You. To me, it reaches depths far beyond the
other episodes.

------
darawk
I'm really surprised by all the people here that like this show. I tried to
watch it and found it to be absolutely unbearable. It seemed so trite and
utterly lacking in any real insight to me. They just took the most obvious,
silly things everyone predicts about the future and rendered them in the most
simplistic, stylized ways.

Can anyone explain to me what they like about this show?

~~~
steve_b
Have you seen White Bear? It's one of the most terrifying and thought
provoking things I've ever seen. Sure you could probably find elements of that
episode in other shows/films, but that's probably true of everything.

Honest question: what are you watching that makes Black Mirror trite and
obvious by comparison?

~~~
jdeee
2nd this request, what are the names of 2 or 3 shows that aren't "trite"?

~~~
darawk
Well, I suppose the difference between this show and say Game of Thrones, or
Breaking Bad or something (two shows that I have enjoyed) is that they don't
think they're teaching me something philosophical. At least, not overtly.
Black Mirror is extremely overt and heavy handed in its moralizing.

I guess it feels sort of condescending, but from a place of ignorance. It's ok
to repeat trite cliches and tropes culled from the latest medium articles on
futurism, but if you're going to do that, weave it into a compelling
narrative, don't try to appropriate those simple ideas and claim them as your
own. And that's sort of the vibe I get from Black Mirror - that its writers
think really highly of their insight into the interplay of technology and
culture, but I find that insight to be pretty shallow. And i'd be tolerant of
that shallowness of it was a more background element of a more compelling
story (say, The Matrix), but Black Mirror feels to me like it takes it self
undeservedly seriously, if that makes sense.

I realize the foregoing was sort of rambling, but it's a little hard to
articulate exactly why it rubs me the wrong way. I certainly enjoy plenty of
things that could be said to be trite, shallow, or even stupid. But I feel
like those things know their place and Black Mirror doesn't.

------
Jordrok
Based on all the talk I've read about this show, I feel like I should love it,
but watching the first episode "The National Anthem" so turned me off that I
put it down and never gathered up the will to give it another shot.

From what I've read, there's somewhat of a split opinion on that specific
episode, but to me it was just too unbelievable and silly, all while taking
itself so seriously. And because I couldn't suspend my disbelief, it made the
whole concept of the episode seem even more pointlessly lewd and
uncomfortable. I don't consider myself a squeamish person, and I get that the
uncomfortableness is kind of the point, but it just didn't leave me with the
desire to watch any more.

I dunno, maybe I should give it another try.

~~~
the_af
I liked all of Black Mirror, including The National Anthem, but that episode
is uncharacteristic in that it has almost no traces of the "sci-fi"/"dystopian
near future" flavor that characterizes almost all of the rest. It's completely
a political satire without sci-fi elements.

Every other episode has a stronger component of bleak sci-fi dystopia.

~~~
mindslight
"The National Anthem" has "sci", but the "fi" of it is less apparent because
the tech is already here just not "evenly distributed" yet. And maybe I'm just
baseline cynical enough that what you perceived as "political satire" just
played to me as the simple mechanics of how things happen.

To put it mildly, I'm a believer in anonymity and decentralization. That
episode really takes these (hopefully) advancing qualities and really forces
you to confront what tearing down of our society's institutions can actually
look like.

~~~
TeMPOraL
This episode makes me actually _dislike_ anonymity and decentralization, but I
agree with you on this one - I feel this was a pretty accurate portrayal of
how things happen, how incentives of all involved parties interact.

~~~
mindslight
Yeah, my point was that the episode did a very good job of showing the
negative aspects of those things, challenging my views.

A large part of what made Black Mirror so compelling to me is that the stories
were so well written I wasn't just reflexively thinking of reasons to write
them off. I still don't have a straightforward answer to that episode. Perhaps
those types of events are something society will just eventually move past -
the shock value will be lost, an individual being forced to do something like
that will cease becoming an event, and won't reflect poorly on the
institution? I dunno.

------
dexwiz
This show is definitely the modern day Twilight Zone. All the episodes have
great twists that obviously come from well informed writers.

~~~
laumars
The vast majority of them are written by one guy, the shows creator, Charlie
Brooker[1]. He's a UK comedian who has written a number of great shows such as
"Screenwipe"[3] (a comedy documentary about the TV industry), "A Touch of
Cloth"[4] (crime drama satire) and "Nathan Barley"[5] (which pokes fun at the
London hipster scene and was co-written by Chris Morris[2] who is another UK
TV legend)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Brooker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Brooker)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Morris_(satirist)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Morris_\(satirist\))

[3]
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780206/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780206/)
(Screenwipe)

[4]
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2240991/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2240991/)
(A Touch Of Cloth)

[5]
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426654/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426654/)
(Nathan Barley)

~~~
nabla9
"A Touch Of Clot" is brilliant. It takes off where "The Naked Gun" left and
adds more wordplay. It completely saturates every scene with comedy. There is
nowhere to go from there.

I have never before felt exhausted by the fast pace of puns in my life.

~~~
IanCal
This sounds like the absolute perfect thing for me, and I'd never even heard
of it!

Just a quick check, you've seen Police Squad, right? The precursor series to
The Naked Gun. It's only 6 episodes, which always amazes me when I think of
how many moments I love in it.

------
h4nkoslo
The other fantastic & fantastically relevant contemporary show is Westworld.
Setting up to be a masterpiece.

Between Black Mirror, Westworld, Utopia, Mr. Robot we're really hitting a good
run of SF.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Unfortunately Person of Interest (made by the same guy who's doing Westworld
now) is no longer with us, but if you haven't seen it, I strongly recommend
it. Personally, I consider it one of the best shows of the decade, definitely
the most sensible portrayal of AI in movie history _ever_ , and also pretty
uncanny in a way it hits close to home with most of the surveillance things.

------
internaut
If you enjoyed Black Mirror you have to watch Utopia by Channel 4 in the UK.
It's remarkable. Don't search for a synopsis online. It's a sci-fi conspiracy
thriller like none you'll have ever seen before.

This is an imdb review that echoed my sentiments:

"First of, I made an account at IMDb solely so that I could submit this
review.

Utopia is exceptional. It is a masterpiece. It gets 10\10 from me.

I won't explain what Utopia is about because I don't want to give any possible
hint of what is to come, so I'll describe it by comparing it to other things.

Buy the DVD or download the show and your life will get.... stranger. Its
rather unsettling how Utopia gets under your skin.

There are a few television shows that share some similarity to Utopia.

For example, if you enjoyed Fringe, the X-Files, then you'll be quite at home
with Utopia's paranoid wanderings.

So then you cross the weirdness of Fringe and the paranoia of the X-Files with
the violence of Kill Bill and the action\suspense of the Jason Bourne series.

Now cross that already bizarre hybrid with a series of scientific TED Talks
given by Joesph Mengale, yes, the Nazi who chopped countless pairs of twins to
pieces for the greater good.

I'm not sure which is more bizarre. That description or that incredibly, it
works.

However Utopia is much, much darker than any of those. It is the darkest TV
series I have ever seen. It also as others have said, feels very real.

A note of warning. When I said Utopia was dark, I was not joking. If you
suffer from excessive anxiety or you're squeamish, then do not watch Utopia.
Because this TV show is nothing like you've ever seen before, it will affect
you. You will be thinking about the themes in it long after you've watched it.

The violence in Utopia isn't actually that strong at all, most of it occurs
off the screen. But the intense atmosphere of paranoia which accompanies it
makes it brutally real.

On the other hand since the governments of the world have apparently taken a
leaf out of Utopia's manuscript lately with regard to surveillance, Utopia
could well seem prophetic in a few years time. This really is a TV series for
21st century of flying killer robots and universal surveillance.

The Sopranos changed the way I thought about television. I thought television
was for lightweights until I watched The Sopranos. It was like thinking books
were mostly about erotica and then coming across Shakespeare and entering a
world full of subtle complexities on a bunch of levels.

Utopia is nothing like The Sopranos. But the way it'll change how you view
television is very similar.

Just one last thing. There is an American show called "Person of Interest" or
something like that which has similar themes. Watch this instead.

In a word: this is intense. "

It also has one of the strangest soundtracks you'll ever hear. Listen to this:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2f6MfEzhvo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2f6MfEzhvo)

Warning: Do not watch if you are especially prone to paranoia, depression or
anxiety.

~~~
cm3
I wished that they had expanded further on the past as in Utopia S02E01 but
they unfortunately didn't. The conclusion was satisfying, though.

~~~
internaut
For me Season 1 was perfection, Season 2 was close to perfection but a little
rushed towards the end, and then I wished that they have developed a Season 3
(with a red/blue schema)

Don't you wish you found out what happened with W.W?

The characters were terrific, especially J.H.

The storyline was the very best. There was so much world left to explore and
and I wish we'd seen a Utopia derivative/side story from David Fincher's
version of it. I think it would have been a perfect fit for the director of
Fight Club and still a tall ask for him to live up to.

Like the author of that imdb review I felt it was very real for some reason
despite the decor.

~~~
cm3
There's enough unexplored for a season 3 story-wise.

I heard they will make a US version. If it's like Shameless US, I'm all for
it, but usually US remakes tend to make a bad copy that also stretches out for
no reason. I really like the British and Australian format of a few dense
episodes rather than 12 or 22 US episodes where it's 60% filler material.
However, if it isn't story driven, then making 22 episodes is ok.

After the bad US copy of Rake tanked, the Australian original got a 3rd
season, and it's likely to get a 4th one, so sometimes studio heads make sound
decisions.

~~~
internaut
> . I really like the British and Australian format of a few dense episodes
> rather than 12 or 22 US episodes where it's 60% filler material.

Agreed. I bought both seasons on DVD and the original soundtrack for both
seasons, then sent all my friends a copy of the DVD/Bluray for Christmas. I
wish there was a better way to support projects you like though. In particular
microtransactions on the Net are total fucking shit, it needs to be built-in
to OS or Browser as a universal standard and simple.

> I heard they will make a US version.

I'm afraid not. That was David Fincher/HBO and it's not going ahead.

~~~
cm3
> I'm afraid not. That was David Fincher/HBO and it's not going ahead.

I'm glad they won't, because the risk of ruining it is too high as proven time
and again.

------
mrlambchop
Just watched tonights episode with the wife who was on FB liking and
commenting on photos of our friends kids doing ordinary stuff. I called this
episodes rhetoric after 3 minutes and she was not pleased to find I was right.

We're going to the zoo tomorrow. I might like a tiger if its not sitting
around in the California sun and doing nothing.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Watched the first episode while impulsively grabbing the phone to play 2048
game (I do that a lot recently, to pad up the "brain use" to 100%). The
episode made me immediately notice and think about what I was doing and why...

------
pashabitz
I'm going home, see you in a few hours.

------
jabbanobodder
I heard the third season was coming out so I checked it out...wow, great show!
The first couple of seasons have few episodes so it's easy to catch up. Great
writing, but I shouldn't be surprised as it comes from the mind of Charlie
Brooker.

------
omouse
I remember this, it was an app! People! Made by some douchebags :/

~~~
jagermo
I remember the drama. Delicious.

