Fashion Industry Broadcast has just made a short special feature film covering the media phenomenon that is the “Black Mirror” series. Just click the play button below and you can see for yourself what all the hype and discussion is all about.
Named after the way our screens look when powered down, Black Mirror is an anthology series that paints different scenarios of our future with each episode. Although not an entirely new show, the series has been seeing recent success since the release of its latest instalment through the streaming mogul, Netflix.
Created by Charlie Brooker, the show takes a dark and unique look at society and what challenges we may one day have to face. When asked about the series, Brooker had this to say:
“each episode has a different cast, a different setting, even a different reality. But they’re all about the way we live now – and the way we might be living in 10 minutes’ time if we’re clumsy.”
One of the most poignant examples of this is the episode titled ‘Fifteen Million Merits’, which takes a bleak look at a future where the world’s oil has run out, and humans must generate energy and currency by pedalling stationary bikes. Their only alternative from their slave-like existence is either to use your voice (if you’re talented enough) to join a singing competition show, or if you’re pretty enough, to be in pornography. The satirical manner in which the show tackles real topics in today’s society forces self-reflection at how we are evolving as a race.
In the second season, the show takes us on a sad and uncomfortable journey through the grief of a young mother to be in the episode, ‘Be Right Back’. After losing her husband in a car crash, a pregnant woman decides to use a computer software that allows her to talk to the deceased. If that’s not weird enough, there is an additional mail order service that delivers a life-size duplicate of her dead husband that walks, talks and thinks like he did, straight to her door. Despite the creepy overtones, the show here questions the idea of mortality and what it means to be dead in a society where our whole lives can be told through our social media accounts.
In another episode, the show presents to us a life in which we use social media to evaluate and score our interactions with others out of on a scale of one to five. When preparing for her oldest childhood friend’s wedding, a girl struggles to retain her 4.5 rating, thus labelling her an outsider unfit for such a high-class event. The scary thing here is that this world where your ‘score’ dictates your lifestyle isn’t too ridiculous of an idea to imagine, especially in today’s society. Much of the show feels like this, with each episode leaving you wondering: could that really happen?
This is part of Black Mirror’s success. The fact that we could actually inhabit one of these worlds makes the show more effective, and maybe we should be taking a second look at what devices and services we use and how they affect us as both individuals and in our relationships.
Supported by a varying cast of British and American actors, Black Mirror’s growing interest from America has seen A-list stars such as Jon Hamm seek out the shows creators to guest star in a holiday special titled ‘White Christmas’. Robert Downey Jr. has also expressed fascination in the show after buying the rights to the episode in which people use implants to tape their memories called ‘The Entire History of You’.
Who knows where and what realities Black Mirror will choose to explore in future episodes. From what has been released so far though, and the success of its Netflix deal, there is no doubt it will be around for a while. If you haven’t yet had the chance to check it out, Black Mirror can be streamed online through Netflix.
