Cheyenne Davis

Black Mirror is a Netflix series that focuses on the paranoia associated with technology as well as its capabilities. Each episode is like a short film in themselves where no two storylines connect. Each episode has its own plot-line, and the characters are unique to that episode. The only connecting matter within these stories would be the overarching paranoia of the modern world toward technology. Black Mirror is a British television series composed of 4 seasons. These seasons started being released in 2011, and recently became popular in America due to Netflix. The show has won a Primetime Emmy Award among several other nominations.

While watching this series, the viewer is reminded of their own day to day interaction with technology which makes the viewer become more connected to the story. For instance, in the episode “Metalhead,” dogs are robotic. This is relatable to any viewer that knows that robotic dogs were actually a popular toy and are a part of reality. Of course, the dogs portrayed in the episode are much more advanced and destructive, but the connection is still there. Being connected to the characters, the intense scenes are often full of adrenaline rushes. For example, one of the episodes in season 3 is about a video game that is more real than virtual reality, and the characters within the virtual reality game are solely based off of the players biggest fears. In the end the player dies because the game was entirely experimental and actually causes severe trauma to the participant. The series of levels that the viewer has to watch the player go through is extremely intense, and is intense enough to make the viewer want to close his or her eyes in fear.

Another episode in season 3 is about a boy who accidentally installs a virus on his laptop that allows his every move to be recorded by an outsider. The outsider blackmails this teenage boy in order to make him participate in its game. The game consists of others who were also being given orders by this same scammer. The outsider would text the directions to the individuals and tell them that if they did not follow the rules their deepest secret would be posted for all of the world to see. This aspect heightens the anxiety of the viewer about internet safety, and also touches on the emotional aspect of social destruction and its effects on one’s life. In the end, the main character has completed many incriminating tasks, and is caught by the police. He had finished his series of tasks before being caught with the promise that once he was done he would be free from his blackmail. However, once the tasks were completed, the teenager and the other characters’ secrets were posted regardless. This episode is an emotional roller-coaster because it presses the characters to do things that are unethical in order to save themselves from social damage or embarrassment.

The Black Mirror Series is so appealing to viewers because of its drama, but the action is much different from traditional American shows. In this way, it involves more audience integration of thought which requires the viewer to sympathize with the characters and fully understand the intensity of each situation. The director does this in order to warn people about the potential technology has to extremely damage our lives, and the ways in which we should acknowledge its faults before giving it the power to control every aspect of our lives. The dreadful aspects of the dramas are each seemingly close to the technology that we already have. There are a few exceptions, but several technological aspects of the shows are things that are real in today’s society. As I have discussed with the dangerous dogs, cyberhacking, and experimental extreme gaming, the technology of today is highly capable of advancing to dangerous levels, and Black Mirror allows for the public to see these possibilities first-hand. As modern society is advancing and beginning to rely more on technology, the power and effect of technology becomes a greater detriment within the modern world. One can only begin to imagine the possibilities of technological advancement and its unpredictability regarding its capabilities.

Black Mirror allows for an inside look at the capability for technology to destroy human connection, and even destroy humanity as a whole. The fear that one feels while watching these episodes comes from the connections to reality that the viewer is able to make, and this is done on purpose. When technology begins to replace human interaction and thought, it will be powerful enough to destroy these things as well.