Christmas is upon us, so how better to get your festive cheer than dispiriting, dystopian television?
Black Mirror is one of the best things on TV in recent history. A 'Twilight Zone for the modern technology era’, it taps into our fears of technology and interpersonal relationships, our ‘technomores’, twisting them into something ugly, scary, and utterly compelling. Each episode takes us on its own journey of discovery and horror with the absurd extension of some very real aspect of now.
The best introduction to the series is ‘The Entire History of You’, the final episode of the first season. A surprisingly clean vision of the future where everyone has adopted implants which record everything they see and hear, the obvious narrative line here is overbearing observation—scrutiny and surveillance, but that’s handwaved away in the first five minutes as we get to the core of the matter—how this fucks with people and their relationships. It turns out that being able to instantly recall and replay any conversation or interaction you’ve ever had leads to unhealthy results when combined with some less-than-perfect personalities.
One caveat—the very first episode, ‘The National Anthem’, is a little left field, even for Black Mirror. There’s no real watching order, so you can start somewhere else. It’s still a deeply smart and horrifying episode, but be willing to stick with it.
Black Mirror’s first Christmas ‘special’, 'White Christmas’, aired in the UK yesterday, and I’m still trying to recoup my emotional losses. If you, like me, favour the cathartic embrace of the emotional scouring-pad, gaze into the Black Mirror some day soon. You won’t regret it. Well, maybe you will, but you’ll be a better person for it. Well— Just watch it.
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