"Black Mirror," a recently-adapted Netflix series imported from the United Kingdom has recently achieved popularity in the United States. The original anthology series is intriguing and occasionally repulsive. The surreal independent scenarios detailed in each episode are often bizarre or quasi-explicit. Regardless, the show succeeds in one crucial area: the program is odd, albeit unsettlingly familiar. The collection of nightmare scenarios disguises apparently innocent aspects of technology and exaggerates such behaviors bordering on the grotesque. One of the more popular episodes features actress Bryce Dallas Howard as a woman in her mid to late twenties set on achieving social success. The means of finding this perceived happiness is not of the typical form – college degree, high paying job. Rather, the degree of status is determined by an inter-personal “rating” system which stands as a form of currency and qualification for careers or real-estate.
The premise of the episode is naturally preposterous in comparison with current social networks. I don’t find direct comparison with reality to be the purpose of the series. The likely point of the series is more abstract. As opposed to a dark prediction of the near future, each episode may stand as a metaphor for current behavior in the presence of modern technological progress and its cultural consequences. What motivates people to engage in social networks? Which deep aspect of human behavior incentivizes such unfortunate narcissism? There are several ways to interpret the program which may range from meaningful social commentary to simple shock-value entertainment. A bit of both, the series proves to be.
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Despite many of the episodes' the perverse aesthetic, the show manages to maintain its humanity and parody human behavior. "Black Mirror" offers a dark reflection of the fragility and destructive tendencies of people delivered in small eerie doses. The series should not be accepted as prophecy, nonetheless regarded as a unique distortion reminiscent of our evolving culture.
