Blog #9

I know that Black Mirror fashions itself as a Twilight Zone-style, near future series for the 21st century and all that... However, especially in watching the episode "Nosedive" I felt that nearly everything that I was viewing had indeed already arrived and that Dallas Howard, in a brilliant, anxiety ridden performance, has simply turned the present moment on its head, shaken it, stirred it up and reflected its image back to us in a (black) mirror.
Five terms that we've been bandying about in class came immediately to mind; "uncanny", "fabrication", "actants", "articulation" and "collective." The world that Dallas Howard's character exists in has become an uncanny blend of real time, lived reality and a collective, fabricated social media reality.
One of my favorite scenes in the episode is when Howard is at the coffee shop. She orders a latte. The barista-doing his people pleasing, "please give me a high rating!" best-offers her a "complimentary" cookie with a smiley face. She brings the cookie and coffee back to her table, stages it just right for a perfect social media shot, takes a (fake) bite out of the cookie and, then posts how "amazing" it is!! Of course, the irony here is that when she actually does take a drink of her latte she finds it dreadful.
I would venture to say that all of us have been there. How many times have you been at a restaurant or social function with someone that looks disinterested and/or miserable only to discover that they are posting comments like "Having an awesome time with friends!! Great food! Great conversation!! :)" on social media?
Where space does "reality" occupy in situations like these? Is it all a fabrication, filled with actants creating an obsessive/compulsive collective anxiety, fearful that if we don't have enough "friends" or constantly post how incredible everything in our lives is that we will be digitally downgraded and become socially irrelevant or obsolete?
Another one of my favorite episodes of Black Mirror is "A Million Merits." I mention it because, like "Nosedive" it depicts a future where human beings have become completely dependent on technology. The deeply disturbing twist in "A Million Merits" is that this dependence gets used in a very Orwellian and "Brave New World sort of way to completely control all aspects of life.
In my opinion, Black Mirror is one of the most relevant pieces of social commentary going. And, it's damn fun to watch!