Science Fiction storytelling, since Mary Wollstencraft’s Frankenstein in 1818, has always tapped into anxieties people did not know they had. Black Mirror, a Sci-Fi anthology television series by British writer, Charles Brooker, does not deviate from this technique, but, instead, appears to do a better job than its predecessors. It explores the dark consequences that result from human use of technology. In an article written for the New York Times, Brooker explains how his series “was inspired indirectly, by The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling’s hugely entertaining TV series of the late 50s and early 60s.” Many critics consider The Twilight Zone to be the most significant Sci-Fi television program of its time (Booker 8). It laid the groundwork for
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They do this through the implementation of nova. Most episodes have at the very most two or three nova; and, usually the nova appear to be built upon technologies we already have in our reality. This results in a world that heavily resembles our own. One viewer commented that “Black Mirror seems nearer than ever to our current reality—less a warning than a crystal ball” (Katz). This directly contrasts The Twilight Zone whose nova usually are not grounded in its viewers’ reality. Tales from The Twilight Zone “include such fantastical imagery as a stopwatch that can stop time, department store mannequins coming to life, or a child whose dreams take corporeal form” (O’Neil). The lack of a direct connection from the show’s world to its viewer’s reality results in critics who consider the show “more clever than genuinely scary” (Brooker 15). Black Mirror, on the other hand, evokes feelings of genuine discomfort; and the question is …show more content…
The cycle entails exactly what its title implies: An art form makes commentary on society, and, society imitates the nova in that art. In one episode of Black Mirror, entitled “Be Right Back,” a mourning widow resurrects her dead husband by subscribing to a new A.I. technology that has the ability to scan through the deceased’s social media and phone records in order to take on their persona. In an interview, Jones and Brooker stated that “people were just beginning to observe how our online selves are so much more performative than we ever would be in real life…If this thing is constructed from your social media profile, then it’s off by several degrees because you are not your social media profile” (qtd. in Hess). The resurrected husband possesses entirely performative characteristics—the superficial traits that the original husband output in his online performance. In this way, the show utilizes the resurrected husband to make commentary on our performative selves. In regards to the show’s new technologies, Brooker tells the interviewer that people have been “writing everything down and then building it. Not long after “Be Right Back” came out, people started launching almost exactly that service—something that would tweet on your behalf after you died” (qtd. in Hess). This serves as a classic example of life-imitating-art-imitating-life.
They do this through the implementation of nova. Most episodes have at the very most two or three nova; and, usually the nova appear to be built upon technologies we already have in our reality. This results in a world that heavily resembles our own. One viewer commented that “Black Mirror seems nearer than ever to our current reality—less a warning than a crystal ball” (Katz). This directly contrasts The Twilight Zone whose nova usually are not grounded in its viewers’ reality. Tales from The Twilight Zone “include such fantastical imagery as a stopwatch that can stop time, department store mannequins coming to life, or a child whose dreams take corporeal form” (O’Neil). The lack of a direct connection from the show’s world to its viewer’s reality results in critics who consider the show “more clever than genuinely scary” (Brooker 15). Black Mirror, on the other hand, evokes feelings of genuine discomfort; and the question is …show more content…
The cycle entails exactly what its title implies: An art form makes commentary on society, and, society imitates the nova in that art. In one episode of Black Mirror, entitled “Be Right Back,” a mourning widow resurrects her dead husband by subscribing to a new A.I. technology that has the ability to scan through the deceased’s social media and phone records in order to take on their persona. In an interview, Jones and Brooker stated that “people were just beginning to observe how our online selves are so much more performative than we ever would be in real life…If this thing is constructed from your social media profile, then it’s off by several degrees because you are not your social media profile” (qtd. in Hess). The resurrected husband possesses entirely performative characteristics—the superficial traits that the original husband output in his online performance. In this way, the show utilizes the resurrected husband to make commentary on our performative selves. In regards to the show’s new technologies, Brooker tells the interviewer that people have been “writing everything down and then building it. Not long after “Be Right Back” came out, people started launching almost exactly that service—something that would tweet on your behalf after you died” (qtd. in Hess). This serves as a classic example of life-imitating-art-imitating-life.