The first episode features the United Kingdom Prime Minister being stuck between a rock and a hard place when the royal family's princess is kidnapped, and he is asked to do a gruesome act with a pig in order to guarantee her release. In a crazy end to the episode he follows through with it, but throughout the episode you can see different instances of people glued to the TV screen and social media rather than addressing the main issue. Also when the gruesome act is finished, those close with the Prime Minister realize that the princess was released thirty minutes before the Prime Minister did anything, and people were glued to the TV watching it.
The second episode, in my opinion was my least favorite out of the three. It showed a very technological based area where people have to earn their way to avoid constant ads and try to sing in a American Idol like contest. In this place people are constantly surrounded by screens and the main character, Bing, gets fed up with the lack of humanity and being able to feel something in the environment. And in the third episode shows people who have a small device implanted behind their ear, where they can replay their memories and can also access memories of other people like their children for example. This proves to be an incredibly piece of technology but comes at a cost when a couple is facing trouble, and it makes the viewer question how boundaries are established with this kind of technology.
All three episodes interestingly enough even though different in their own way address technology and how society uses it. Are these "black mirrors" having a positive impact? And do more boundaries based on the lessons and messages shown in these episodes? Is being connected being too connected, and is there trust with this? To be honest watching these episodes scared me in a sense because it's really a mystery what the future holds. We already have self driving cars that can parallel park for you, is the next thing really a computer chip implanted behind out ear?
I like your concluding question regarding connectivity and trust. Clearly the show portrays worlds of over connectivity on astronomical levels. However, in analyzing the ways in which technologies impact behavior currently it is hard to think of any technology that has not come with a list of detrimental consequences. In essence, yes, I agree, the show does paint a scary picture of potential worlds to be.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that I agree with you in the sense that you are scared of the future of technology. While technology is created in order to solve a problem, I do not think that inventors also think of the other problems that technology creates. While I used technology every day and I love technology it does scare me to think of it in an all consuming sense, but unfortunately, when you think about it, we already live in a world in which technology consumes us. It is hard to find places without wifi or people without a cell phone, and when we do stumble upon those people and places, we see it as a problem. While black mirrors really perpetuated the idea of a techno-centric society, I don't think we are that far off.
ReplyDeleteEveryone was definitely too connected in these episodes. Our society today is becoming more and more connected with all of the new technologies and social media forms. I think the shows trying to convey that if we keep going at the pace were at, we could end up in a reality like one of those.
ReplyDeleteIn response to whether "black mirrors" have a positive impact on society, I believe the show depicts that no, technology does not positively affect our lives. Yes technological advances has changed humanity in some ways such as in the medical field and business, but it seems our personal lives are taking a severe beating from technology. We're relying too much on it which is making us defendant. What's going to happen if all this technology fails us?
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