[white afro in space]

I recently had the good fortune to watch this amazing series. Did I say amazing? Best thing I'd seen on TV in years? Very probably!

You could say that it borders on science fiction because the science it fictionalises is so close to that which we are already very familiar with. It's a rather dark, misanthropic, dystopian, look at contemporary society where ever-so-slight modifications of modern technology are used to show how our various technologies affect us, usually for the worst. Commerce/Capitalism, Media, Control, Propaganda, Greed, they're all there. An Updated 1984? Yes, I'd call it that. The critique is very close to home. It's uncomfortable. We can recognise it. We're probably powerless to stop it becoming a reality.

If you can imagine a show from 1993 that depicted a near future where people were glued to their phones and technology. Where they didn't interact with the people around them. Where they happily put their lives on show for strangers. A show that depicted cyber-bullying as an unintended consequence of all this technology. Well, that's what Black Mirror is doing now, for whatever future is coming in the next 10-15 years.

The series was written by Charlie Brooker, who I don't know much about except that he wrote the excellent 'Dead Set', another show that was critical of modern media (at least, that's what I thought) that re-injected the zombie genre with some class-A cultural criticism.

Has anyone else looked into the 'Black Mirror'?
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As I was saying, we all have to learn to live with disappointment

[Steve Rogerson]

I saw it. It was excellent.
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cheers
Steve Rogerson
http://homepages.poptel.org.uk/steve.rogerson

Hail Og: Ruler of the Universe (Feb 2005-2007)

[Futsie]

Black Mirror reminded me a lot of the old Twilight Zone and Outer Limits episodes It's great... and rather disturbing!

Despite the horrible things that happen to some characters, I think the part I found the most disturbing was the scene with the chap from the exercise bicycle generating company sitting in his cubicle and being forced to watch adverts by a system which sounds an alarm if he tries to close his eyes
Like Clockwork Orange, only worse for being all the more possible

I wonder if the way that character's rebellion against the system eventually gets trivialised and commercialised by it is Brooker's comment on his own TV persona?
I highly recommend his "Screenwipe" series tho
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[white afro in space]

As it happens, the exercise bike episode is the only one I haven't seen. For some reason, it isn't included on Australian DVDs, which is a bit of a bugger because it sounds like a great episode

Thanks for the tip on Brooker's Screenwipe. I'm really keen to check out more of his output.
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As I was saying, we all have to learn to live with disappointment

[white afro in space]

Did anyone catch the brand new episode (White Christmas)?

I don't know if I enjoyed it as much as the earlier episodes, but I still thought it was a very worthwhile watch.

It certainly 'borrowed' from some of the technology presented in earlier episodes but added a few twists here and there with it. I'm not sure how I feel about this 're-hashing' of the presented technology. In one way it's a little repetitive, but in another way it hones that technology to a sharper critique of our own. I can't decide which of the two it falls upon yet.

Anyway, I'm amazed that such a show is being made. Very inspiring for misanthropes everywhere.
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As I was saying, we all have to learn to live with disappointment