Imagine taking the Twilight Zone, added modern day social situations, technology, and the thought that these worlds can be our own world at any time in our lifetime and you have Black Mirror.
"Black Mirror" is a British satirical, psychological drama created Charlie Brooker. This show is an anthology of episodes with a different cast, different setting, and takes place in a different world than that of the last episode. Each episode takes on a different societal problem such as the social media, virtual reality, dystopian futures, artificial intelligence, and current political standings.
The large variety of cast includes that of Bryce Dallas Howard, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Kelly Macdonald, Haley Atwell, Jon Hamm, and Domhnall Gleeson. So already we knew that the all-star cast alone would make the show stand out. However, while the cast held the show together with raw emotional performances and extremely challenging acting jobs, it is the situations of the episodes that bring each person back to watch even more.
Each episode takes a look at different and current problems that plague our world and generation as of today but adds a more futuristic look at those problems. Charlie Brooker takes ideas and overall concepts of current problems such as the Prime Minster Cameron's "Piggate", why the Holocaust got started, and the 1960 British murder trial; The Moors Murderers. In taking the futuristic look of current problems, audiences get the chance to think "Will this happen in my lifetime? Is it happening now or will it happen in just a few months time?" It also gets the audience to think about what these views say about society.
Take, for example, the episode "White Bear" takes a look at vigilantism, justice, and should the punishment match the crime. But it also hits at how technology can affect people's empathy and their choice to act. The episode starts with a woman who wakes up in a house with no memory of who she is and she begins to look around for answers. She eventually gets outside to where she sees people just taking pictures and videos of herself but not helping her in any way possible. This says something to the effect that people are so wrapped up in their phones trying to broadcast what is happening that they forget to help the person in need.
As someone who tends to look at society with a both a "glass half full" and "glass half empty" look depending on the situation, this show has shown just what society may look like in the future. As much as I would love to believe in the good of society, society as a whole has let me down tremendously. But this show can shine a light on the problems that everyday people face and problems that a country can face as a whole. Showing these problems in such a format, like Netflix, allows Millennials and Generation Z, who gets their news from the internet and believes everything on Facebook, to comprehend the severity of their actions and where it may lead the next generation.
I absolutely love this show now. I would have never watched without a good friend of mine suggesting it to me. I was in need of a new show to watch and he suggested Black Mirror and I don't regret spending the last two days watching every episode on Netflix. This show has given me a new modern "Twilight Zone" to obsesses over ad look at the world in a new light.
