From the depths of
Charlie Brooker's brain comes a darkly satirical miniseries called 'Black Mirror'. Each of the three episodes feature a different cast, setting and cinematography style which explore our relationship and rapidly escalating dependency on technology, social media and consumerism. Coupled with the willingness of the general populations to be spoon fed and distracted by their government and the media (reality television, modern day celebrity, filtered news coverage etc.) Brooker examines the idea that "If technology is a drug – and it does feel like a drug – then what, precisely, are the side-effects?"
The series was produced by Zeppotron for Endemol, who ironically are the production and distribution company behind 'Big Brother' a reality show based on a group of people living together; isolated from the outside world but with every move and word continuously watched and recorded by television cameras.
I found myself watching Black Mirror with a nagging sense of unease. Brooker elaborates "This area – between delight and discomfort – is where
Black Mirror, my new drama series, is set...The present day is no less crazy. We routinely do things that just five years ago would scarcely have made sense to us. We tweet along to reality shows; we share videos of strangers dropping cats in bins; we dance in front of Xboxes that can see us, and judge us, and find us sorely lacking. It's hard to think of a single human function that technology hasn't somehow altered, apart perhaps from burping. That's pretty much all we have left. Just yesterday I read a news story about a new video game installed above urinals to stop patrons getting bored: you control it by sloshing your urine stream left and right. Read that back to yourself and ask if you live in a sane society."
Info and links to episodes after the cut (episode info taken from Brooker's piece in
The Guardian )
