Black Mirror - The National Anthem
So I watched Black Mirror’s first episode. It’s written by Charlie Brooker who is one of those people who really hates things. So you know it’s a lighthearted, charming television programme on the most happy of channels (I’m kidding, it’s cynical and sad and on Channel 4).
The idea that satire has to be funny only shows that most people don’t know what satire is. Satire often makes us laugh, but it isn’t supposed to be the end goal of satirical work. It takes an idea and runs with it, making it as surreal as possible to point out the holes in it. That’s exactly what Black Mirror does.
The first episode features the Prime Minister who is faced with a hostage crisis. The only way to save the kidnapped member of the royal family is to have sex with a pig on live television. That’s absurd and ridiculous. That’s the point. But that isn’t what the show is about. It’s about how technology controls how the world thinks. You can put in all the superinjunctions in the world and it wouldn’t make a difference.
The way the media uses technology is explored in a cynical light. For example, when a reporter is caught in where the police think the hostage is. The idea that a reporter could simply sneak in for the sake of audience numbers and broadcast what is going on with a smartphone reflects a time where the media has no line to draw, especially when the news is filled with stories about the Leveson Inquiry and the rules broken by journalists for any scoop they can find. It’s not a particularly flattering way of portraying the media, but again, it’s satire. Satire doesn’t have to make you laugh to make you think long and hard about what is going on. The story doesn’t have to be plausible to make you think, either. The writing is thin at times (cringing even; you’ll know it when you see it) and the character development is understandably barebones for a one-off episode in a three part miniseries that lasts for 43 minutes. But if you finish watching the show with a different opinion on how technology affects mass media, then they’ve done their job.
