Black Mirror

HOLY SHIT YOU SAW THAT TOO?

 

subtext is a very subjective thing.

Robert Downey Jr. is making a film from one of the eps apparently.

I found episode 3 quite good. Various metaphors and messages within were OK. I also liked the last scene, it had mystery in it. I'm not sure what it means fully, but it seemed very dystopian, and visually stunning, especially the last frame.

  On 2/26/2013 at 1:22 AM, LimpyLoo said:

Holy shit it wasn't about dating robots

 

it was (partially) about how you can't truly know the full depth of someone via social media

i think it's more interesting to look at it as "..but it gets pretty close to it", she does keep him after all.

  On 2/26/2013 at 2:00 AM, coax said:

I found episode 3 quite good. Various metaphors and messages within were OK. I also liked the last scene, it had mystery in it. I'm not sure what it means fully, but it seemed very dystopian, and visually stunning, especially the last frame.

i really did get a giant whiff of bonzibuddy from it. brooker and morris woulda both been in the era that were very familiar with that little purple cunt.

  On 2/26/2013 at 1:48 AM, kaini said:

HOLY SHIT YOU SAW THAT TOO?

 

subtext is a very subjective thing.

 

I'm just overly sensitive about science-fiction because I came up around people who thought it was about spaceships and lasers, and completely missed that the spaceship was merely a means of, say, getting to another planet in order to contrast the beliefs and values and rituals and morality of two different civilizations.

Edited February 26, 2013 by LimpyLoo

  On 2/26/2013 at 2:14 AM, kaini said:

 

  On 2/26/2013 at 2:00 AM, coax said:

I found episode 3 quite good. Various metaphors and messages within were OK. I also liked the last scene, it had mystery in it. I'm not sure what it means fully, but it seemed very dystopian, and visually stunning, especially the last frame.

i really did get a giant whiff of bonzibuddy from it. brooker and morris woulda both been in the era that were very familiar with that little purple cunt.

Heh I was around that time too but I had completely forgotten about bonzibuddy. Cool.

 

 

  On 2/26/2013 at 2:35 AM, LimpyLoo said:

 

  On 2/26/2013 at 1:48 AM, kaini said:

HOLY SHIT YOU SAW THAT TOO?

 

subtext is a very subjective thing.

 

I'm just overly sensitive about science-fiction because I came up around people who thought it was about spaceships and lasers, and completely missed that the spaceship was merely a means of, say, getting to another planet in order to contrast the beliefs and values and rituals and morality of two different civilizations.

Not merely, it's about all of those things! Technology and people.

  On 2/26/2013 at 2:42 AM, coax said:

 

  On 2/26/2013 at 2:14 AM, kaini said:

 

  On 2/26/2013 at 2:00 AM, coax said:

I found episode 3 quite good. Various metaphors and messages within were OK. I also liked the last scene, it had mystery in it. I'm not sure what it means fully, but it seemed very dystopian, and visually stunning, especially the last frame.

i really did get a giant whiff of bonzibuddy from it. brooker and morris woulda both been in the era that were very familiar with that little purple cunt.

Heh I was around that time too but I had completely forgotten about bonzibuddy. Cool.

 

 

  On 2/26/2013 at 2:35 AM, LimpyLoo said:

>

  On 2/26/2013 at 1:48 AM, kaini said:

HOLY SHIT YOU SAW THAT TOO?

 

subtext is a very subjective thing.

 

I'm just overly sensitive about science-fiction because I came up around people who thought it was about spaceships and lasers, and completely missed that the spaceship was merely a means of, say, getting to another planet in order to contrast the beliefs and values and rituals and morality of two different civilizations.

Not merely, it's about all of those things! Technology and people.

 

You're right, not merely.

the messages aren't really all that deep... and the most challenging and provoking under-lying message can be undermined when the delivery is so flawed, lacking in subtlety and just downright annoying.

 

i was able to at least watch ep3 all the way through but again didn't find it particularly thought provoking or challenging... political apathy and mistrust so widespread that a computerised puppet is more "real" and appealing to the masses than a fake posturing, polished candidate. and again, this common thread that technology and social media is consuming every facet of society.

 

or did i miss the point?

ep 3 was really good although I found the last scene to be taking it an inch too far

 

these are basically just repackaged bible stories

Edited February 26, 2013 by RadarJammer

keltoi no i think you're right. though i find the style good, the acting, and the show somehow has a mystery about it, at least sometimes. i like the more distant weird future stuff better than current time. not sure what is lacking though, i can feel what you're saying

it's the lack of subtley i think i find most off-putting... it's like watching brooker's shouty rants for half an hour. i get the point in the first minute and then flick channels while he's flogging his point to death, then i flick back to find him still going on about the same thing and end up just watching something else.

 

and the acting last night (ep3) was mostly ok, certainly on par with most uk tv drama i've seen, apart from that hackneyed programme/channel boss caricature... but ep2 with the girl sobbing unconvincingly throughout i found totally unbearable.

enjoyed episode 3. overall this season hasn't been half as good as the 1st season. might have to rewatch and reevaluate though.

 

i wonder how this would have worked in nathan barley? nathan and pingu behind waldo?

  On 2/26/2013 at 12:42 PM, keltoi said:

the messages aren't really all that deep... and the most challenging and provoking under-lying message can be undermined when the delivery is so flawed, lacking in subtlety and just downright annoying.

 

i was able to at least watch ep3 all the way through but again didn't find it particularly thought provoking or challenging... political apathy and mistrust so widespread that a computerised puppet is more "real" and appealing to the masses than a fake posturing, polished candidate. and again, this common thread that technology and social media is consuming every facet of society.

 

or did i miss the point?

 

hmm, we must be watching different shows.

Alot of this Black Mirror is a wake up call so individuals in our society don't end up (too much anyway) as the frog who doesn't realise it's dying because the water around him is slowly being brought to to the boiling point.

Unfornutaley most of the ones who understand this show on all its levels (and not just as entertainment) will probably already be in agreement with it.

15 Million Merits really says it all, though some of the other ones (National Anthem, The Entire History Of You, The Waldo Moment) were pretty descriptive, albeit over the top, of certain possible scenarios deriving from our continueing idiotic tradition of tripping ourselves up by incessantly inventing stuff we don't need only to flog it to whoever stupid enough to buy it.

  On 2/27/2013 at 1:38 AM, AJW said:

Alot of this Black Mirror is a wake up call so individuals in our society don't end up (too much anyway) as the frog who doesn't realise it's dying because the water around him is slowly being brought to to the boiling point.

Unfornutaley most of the ones who understand this show on all its levels (and not just as entertainment) will probably already be in agreement with it.

15 Million Merits really says it all, though some of the other ones (National Anthem, The Entire History Of You, The Waldo Moment) were pretty descriptive, albeit over the top, of certain possible scenarios deriving from our continueing idiotic tradition of tripping ourselves up by incessantly inventing stuff we don't need only to flog it to whoever stupid enough to buy it.

 

Yeah, I think one big thing Black Mirror has harped on is that (most) anything that tries to change the system gets co-opted by the system once it reaches a certain level of success.

 

 

That is probably the most depressing political truth I can think of.

Edited February 27, 2013 by LimpyLoo

i do think that most of these ideas were pretty well explored and way more deep in the movie Idiocracy...

 

[youtubehd]wW-4LU79qbU[/youtubehd]

Edited February 27, 2013 by THIS IS MICHAEL JACKSON

  On 2/27/2013 at 5:15 AM, THIS IS MICHAEL JACKSON said:

i do think that most of these ideas were pretty well explored and way more deep in the movie Idiocracy...

 

[youtubehd]wW-4LU79qbU[/youtubehd]

nah

 

I loved Idiocracy

but it pretty much hit one note and one note only

 

and it wasn't this note

 

 

people keep saying "these ideas have been done before"

 

and then they cite like Spaceballs or The Mummy Returns

Edited February 27, 2013 by LimpyLoo

  On 2/27/2013 at 12:22 AM, LimpyLoo said:

 

  On 2/26/2013 at 12:42 PM, keltoi said:

the messages aren't really all that deep... and the most challenging and provoking under-lying message can be undermined when the delivery is so flawed, lacking in subtlety and just downright annoying.

 

i was able to at least watch ep3 all the way through but again didn't find it particularly thought provoking or challenging... political apathy and mistrust so widespread that a computerised puppet is more "real" and appealing to the masses than a fake posturing, polished candidate. and again, this common thread that technology and social media is consuming every facet of society.

 

or did i miss the point?

 

hmm, we must be watching different shows.

 

we know we're watching the same show so how's about giving your interpretation?

if you think i can get my head around it.

  On 2/27/2013 at 1:50 AM, LimpyLoo said:

 

  On 2/27/2013 at 1:38 AM, AJW said:

Alot of this Black Mirror is a wake up call so individuals in our society don't end up (too much anyway) as the frog who doesn't realise it's dying because the water around him is slowly being brought to to the boiling point.

Unfornutaley most of the ones who understand this show on all its levels (and not just as entertainment) will probably already be in agreement with it.

15 Million Merits really says it all, though some of the other ones (National Anthem, The Entire History Of You, The Waldo Moment) were pretty descriptive, albeit over the top, of certain possible scenarios deriving from our continueing idiotic tradition of tripping ourselves up by incessantly inventing stuff we don't need only to flog it to whoever stupid enough to buy it.

 

Yeah, I think one big thing Black Mirror has harped on is that (most) anything that tries to change the system gets co-opted by the system once it reaches a certain level of success.

  Reveal hidden contents

For instance, the guy with the shard of glass to his neck doesn't change the big ugly machine but rather gets absorbed into it.

 

 

That is probably the most depressing political truth I can think of.

 

Exactly, that episode and especially the notion of being "absorbed" into the system really hit the nail on the head. The whole thing comes to a very depressing but realistic full circle.

Still, it's good to see Black Mirror upholding the age old tradition of riling against man's obsession with technology and industry. Helping keep the balance in check that way. Sometimes it needs to be portrayed unsubtle and in your face like this series does. Time and place for everything. Let's hope the technology/industry conundrum remains in mans favor and never comes to a point where the tail starts wagging the dog.

I also thought waldo can be a metaphor for the bickering and shallow arguing that we saw in recent US presidential elections. Rather than discussing content as much, it was about talking crap about the opponent. Then in the end they ended up in a police state because the real issues were hidden from the public.

 

Waldo could be himself a metaphor for the confused general public, that wants bickering but admits himself "I can't dicuss anything political", because he doesn't know anything of substance. He feels the most safe when throwing insults and such. Edit: Oh and, he can be a metaphor for politicans like Mitt Romney or Sarah Palin, who can't discuss indepth. Now that I think about it that makes more sense. Well maybe it's up for interpretation also.

 

Another thing I liked, totally unrelated to the story, was seeing the guy behind Waldo's voice. I felt like, wow it's cool to see what he looks like since the voice is so awesome. Even though I knew what he looked like from the getgo, I felt a bit allured by the voice and mystery of the Waldo character. And also the ending scene with the police beating the guy, I just love that scene and trying to imagine what the rest of the world is like, and seeing Waldo's face on the big display was surreal. All of that was just unrelated, but I felt several of these 'subjective' moments in several of the other episodes as well.

Edited February 27, 2013 by coax

you can definitely interpret it any way you like but for me waldo basically portrayed... what would it take to make politics appeal/relate to the part of the population that's more likely to vote on big brother than an election? 'dumbing down' (something that brooker often rants about on his shows) taken a small step further than it is at the moment. waldo is a puppet, the guy playing him is a puppet and the serious candidates are too. it's making a mockery of an untrustworthy political system and the faithless, apathetic population... there's comedians running for political positions right now, so it's not that far a stretch. ali g and borat were funnier and more exposing than waldo, aaaaaaagggggeeees ago.

Edited February 27, 2013 by keltoi

maybe the thinking behind waldo is even simpler...

 

  Quote

 

Discussing The Waldo Moment recently, Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker revealed that the idea for the episode was hatched quite some time ago.

He said: “Back when Chris [Morris] and I were doing Nathan Barley we had an idea for a storyline in which someone invented a sort of animated MP - like something from the band Gorillaz. It seemed like something that could potentially catch on.”

Yeah good points keltoi. It's hard to say how much thought went into the depth of the show, the nuances, in some ways they are blatantly obvious, but I feel like there are subtle details spread throughout the episodes. How subtle they are is up to each person though.

 

Still, I feel great potential in the series but there hasn't been an episode yet that seems like a slam dunk. I'm intrigued by it, I like the anthology format, but sometimes, not everything works as well as it should, maybe. I hope they do more seasons though.