Black Mirror

lol i love how suddenly we switched from undiscriminated rude offensive to polite offensive...

oh the waldo puppeteer was the guy from BT ads, i kept wondering where i'd seen him....

 

Edited February 27, 2013 by keltoi

  On 2/27/2013 at 11:25 AM, keltoi said:

 

  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?

 

 

 

 

I mean, the show is called Black Mirror, so we know from the outset that the show is consciously attempting to reflect negative aspects of our world.

Obviously the stories are allegorical where there is the literal meaning and an ecology of symbols, blah blah.

 

We should live in a world where nobody would ever in a million years watch for entertainment purposes a human being (who is being extorted) have sex with a pig, for instance., society is exploitative ('tits or gtfu'), apathetic, sadistic, riddled with schadenfreude, everywhere you look something beautiful is being corrupted, artists with independent (or even radical) views end up on a car commercial (or maybe they start a wrestling league), recording virtually every moment of our lives might be a terrible idea, we think we can know people through social media (or full-stop) but perhaps all we can know is a heavily-filtered construct of that person, forces that work to change the system get co-opted and corrupted by the system, everywhere you look there is us/them-dichotomy propaganda...

 

I could go on forever, really.

Edited February 27, 2013 by LimpyLoo

LimpyLoo, great.

I keep watching it but `i feel that this season is a bit flat. I hope he doesn't do a third... well maybe if he does he develops understanding of real human emotions by better observation.

The third episode was the weakest but still had a high potency of Black Mirroresqueness. The second episode was the best, a tightly packaged fucknugget of social commentary that packed the most powerful punch with it's mystery/reveal style. i wouldn't fault any of the episodes, they're trying to convey some big ideas in a very small amount of screen time.

  On 2/27/2013 at 5:37 PM, keltoi said:

oh the waldo puppeteer was the guy from BT ads, i kept wondering where i'd seen him....

 

Shit me, so it was !

  On 2/27/2013 at 3:46 PM, coax said:

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.

i thought that the 'replay stuff in your retina' episode knocked it out of the park. INTENSELY uncomfortable viewing.

 

  On 2/27/2013 at 6:30 PM, rixxx said:

I keep watching it but `i feel that this season is a bit flat. I hope he doesn't do a third... well maybe if he does he develops understanding of real human emotions by better observation.

more 'touch of cloth'! that's the one!

This show is better than most anything on any US tv channel.

 

I love how unabomber Charlie Brooker is.

 

Hope series three gets even more fucked.

i love how pathetic that guy was rofl, from the beginning to the end he was a bitch rofl

I'm way behind the rest of you guys, but this show is something else really. Sometimes it's a bit overt and thinks it's way more clever than it is. Other times it's extremely subtle and nevertheless hard hitting and it seems to always strike just right towards the end. I liked episode 3 cause the actor from dead man's shoes was in it! It was also scary as shit.

  On 2/28/2013 at 1:48 AM, kaini said:

 

  On 2/27/2013 at 3:46 PM, coax said:

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.

i thought that the 'replay stuff in your retina' episode knocked it out of the park. INTENSELY uncomfortable viewing.

 

Yes that was a great episode. And how timely it was with Google Glass on the horizon as well. Who knows where it will go after those come out.

last nights Weekly Wipe was brilliant.

Good episode, i sympathized with the main's character apolitical stance, which made hate the way his apolitical beliefs were used for political purposes.

 

The episode should have ended with the hospital bed scene, that bit at the end was so unrealistic and out of place it almost ruined it for me.

Don't wanna read the thread because of the spoilers, but I just finished the first season and this is the best television show I have ever seen. The third part was definitely the best, I can only hope second season comes close.

  On 3/3/2013 at 7:02 AM, Deer said:

Good episode, i sympathized with the main's character apolitical stance, which made hate the way his apolitical beliefs were used for political purposes.

 

The episode should have ended with the hospital bed scene, that bit at the end was so unrealistic and out of place it almost ruined it for me.

 

But without that ending you just sortof have:

• Politicians are crappy ra ra ra

With that ending, you have a much more subtle message:

• Politicians are crappy, but it could be so much worse if everything was run by media corporations

The politicians were actually some of the more sympathetic characters, even the tory.

 

edIt: cripes, its bascially about Fox News I guess.

 

It was good writing that the lines the blue bear had were just the wrong side of being funny. They could have written genuinely hilarious material for that bear, but they deliberately made it crass and not very witty.

 

Anyway, its sci-fi, its not supposed to be a realistic. Robot boyfriends are looking pretty unlikely at this point too.

 

Sci fi is literature about change - Iain Banks (probably)

Edited March 3, 2013 by zazen

wtf, was that it? i read somewhere that season 2 would be 6 episodes but now i can't find any info about it. :(

the story doesnt need to be realistic, however the way in which the characters react to those situations does.

charlie brooker has lost my interest. His ".."wipe series' went from being a fun romp through complaining about the status quo to skirting around war and royalty and sport as legitimate targets of turgid verbal destruction. i have come to the conclusion that he sold his soul and as a consolation they let him make the black mirror series.

i recommend this movie to everyone who enjoys this series:

[youtubehd]QrGvhwwWP8Q[/youtubehd]

Just a little heads up - another Black Mirror episode is out, titled White Christmas. It is, in my opinion, one of the best episodes - better than all of the season 2 and on par with S01E03.

thanks for the bump, would have missed.

Yeah, i watched it yesterday, it's the most audacious sci-fi one yet. And one of the best. Jon Hamm nails it. I won't mention the twist ending.

yeah it was ok

ralf spall was very good i thought. way better than all of season 2 which was v.disappointing after the brilliant season1.

 

only bad thing was the actress who played the cookie girl. she was fucking rubbish