These days I find most TV shows cringeworthy rather than bingeworthy. Black Mirror is the exception that proves the rule.
Charlie Brooker’s brilliant techie-themed tales of the unexpected continue to enthrall and entertain.
The six diverse new episodes in season 4 were released by Netflix on December 29th and I consumed them all eagerly in just a couple of days. Continue reading
Two articles in The Guardian caught my eye today.
The first in a series called ‘first thoughts’ on the topic of the train and coach crashes in Spain and Italy that have claimed over a hundred lives.
If journalism has any function, it should offer fresh insights or offer new perspectives on tragic events like these. Continue reading
Waldo – the future face of politics?
Waldo is an animated bear. His colour, like his jokes are blue. He appears on a late night satirical ‘youth’ TV show where he specialises in exposing the pomposity and/or ignorance of public figures.
If this sounds a bit Brass Eye to you, then it will come as no surprise to learn that it is based on an idea by Brooker and Chris Morris while working on the sit-com Nathan Barley.
Waldo is voiced by Jamie Salter (Daniel Rigby) a failed comedian whose personal life has hit rock bottom. The venom he pours into the character strikes a chord with the public. As a publicity stunt, Waldo stands as a candidate in a by-election in a safe Tory seat. Waldo’s rants go viral on You Tube and the possibly of him (‘it’) winning a seat in parliament becomes a real possibility. Continue reading
Martha (Hayley Atwell) and Ash (Domhnall Gleeson) bathed in the glow of new technology.
Between season one and two the Channel 4’s Black Mirror, the series creator Charlie Brooker has become a father. This major event on life’s timeline typically has a softening effect on even the most hard-hearted of cynics.
As a screenwriter, broadcaster and columnist, Brooker’s stock in trade is as a satirist with finely tuned bullshit detector. The manner in which the modern world is in thrall to the supposedly liberating qualities of new technology is one of his recurring topics and is the theme behind Black Mirror, the title being a reference to the myriad screens humankind is glued to and how this techno-dependency affects our behaviour and personal relationships.
Episode 1 of season 2 (Be Back Soon) does not show a uniformly utopian view of the near future but it does demonstrate how Brooker’s writing has matured to the point that it doesn’t set out merely to shock but rather wants us to question to what extent we allow technology to intrude upon our perception of ‘reality’. Continue reading
“…..and this is where I lost my virginity”.
Facebook’s much hyped Timeline app is fine and dandy if all you want to remember is “your memorable posts, photos and life events”.
The ideal digital lives are those of happy, shiny people living happy, shiny lives full of holiday adventures, warm friendships, perfect families and fulfilling careers.
While I can understand the rush to share such positive experiences, real life (remember that?) has a nasty habit of casting shadows over sweetness and light.
Deaths of loved ones, getting sacked, divorced, cheated on, lied to or having periods of sadness, confusion and depression are not the kind of things I’d personally want on my interface.
But perhaps I’m not representative of current lifestyle trends. As daytime TV has shown, there is never a shortage of folks willing to air their dirty laundry in public; the internet merely provides a much larger outlet for such warts and all confessionals.
The way technology has rewired our perception of reality has been the theme of Channel 4’s excellent Black Mirror trilogy. The final instalment – The Entire History Of You – touches on some of the issues raised by Facebook’s new toy without referring to this or any other social network by name.
It envisages a near future where implanted microchips enable people to save and play back scenes from their lives – a kind of HD Timeline. The fictional advert promoting this device features a seductive voice assuring potential customers that “memory is for living”.
I can think of many occasions when such a tool would have been useful to prove what someone did or didn’t say in the past but mostly the “I know what you said last Summer” scenario has more cons that pros.
So it proves for a “soon to be unemployed and unemployable lawyer” named Liam in the TV drama. Not only is his career on the rocks but he also suspects that his wife Ffion has revived an affair with a smug ‘friend’ named Jonas. Liam doesn’t believe her story that the amorous interest was confined to a one week fling before they were married. She hardly helps her case much when she says things like “not everything that isn’t true is a lie”.
The ability to rewind and review memories allows Liam to pick holes in her weak defence and to prove not only that her lapse was far more than just a “weird week”. Worse still, it raises the possibility that Jonas is the father of their child.
The Entire History Of You had many similarities with an episode of The Twilight Zone or could be a modern day Tale Of The Unexpected. Unlike the previous two Black Mirror episodes, it was not written Charlie Brooker but is the work of Jesse Armstrong; the co-creator of this year’s comedy-drama hit Fresh Meat.
It is the weakest of the three dramas because, despite the technological novelty aspects, it is essentially a retelling of an age-old story of marital infidelity and jealousy. The first two episodes were more original because they presented dystopian scenarios to show how the intrusions of the virtual world have created an entirely new set of moral dilemmas for humanity.
The drama does however prove the wisdom behind the lyrics to the popular hit The Way We Were : “Memories may be beautiful and yet , what’s too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget.”
 | Anonymous on No tears for Mark Lanegan |
 | MaleFriends on IN PRAISE OF THE HAIRY CHEST |
| Anonymous on COPYCAT KILLER IN DUMB MOVIE |
