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
