Black Mirror starts off with a puzzled, and disgruntled Prime Minister woken to a youtube video of the captured princess stating the demands of the captor. Quite simply he had to have sex with a pig, or she would die. There's a lot at stake and immediately we can see the Prime Minister has no idea how to handle such stresses. I am not suggesting anyone would know how, but I can only hope the real Prime minister has slightly more self awareness. Regardless, he is put in a corner, and desperate to find the princess before she dies is of the highest importance.
The constant intercutting of what all news channels were broadcasting during this time, added to the depth and commentary on modern news media. One news outlet refused to broadcast the youtube video with the demands, until all other networks did. They tried to maintain some resemblance of decency but got ultimately overshadowed by the rest of the worlds broadcasting. The desperation of one reporter to get the best story was not unsurprising, but hit a particular low point when she was sending nudes to an insider at the prime ministers office. It was astounding to see this desperation, but more than anything it was unsettling how willingly she was literally selling herself in order to get information.
The perspectives shown of the people of Britain were extremely well done. we were shown multiple settings across the city as well as people reactions. what was most interesting was how the viewership of everyone watching steadily increased, and not a single person shut off the TV. even nurses and doctors at a hospital couldn't turn their heads or have the mindset to turn off the TV.
behind closed doors at the prime minsters office there were two primary concerns, one was the safety of the princess, and two was the public opinion and media changes. and scarily their decisions were mostly affected by the media as well as public opinion.
in terms of the technicalities and production value of Black Mirror there wasn't a missed beat. The audio work was outstanding. each time a tense situation came up they supported it with almost unnoticeable underscore. they even, towards the end, had one of the prime ministers advisers advice repeating in his head as he tuned everything out. the constant looming of news in the background consistently felt threatening. it takes a lot of elements to make a good TV show, and the actors followed with undeniably believable performances. the imagery depicted in Black Mirror was stunning. the empty streets of London were unsettling. almost apocalyptic.
Overall, Black Mirror made each viewer think of media differently. we caught a glimpse of a not so far fetched situation in which public opinion and media literally have the highest power.
No comments:
Post a Comment