Colony Collapse and Our Government

The bees are dying, the government is watching, and we are in a drone crisis. Black Mirror knows this, and decides to combine these three elements in their season 3 finale episode. Generally Black Mirror creates a world not to different from our own, but with a healthy overlay of science fiction. This time the bees had died, and to sustain our ecosystem (well Britain's ecosystem) a company created robot bees to pollinate in their place. There was a small caveat not mentioned until later in the episode that the government had ultimate control over these bees and were using them to spy on the public.

So drones?

It’s easy to make the comparison. Usually the show doesn’t make it so obvious, but when the government takes control of drones to willingly spy on its public it’s impossible not to see that parallels. Especially because the drones got hacked and started killing people. Again, the message is received loud and clear. But what’s most interesting to me is why they chose bees. I mean the bees are dying (see colony collapse disorder) and we don’t know how to solve it. And if we had to solve it drones would likely be the foremost contender. This scenario is scarily within reach. Its real - drones are already used to spy on ‘the bad guys.’ Snowden revealed to us that the NSA collects all of our data for security purposes. The next step? A species extinction turned into a government wet dream.

Black Mirror is frightening  simply because it's visceral. Let’s hope we can save the bees.

Black and White in Color

Technicolor either represents over exaggerated almost blinding colors, or a unique, almost paint like representation of real colors. Either way, you have to regard Technicolor in a high fashion when talking about old movies and how they evolved. Back when this was still a novel technology directors and cinematographers would use color to their advantage. The greatest example of this would have to The Wizard of Oz, where the beginning and end of the movie are in black and white, but the majority is in color. They used this as a set piece - it was part of the movie. The way the skin looked, the brick, and the flowers, were all an integral part to that movie; almost as much as the characters and plot. In fact it was a reason people went and saw movies to begin with, the color was a showpiece.

There was a fight in the industry when color was arriving and some directors specifically chose not to colorize (although initially usually based around expense). They used black and white to their advantage; used its sharp contrast to represent plot lines and character actions.

There is a somewhat large group that wants to colorize these old black and white favorites. Popular movies like Casablanca and Notorious are being colorized - the problem with that is the original meaning of the movie is taken away. Characters are shown through light and dark, good and evil are portrayed in these films in some way through the use of sharp lighting in the black and white art form. These deliberate choices to alter an original work because some feel it is missing something from not being colorized is interesting. Yes older black and white movies have a totally different aesthetic value. I mean a modern example (a film which certainly could have been shot in color) is Good Night and Good Luck. This movies uses black and white to tell its story, what would happen if it were colorized? The meaning - the impact - would be lost.

It is interesting to think that there was a struggle to popularize color movies, but at a closer analysis we can see how some movies used black and white purposefully. Others used color purposefully. Overall, it would seem most important to leave any film in its original form.

Trump and Zombie

Societal collapse is something we thought we only see in the movies, but has taken a more realistic turn these past few days. Outright societal disintegration is largely depicted in television and movies as things like zombie outbreaks, nuclear wars, and infrastructural eliminations. But what about the inklings? The ‘surface’ collapse; something that is potentially not as obvious, but just as dangerous.

I can’t help but recall not only the pitiful events of the recent presidential ‘debate,’ but also the news events following. Specifically how Trump supporters want to repeal the 19th amendment because if only men voted Trump would win. Societal collapse? Hard to say. Again it is a far cry from our nation literally disappearing overnight like the Mayans did, but for morality's sake - what does this say about our fellow Americans? Unfortunately my demographic leaves me at a disadvantage; I can hardly relate to struggle, let alone the true implications of this moral abomination.

Our society may have things like infrastructure, wealth, and freedom that dwarf other nations, but examining ourselves more closely we - at least I - find we are in the midst of a moral apocalypse.

All In The Family and Civic Discourse

With the recent presidential debates, civic discourse is threatened. We see this election in particular as more of a popularity contest complete with Twitter fights. These ‘debates’ are meant to give the american people an idea about who the candidate actually is, like what their policies are. After this we are meant to have enough knowledge to make an informed decision -- supposedly. Civic discourse is, in its basic form, conversation that increases our understanding. It is nearly impossible to relate this to modern politics (let alone this specific debate). According to Politifact , both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have said a large amount of overtly false statements, but Trump in particular ranks heavily in the categories of mostly false, and just plain old false.  How are we meant to understand either of our candidates if we cannot engage in the most basic form of exchange, knowledge? It’s a sad day when a nearly 40 year old television sitcom actually confronts popular issues in order to better our understanding. In fact, All In The Family has built historical importance based on their commentary regarding controversial topics. A few of the episodes we watched in class involved the Watergate scandal and interracial marriage. It’s disappointing to accept that the discourse in these episodes still feel modern in a lot of ways. They gave us information in a more appealing package then how it's delivered today.

It’s all about ratings. With the constant bombardment of news (thanks to many 24/7 news channels) we are forced to listen to whatever is most ‘popular.’ This may not all be news as history has traditionally seen it. The sad fact is ratings attract advertisers and advertisers keep a channel running, so if a thousand sound bites of Donald Trump talking about China, for instance get the most hits then that's what news will unfortunately broadcast.

As an even more unfortunate result of this Trump will get more exposure based on the increasingly ridiculous things he says. It's a perpetual and unstoppable cycle that has propelled him into superstardom. The news can never get a break. There’s no where to look (at least for the major channels) that provide any kind of real news service. I, and i hope a few others, are done with the nothing but petty back and forth between the candidates and don’t need to see it a million times across multiple stations.

We are all sacrificing civic discourse when we indulge in countless and mostly ridiculous montages involving specifically our candidates (It's a shame they are so funny). News, debates, and the media exist to promote widespread knowledge, instead they spend their time savagely curtailing even the promise of that possibility.