CT: Black Mirror

I'm sure that some of you are saying, "Hey, it's not Friday." The very observant among you will notice that it's not even still Saturday. Because I'm an awful blogger. Little C, like the Patron Saint of Procrastinating Bloggers that she is, gave me an option between punishment words and I chose: oblique. 

But before we get going here, I just have to share one thing. I looked up oblique just to make sure that I was going to use it correctly and this is what came up on Google:

If you regularly use "oblique" to describe your location on the "settee", I want to get to know you and your fancy lifestyle. You are winning. 

The real goal today though was to talk about Black Mirror, an incredibly dark and intelligent science fiction show from the BBC. And since the news that Black Mirror will be moving from the BBC to being produced by Netflix, and will be expanding into a 12 episode season, I thought I'd take a moment to appreciate the awesomeness of this show. 

One of my favorite things about TV is that because it's created on a faster timeline it can respond to the world in a way that movies just can't. Black Mirror is in a unique position because it's set in a very immediate future, which means it can make oblique connections to our technological present. Each episode takes a bit of technology that we're already familiar with, then takes it out to it's furthest possible conclusion to make an oblique point about the way we use that technology. 

I think my favorite episode is the Christmas special from last year, which stars John Hamm and Rafe Spall. Side note: the fact that Black Mirror is an anthology series and each episode is a completely different story means that it's basically a long running who's who of my favorite actors. They only have to sign on for an episode, so you get people that normally wouldn't have time for a TV show. Domnall Gleeson, Rory Kinnear, Jessica Brown Findlay, Jodie Whittaker- it's all our favorite Brit actors all in one place. 

Anyway, the episode is called White Christmas, and manages to handle a variety of technologies including a really terrifying oblique reference to Siri and other practically-AI techs. Charlie Booker manages to bring up all the possible moral questions that would come with the best possible kind of digital personal assistant. I actually catch myself wanting AI like this when I watch the episode, even knowing how Booker has drawn an oblique line from the AI to slavery. The dichotemy between those feelings is part of what makes me so addicted to Black Mirror. 

Fair warning, Black Mirror is not for the faint of heart. This show is dark in a real way, the kind of dark that makes me want to shower after every episode I watch. But it questions the world in an oblique way that only science fiction can do. 

Happy Watching!
CT