Black Mirror

Despite owning every Apple product possible, I’m a skeptic when it comes to technology. For a long time I avoided owning a smartphone, believing that I already used the internet enough, worrying that even easier access would make my online life takeover my real one. In the end I caved in. There’s a lot about my phone I appreciate: the ease by which I can download podcasts, read articles, listen to music and troll Jamie Redknapp. However, there is a darker side to technology too. I know that a quick check of my Facebook can lead me down the rabbit hole of superfluous information: before I know it time has moved on and I’ve lost an hour to Wikipedia. 

To counter this, when I get home from work, I put my phone away in my bedroom to avoid looking at it; this ensures I actually concentrate on the programme I’m watching, the person I’m talking to, the book I’m reading. On average I would say that I’m more considerate than most people when it comes to technology: I use it, but try not to let it use me. For all of that, I appreciate that I would focus better and achieve more if I had more control of it.

Further, as a teacher I worry about the effects of technology. Today’s children were raised on mobile phones, suckling at Wi-Fi’s teat from a young age. Withdrawing it from them can leave them feeling orphaned and bereft. This isn’t an exaggeration: I’ve confiscated phones. I’ve taken the puppy away from the dam; I know what impact it has. Given the choice most children would surrender their parents to the Stasi before they would give up their phone. Who can blame them though? People my age find it hard to cope without a mobile; imagine what it’s like for a generation whose pockets came fitted with one.

Visual metaphor alert.

Day by day we’re becoming more reliant on technology, but at what cost? This is the question that Charlie Brooker wrestles with in his series Black Mirror, a Channel 4 production that's recently moved to Netflix.

Brooker began life as a video games journalist. Much of his 20’s were spent slack-jawed and dope-eyed in front of his console. Loving his job but aware that 30- the age of respectability- was coming, he decided to clean up his act and take control of his writing. The first of his dark materials was the brilliantly corrosive, TV Go Home, a fake listings magazine in the guise of Radio Times. Here, he invented ridiculous television programmes – think Alan Partridge’s pitches, only more fatalistic – to satirically talk TV away from suicidally stupid programming. The Guardian liked what they heard and commissioned him to write TV reviews for them. These hatchet jobs were so violent they rendered the victims unrecognisable – they were also hilarious. From there, he has co-written the brilliant Nathan Barley, a harbinger of hipster culture, and authored the character of Philomena Cunk, this decade’s great comedy character. It is Black Mirror though that has made Brooker into a star: one episode has been ‘optioned’ by Robert Downey Jr.; and several feature Hollywood stars - John Hamm and Domhnall Gleeson being just two.

The idea for Nathan Barley started here.

Following a disagreement over how the show would be financed, the series is now in the hands of Netflix. Even though the producer has changed, the voice hasn’t. The mini-dystopias are still as harrowing, horrific and haunting as ever – one left my girlfriend running for the safety of the bathroom. (“I’ll brush my teeth and I’ll come out when it’s over,” she said.) I should say that I’ve only seen the first three and will endeavour to catch up on the others when I’m not talking to banks and solicitors (In exciting news, we’re buying a house). 

Note: given this blog is called 'Reasons to be Cheerful' shouldn’t I be writing about the happiness of owning bricks and mortar with the woman I love? Is it right that this week I’ve chosen instead to focus on a sci-fi miniseries? Thirty years she’s signed up to live with me, the least I could do is write about how happy it makes me. Will this bit in italics satisfy her? Is a footnote enough to sate her?

The first episode in the new series is Nosedive, and is my favourite so far. In a world where we rate everything (restaurants, hotels, heritage sites and teachers – ratemyteachers.com), then it stands to reason that it won’t be long before we score interactions. This is what Lacie has to contend with. She is a social aspirant, wanting to lift the rope on her 4.3 rating to enter the VIP world of 4.5. In this society your approval rating is one’s social currency; it can get you an upgrade on a car, preferential treatment on a flight, a place in an exclusive apartment. But how do you climb? Well, you paint on a smile, practice a ‘sincere’ laugh, then go out into the world, aware that every conversation will be appraised and judged. If you have a pleasant interaction, expect the recipient to give you a 5.0 rating. If you cut someone up, don’t be surprised when their phone zaps you with 1.0 rating. Lacie knows that to join the exclusive members club she’s going to need help. Fortunately, her nubile friend, Naomie, is getting married and wants Lacie to be her maid of honour. With everyone attending the wedding on a high score, Lacie knows their patronage might be the difference between a life under the clouds, and a place in the sun.

Watching Lacie’s nosedive into desperation shows how the datafication of life is a worrying trend. Shouldn’t our kindness towards people come from empathy, the will to foster community, and not from an infantile need to be rewarded? I recently found out Uber has passengers rate drivers, and drivers rate passengers, begging the question: has this dark world arrived already?

I reckon I would be on a 2.5 rating. I'm not great at small talk, but do a great medium talk given half a chance.

Episode 2 is Playtest, one that benefits from Brooker’s knowledge of video games. The main character is Cooper, a strong, young American, who has arrived in England following a round-the-world trip. Seemingly, he is of white privilege – who else could afford such an adventure? However, over the course of the narrative you realise that the trip was one of flee, not glee. Desperate for money, he accepts a job as a video games trialist for a revolutionary computer games company.

In this building, Cooper is told they have invented a game that can tap into people’s personal horror stories. The technology is so neuro-sensitive that it can uncover your greatest fears, having you then play them out on screen. The manufacturer reasons that having people live out their fears is healthy: to come out the other side safe and no longer afraid makes a person feel stronger for having survived. Cooper, a gamer, is intrigued; and agrees in the name of catharsis to have his neurosis burrowed into.

I won’t tell you what happens; I’ll just say that the book Cooper is reading, Poe’s The Raven, is significant. Note: this is the one that had The Girl running for the door.

Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn's son, Wyatt Russell, is the lead in episode 2.

The episode I watched last night was the pulsating Shut up and Dance. The beauty of The Black Mirror series is they stand alone; each one therefore contains a different narrative and mood. Whilst Nosedive hypnotised and Playtest bled, Shut up beats with a driving energy. 

Kenny is a genial fast food worker, polite to adults and children alike. Colleagues though dislike him; they perceive a strangeness in him, something we the viewers initially miss. At home Kenny is guarded, even padlocking his door to deter his sister from invading. Privacy is important to Kenny, which is why he’s devastated when it’s breached by online hackers, especially since he’s been caught with his trousers down. The hackers tell him that they will release the footage of him masturbating unless he carries out set missions on time. The premise then is Run Lola Run where he has to fulfil a task before the clock runs out. In the end your sympathies will be put through the shredder as you question the price of justice.

That's Jerome Flynn in the background. Robson Green must have wondered where it all went wrong.

Black Mirror is a vital piece of programming. It is set in the future but says so much about our present. I urge you to look into it – just don’t be surprised if you don’t like what’s reflected back.

Black Mirror is available on Netflix.