Here is the place to discuss this episode. Many implications here, obviously! Certainly the topic of surveillance is key. Also reality TV, celebrity obsession, etc. Feel free to explore any ideas that came up for you, or questions that occurred while watching this.One thing I noticed watching it the second and third time: this character (AIIIEEEEE!!) with the red hair looks a lot like the mother of Jemimah (the victim) as she is seen briefly in news footage. There is a shot where she smiles proudly when the actors take a bow. How interesting that the victim's mother would be involved....thoughts?
What I thought was really interesting was how everyone was watching the woman through their cell phones. Because the park's "rules" did not really specify to keep using their phones and to record the action, but they did anyway... I feel like this is because doing inhumane acts certainly feels less awful when you're watching it through a screen. The woman who murdered the little girl was filming the murder which is certainly appalling, but, perhaps, it was an act that could not be watched (even by her) with naked eyes... The pixellated versions of reality are easier to bear. Maybe that's why the violence we see on TV does not affect us anymore; either we are greatly desensitized, or the actual method of using a screen to view something is desensitizing.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest thing I thought of after watching this episode was that it was a classic case of “giving someone a taste of their own medicine.” The main character recorded her fiance as he tortured and then killed a young girl in the forest that they had abducted from her family. I’m sure that the little girl was crying and screaming for help, just like the main character was the entire episode with all of those people just recording her but doing nothing. I know that the main character didn’t exactly remember what she did to that young girl during the episode, but these people did to her what she did to someone else, whether she was aware or not. She felt exactly like that young girl felt: helpless and not cared for. Not helping someone when they’re in incredible danger but rather just record it for entertainment is something that’s real in our society.
ReplyDeleteIt’s like back in high school when a legitimate fist fight breaks out in the cafeteria and instead of jumping in to help break it up before someone got seriously hurt, most people, thankfully not all, would just huddle around and record it with their phones. Same exact idea. Or when we see a video on social media of someone getting jumped and the camera person is like “Oh, oh, oh, that’s crazy.” Well, if you’re so appalled by what you’re seeing, why aren’t you trying to help instead?
We’re just stuck in this age where everything has to be recorded and photographed. We show no remorse or have any sympathy when we stand there and record someone who isn’t in a great state of mind, whether that be a mentally ill person on the street or a person who just got beat up in public. As long as it’s entertaining and funny to show to your friends later that night, there’s no problem invading someone’s privacy and losing humanity for a few minutes. People reach for their phones as a reflex as soon as something terrible is happening because they just can’t let the chance go by of not recording it. Most people have no shame in doing that and this episode (though the plot is definitely outlandish) definitely hits the nail on the head with this idea.
There’s a scene at the end where the lead actor is instructing the forthcoming park attendees about “enjoying yourself”. He instructs them all to take plenty of pictures and enjoy themselves. While, in the context, there is nothing necessarily wrong with that, it just happened to remind me of the phenomenon that is growing with how people interact with events and their phones. At concerts, you can see people watching the entire show from their phones instead of simply enjoying the show. It seems to be part of an idea of needing to validate that you were at an event to other people instead of your word being proof enough. Everyone was filming the murderer through their phone instead of just observing what she was doing/what she was going through.
ReplyDeleteThe season 2 episode of Black Mirror, “White Bear” was distinctly disturbing to watch. What I thought was most interesting thought was the episode’s note on the disturbing concept of human’s thirst for blood and vengeance. Since the dawn of the criminal execution, people have been watching others be punished, whether by death or prison time so much so that even today executions in America are still open to the public. In this episode of Black Mirror, the show takes that idea of humans feeding off of other’s misery or punishment and exaggerates to a point of absurdity, yet at the same time within the episode it is seen as justice. People may want to blame this concept as seen within the episode on technology or the digital age in which we are so engrossed in constantly knowing and watching others but ultimately this facet of the human personality has stretches much farther back in time.
ReplyDeleteI think I understand what you're saying and I agree. The fascination that people have over this absurd form of punishment is not new or a result of technology. But I do think that what Nicole says above rings true- that people are curious, however they are desensitized by watching it through a screen. By perceiving the event through their screens, people are able to separate themselves from the reality that they are participating in and satisfy their curiosity simultaneously.
DeleteOne of the most striking aspects of the Black Mirror episode 'White Bear' was actually the ending credits. A montage showing the delight of consumers being entertained by such an inhumane form of torture and participating in that torture is truly sad. I believe the episode comments on a wide array of complex issues but the most apparent one seems to be that of surveillance. In the age of information, the most valuable thing is information- and that's particularly what Victoria has none of at the start of the episode. While she has no information about who she is and why she is where she is, everyone around her knows why she is there and that it's just a giant spectacle for entertainment. The crime she is apparently guilty of is one of observation; by not stopping her fiance from killing her daughter, she is guilty for being a bystander. It's ironic that the same sort of atrocity that she committed is being committed by the dozens of people every day who show up to merely watch and record her. Not only has this entertainment experience clearly messed with Victoria's memories, but it also seemed like the company conducting the experiment was profiting off of it. This could symbolize the relationship between consumer (Victoria) and service provider/data mining company that sells the consumers information to those what desire it (ad/marketing agencies).
ReplyDeleteThis episode is one of the most disturbing episodes of any TV show that I have ever seen. While there was brilliant acting and a compelling plot, it was hard to enjoy it at times. What made it hard to enjoy for me would be the fact that the main character Victoria was hysterically crying for what seemed like the last 15 minutes of the episode. It felt like I was watching a nightmare sequence at times during this episode.
ReplyDeleteThis episode does a really good job of evoking some sort of emotional response out of its audience, but mainly fear of what our society has become. We're in a rapidly advancing technological age that cell phones have become a part of us. We've also become obsessed with the idea to record everything happening in ourselves. The episode does a brilliant job of depicting the actions and consequences of this use of technology.
ReplyDeleteWhen we watched this episode in class, I instantly thought of how nowadays people record everything that happens on their cell phones. Specifically, this reminded of the website worldstarhiphop. On this website, there are a variety of uncensored videos which is open to public to upload. Mostly, there are a lot of fight videos. This episode has a direct correlation to how present day fights are being recorded instead of people actually using their cell phones to call for help or even prevent the fight from happening. It shows the downward spiral that media is bringing to our society.
ReplyDelete