Just halfway through 2019, there have been three eye-catching film and television dramas that have declined in word of mouth one after another. From the unfinished end of the eighth season of "Game of Thrones" in April and May, to the embarrassing situation of the fifth season of "Black Mirror" and "X-Men: Dark Phoenix" in early June, people have seen good works from "Rising Sun" The whole process of "rising in the east" to "setting in the west" is really like a curse at work. These series of works are slowly cultivating audience relationship. After years of polishing and accumulation, this year's results are unavoidable.
The first season of "Black Mirror", which was released in the same year as "Game of Thrones", has only three short episodes. The story of each episode is not related, but the theme is the same, and it has received a lot of praise. Through the form of dystopia, the horror of the future society is revealed, which is used to remind us who are willing to accept the convenience of technology to reflect and be vigilant. This is the style established by "Black Mirror" from the beginning. The image style of black humor, slanted swords, and poignant irony it presents leaves a deep impression on people. While the audience was amazed at the peculiar imagination of the British, they also realized the ideological theme of the "double-edged sword" that the future black technology will bring to mankind. Since then, black technology and double-edged swords have become the consistent expression of the "Black Mirror" series. All of this is why the audience likes this TV series, but the fifth season of "Black Mirror" has lost its original flavor.
The fifth season, like the first and second seasons, consists of three episodes. The original appeal to bring human enlightenment through future technology has become a harmonious situation between people and technology. Such harmony, especially in the first and third episodes. In the first episode, the husband and wife are tired of their married life. The trivial housework and the tiredness of taking care of their children have dragged down almost all their energy, and they have no "freedom". In the end, the couple reached an agreement: a fighting game with a virtual reality experience has become a way for men to soothe their hearts; an affair in a bar has become a good way for women to relieve stress. In the third episode, the whole story is rather stereotyped, about two little girls and a female singer who, with the help of robots, successfully uncovered a villain's conspiracy. Finally, in the bar's rock music, everyone had a good time. This way of shooting is obviously very different from the previous style. The original backlash effect of science and technology on human nature has disappeared, and instead, the ethical relationship between characters has been repeatedly described, so as to achieve a happy ending between people. Such warmth is not "Black Mirror".
In the three episodes, the second episode "Fragments of Life" can bring back some face. It tells that the male protagonist is distracted while driving because he is addicted to a mobile social software, which leads to the death of his fiancee. Before committing suicide, he wanted to talk to the founder of the social software, hoping to change the intrusiveness of this APP to people's lives and not let people become overly addicted. The final death of the male protagonist deepens the theme. For the "us" of the onlookers, his death is just "the glance" of turning on the mobile phone. No one will take it seriously, and all beings are still intoxicated. Da Liu, the world is still running on its original trajectory. But this kind of issue about mobile phones is a commonplace. It is nothing more than to show that everyone's life has become fragmented information in the circle of friends, private information tends to be transparent, and application developers can even play the role of God and know your point. Bit by bit, thus "portraiting" you. These well-known problems, the director did not provide a new angle, naturally can not shoot flowers, and also lack the usual novelty and amazing of "Black Mirror".
In short, being criticized and word-of-mouth collapse has become the reality of this drama. After so many seasons of filming, the relationship between people and technology that can be explored is the only ones that can be said so far. What can be changed can only be the form of the story, so there will be repeated issues. In the three episodes of the fifth season, this situation can be seen everywhere, such as virtual reality in the first episode, and the transformation of human brain consciousness into computer data in the third episode. If the filming continues, "Black Mirror" will face the problem of saturation of thematic capacity, and also take into account the serious thought output and the narrative style of the sword. As soon as it is "serious", it is doomed that it cannot be relaxed, and it must be thought hard, in order to feed the audience's high-level spiritual needs. And the bold and extreme story style will also become a "historical burden". If the British Prime Minister and pigs are mated in the first season, the audience's appetite will only increase, and they will only expect something of this magnitude, or even more fierce. The story appears, otherwise it will be as disappointed as it is now. It can be seen that "Black Mirror" can only work harder on fresh story forms next. "Game of Thrones" is the end, and whether "Black Mirror" will continue to be filmed is still unknown. If you shoot, the situation you will face will not be too optimistic.
This article was first published in the magazine "Universal Screen", please refuse to reprint!
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