Consumerism finally "upped" the two of them

Marilou 2021-10-13 13:06:06

After watching the second episode of Black Mirror, I can only use two words to describe it: "made by God".

After watching the two episodes that have been broadcast together, I finally understand what kind of drama it is. Using bizarre stories full of political, social and cultural metaphors, it reveals to the audience a dark world, and the impact on modern social technology and consumption. The fear of ideological culture is its main thread.

The second episode depicts a beautiful new world-like reality. A group of people in the same clothes and healthy people repeat the boring activities of cycling day after day in a world surrounded by high-tech, entertainment media and social networks. We can easily see that this is a metaphor for the mechanical labor of the middle and lower classes in modern society: they repeat the same, meaningless work every day, just to supply electricity and earn enough money to satisfy their own survival. The remaining time and money are all contributed to the vulgar and boring but brilliantly produced TV entertainment programs-movies, music, reality shows, games... The protagonist is the only person in the play who has a skeptical and rebellious spirit about real life, and is the only one. A man who was tortured by this. He has a natural resistance to the virtual environment constructed by this technology and media. In the play, the repeated appearance of the image of Apple and the tree-lined road that the protagonist always chooses when he rides a bicycle just hints at his heart for nature. Real desire. Later he met the heroine.

This was a woman who made his heart beat. From the first moment she entered the elevator, the smile on her face was in sharp contrast with the expressionless people around, which immediately caught the protagonist's heart. Then, after hearing her singing, the protagonist regained the meaning of life: he wanted to help her realize his dream, and he finally found a "real" thing. Here, the paper penguin stacked by the heroine is a materialized expression of her own talent, an object that is different from the surrounding steel, plastic and electronic environment, and a simple symbol that represents the direct creation of human beings.

Later they went to the stage, which seemed to be the most eye-catching place in the whole world. Everyone living in the lower class aspires to be the protagonist on the stage, and then become famous in one fell swoop and get rid of the boring and boring life of reality. The virtual role is left to oneself. The setting is that everyone sits in their own homes, sharing their entertainment experience illusoryly, converging into an ocean of mobs, completely manipulated by the three judges. As a result, a situation that everyone could not imagine appeared. The heroine's voice won tears from the audience, but the three judges who symbolized authority-spokespersons of consumerism culture, threatened her to propose the AV actress's. At work, at a loss, "she" traded her body in the consumerist market for what she had always wanted-fame, status and money.

The male protagonist who saw this scene was angry and desperate. He was depressed because he helped her spend every penny of his own money, and finally had to be forced to watch the "work" performed by the heroine. In despair, he wanted to use a sharp weapon to remove the mark of shame. At this moment, he heard the song that was fascinated by the female lead groaning. He decided to return to that stage and change this. everything.

Two months of struggle in exchange for the opportunity to take the stage. On the stage, he vented frantically his dissatisfaction with the system and threatened his life. However, the most shocking incident happened. The judges were dissatisfied by him. "The performance" was convinced, and proposed to give him a commentary program of his own! Faced with the temptation to break out of the bottom life, he gave up the confrontation with the system, accepted Zhaoan, and accepted the job.

The result is the same. The heroine betrayed her body and was "supplied" on TV. In fact, she was "supplied" by this system and this consumerist materialistic culture; while the protagonist was sold out. His own soul, his strong dissatisfaction with reality has also become a commodity, a part of this system and culture, and he religiously put the piece of suicide glass in a beautiful box (the spirit of rebellion was Placed by consumerism), drinking a premium drink——orange juice (note that it’s not the natural apple that I once liked), looking at fake penguins (corresponding to the paper penguins before), living in a larger house, using a larger The window admired the endless electronic virtual forest outside the window, completely forgotten his hatred and pain, he was also "upped".

Materialistic consumerism finally won.

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Extended Reading
  • Abby 2021-10-20 19:00:00

    1. The subject matter is bold, but the story is rigid. The political and social irony is too straightforward. The tied princess is so beautiful. 2. At the beginning, I still enjoy this novel technology flow of the future world and selfless love story, but the more I look at it, the more I find myself already Trapped in an inextricable sadness and sigh, especially in the end the glass knife that was once intended to be used for anti-antibody production turned out to be a prop to entertain the public. 3. Because the association is too deep, the abuse is completely suffocated... bravo

  • Rupert 2022-03-23 09:01:09

    The British really dare to shoot anything.

Black Mirror quotes

  • Kenny: [sobbing] They filmed me.

    Hector: Filmed you...

    Kenny: Through my computer camera.

    Hector: What, like, filmed you?

    Kenny: Yeah, like, you know, doing it.

    Hector: Like sex?

    Kenny: No. Like, you... you know.

    Hector: Jerking off. Jerking off to porn or something? Well, everyone does that. The fucking pope probably does that.