Every so often, you watch something that makes you reel back, enstranged, and forces you to really look at the world around you, to really see what is happening that has become so familiar. Black Mirror, a Charlie Brooker psychological-thriller series, looks at the impact technology has and could make on our future society. Each episode is self-contained and assesses a different technological development or invention that bends the possibilities of the future, stretches human capabilities and tests human morals. Every episode is startlingly creative, presenting the technological modern audience with everything and anything that could go wrong.
One episode in particular, "Fifteen Million Merits" (S1E2) hit me significantly hard. The narrative tells the story of a future universe where humans live in futuristic, black-boxed rooms, riding on stationary bicycles day-in-day-out to generate power. Each person must ride everyday to receive "merits", a kind of electronic currency that they need in order to purchase everything from toothpaste to new clothes for their online avatars. This universe is bleak, but simultaneously bright with the light from the screens implanted in every wall.
It is unclear of the exact rules of this place, but one thing is certain: each person will remain riding in this new kind of prison for the forseeable future. The only knowable way out is to audition for a televised talent show called 'Hot Shot', formatted similarly to The X Factor. Audition, impress the judges and you might win a way out. Simple enough? Not exactly. To audition, an entrance ticket must be purchased each time, one that costs 15 million merits, equating to approximately a year of riding time. This opens up the central decision of the episode: take a painstaking chance for the hopes of an escape or remain trapped in a definite, suffocating present?
(Closer analysis, opinions and spoilers from this point onwards.)
I adored Brooker's version of a dystopia. The "society" presented was one on a very small scale, where a select few model characters are used to represent different kinds of people within a community and the larger figures in control are kept ambiguous. This essentially reflected the spatial appearance of the universe, where each person's room is just big enough, becoming entirely functional.
The set design and cinematography in particular was absolutely stunning. For me, this is what made the episode genius and what allowed it to stand out. I was amazed by the sheer quality of the set design as the appearance of everything was polished and aptly futuristic, working really well without having to be too over-exaggerated or complex. It didn't need to have pristine CGI or elaborate structural designs. It was simple, which not only coincided perfectly with the themes and script of the episode, but really hammered home that less is more. Furthermore, every room was practically built from screens rather than bricks, emphasising the oppressive claustrophobia under the guise of the shiny, sleek modernism. The walls were interesting, these hard lines that would pen you in and yet open up a fake, virtual world beyond the limits of space. When watching the bedroom screens, the rooms suddenly feel like an open plane. Then as soon as the screens turn black, the intense claustrophobia kicks in once more and you realise how absolutely trapped these people are despite the appearance of not being so.
Along the same lines, I liked that the avatars and onscreen animations weren't realistic. If not just a budget-based limitation on Channel 4's part, in universe, this made sense. The avatars are only used for participating in facets of the institution rather than for entertainment, such as what the individual is replaced with whilst they look at the fake hills rolling past on their daily fake bicycle journeys and to be part of the audience of 'Hot Shot'. In these regards, it makes sense that the avatars are comically simplistic. Whoever is controlling this system would not want a person to become too absorbed in their virtual persona. They still need people to know they are tangible beings to do the tangible task of riding their bicycles. They wouldn't want people to start losing themselves in the enjoyment of their electronic identities or else there would be nobody applying for 'Hot Shot'. The gaudy onscreen adverts to the cartoon replacement images of real food on the vending machines keeps that level of falsity to it all, to remind everybody and the viewers that it is all false, they they are all missing out on what is real.
This kind of reminded me of the quotation from the first Hunger Games film: "Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous." If nobody had any hope of leaving this 'prison' through the game show, morale would be rather low. The fact that everybody is aware that some people do win and that they do get to see the 'outside' makes everything more real and hopeful for the others. That is why the end is so shatteringly tragic. Once Bing succeeds past the barrier of 'Hot Shot', he no longer has that hope and so his hope is given to him in the form of something else: the prospect of the outside. Bing now gets to view the outside world in all of it's high definition, forest green glory from his new, much larger windows. Windows or screens? This fact doesn't really matter. Now he has a new conduit for his hope, something he can see but is never certain is ever really there, much like the constant adverts for the winners of 'Hot Shot'.
In addition, the whole concept of the population having to ride on bicycles every single day was really interesting. The circular motion of the wheel is meant to be progressive. However, these clamped, stationary bikes cause the wheels to mirror the monotony of their lives: endlessly repetitive and having the go round and round, never moving forward, only going from beginning to middle then back to the beginning again. The bikes are a kind of human-sized hamster wheel and the humans are poor hamsters, fated to go around and around forever; possibly for some larger purpose, or possibly just for the entertainment of some bigger entity. Even the judges of 'Hot Shot' appear to be some part of a larger machine, seen most tellingly when the female judge supports the decision for Abi to relent to a life of pornography, clapping when Abi finally agrees whilst a silent tear runs down her cheek.
There’s only so much wonder we can bear, that’s why when you find any wonder whatsoever you dole it out in meager portions, and only then til it’s augmented and packaged and pumped through ten thousand pre-assigned filters, til it’s nothing more than a meaningless series of lights, while we ride day-in, day-out — going where?
Another subtle yet artfully portrayed aspect of the episode were the dark, dystopian images scattered throughout. There were many aspects of this society that were touched upon briefly, that only encouraged the viewer to dwell on them for longer afterwards. Nothing was spoon-fed or overly emphasised as controlling or suspect. This created an ominousness where everything had an edge to it that just felt wrong because of the accumulation of all these wrong motifs without being told why they are wrong. My favourite 'dystopian' motif was the unskippable adverts shown in Bing's room. Without the credits to buy the ability to skip adverts, he is forced to watch them - literally forced - to "resume viewing", unable to even close his eyes or shut out the sound from his ears. As horrifyingly controlling this felt, it hit ridiculously close to home as the 4od player I was watching the episode on was doing a very similar thing to me. Newer developments to 4od restrict you from using AdBlock so that you have to sit through all the adverts, some of which include clicking on a choice of two adverts which don't advance until you decide. I couldn't even leave the room for the adverts if I wanted to watch the show, I would have to sit and engage with them.
Overall, "Fifteen Million Merits" was one of the best pieces of television I have ever seen, verging far closer to the craft and success of a feature length film. A beautiful experience of concise and effective world building with fantastic acting throughout. Nothing else has made me as unnerved as the ending of this episode did.
(Images from http://fishsticktheatre.com/TV/BlackMirror)
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