BLACK MIRROR REVIEW

A lot can be said about Black Mirror and its satirical nature; its often comical, yet downright terrifying dystopias yield both a warning to reality and touching reminder of what good filmmaking and television can be with its storytelling.

Of all the episodes throughout the seasons of Black Mirror, one in particular stands out to me: 15 Million Merits. There's a certain feeling I get when watching the episode; and it is probably the one episode in which that feeling is genuine anxiety and fear.

Looking at 15 Million Merits, its dystopian fiction, certainly. However, it's a dystopian narrative built on the foundations of reality. It displays many common themes and anecdotes that we base our very 'modern' societies on.

15 Million Merits is a story in which people are reduced to strange hierarchical structure, each rank within that structure has a different, yet tedious task in which they work on every day, for most of the day. For their work--often pedalling a bike that is fixated in one place, with a screen displaying pointless scenery--they are paid a digital currency. That digital currency can be spent on various digital items that improve the looks of their own digital avatar, giving the sense of luxury and class, despite it all being completely meaningless and digital. Each worker remains the same. Now let that sink in just a little: each worker remains the same, regardless of their efforts.

For the cost of 15 million Merits, a person may attempt to display their skills on a television show, in which their talents are judged by three people who appear to be significantly more important than the others; the rest watch with their avatars. The result of happy judges can be a rank up in that hierarchical structure. More Merits to be made, more luxurious digital items, the facade of more importance.

I find 15 Million Merits to be an episode that mirrors (no Black Mirror pun intended) our very own reality: we reduce ourselves to what is essentially meaningless slave labour, only to be rewarded with meaningless currency that we are expected to inject back into the system for items that we believe make us better than others. It reflects our capitalistic system in its entirety: we work our ways up the ladder, we receive more items, more money to spend on such items, but in reality, we are all the same. Merely human. Our hierarchical structure is nothing more than a facade.