Why is the show called black mirror
Black Mirror Explained: A Shared Universe
every installment of black mirror
unfolds in a world unto itself
each self-contained story presents its
own slanted reality so when we think of
black mirror we think of something
unified as if all these separate glass
mirror worlds connect into the same
galaxy as creator Charlie Brooker said
at a Baptist screening in 2016 in New
York they're all in the same
psychological universe black mirror has
a quote flavor he said it's a box of
chocolates and they are all dark
chocolates there are all stories in
which we do fling you into a pit of
despair and then piss on you because
people seem to like that on a literal
level the black mirror stories also have
many overlapping details that suggest
some or all episodes could be to some
degree in a shared universe the
creator's like to have fun with Easter
eggs and call-outs between episodes
many of the Easter eggs are planted via
a ukn a made-up TV news channel that
dominates news coverage throughout the
black mirror galaxy it's not only the
primary news source for black year
residents and viewers who needed dose of
explanation or exposition but it's also
the primary place to look for hidden
references to other episodes so in shut
up and dance season 3 episode 3 qkn
reports on the divorce of the prime
minister from the very first episode
he's the one who had a humiliate himself
with the pig in white Christmas season 3
episode 7 it reports that victorious
Colleen the child murderer from season 2
episode 2 has had her appeal rejected
the same shot includes a report that the
MP Lea Munroe from the Waldo moment
claims his twitter got half life in the
Waldo loom in season 2 episode 3 this
headline has been seen before on the UK
n news ticker in calais episodes the
national anthem this could be a subtle
cue to imagine Waldo and the national
anthem happening simultaneously in the
same world since they're both
politically focused episodes that warn
about relevant social trends they
naturally align and it's worth noting
perhaps that both are eerily close to
our own little
landscape and even that he took part in
a bizarre initiation ceremony for a
dining club involving a pig a genuinely
thought that's too big a coincidence
that can't be a coincidence therefore
reality must be some kind of computer
simulation designed to mess with my head
whereas the National Anthem shows
politicians at the mercy of public
attention and media has been Waldo shows
the rise of a trump-like cartoon that
disrupts the status quo a first steaming
of funny phenomenon the fast growing
into a very serious display of corporate
power Bobby he's quite handsome isn't he
I was hoping he'd knock me up want to
see how it panned out I never attacked
him on his look and believe me there's
plenty of subject matter right there
white bear the story of the Jayanti
justice turning into mass entertainment
also receives references throughout
Black Mirror if it's interesting Wiley
forensics the run of a kick and it's
another one the critiques are current
world's media in a close to home fashion
as the series goes on UK an is a near
ubiquitous voice appearing in almost
every episode of season 3 in nosedive in
3 episode 1 we get another update on
that errant prime minister we've been
thrown out of the zoo again according to
his social update lazy also runs into
fans of an HBO Moon Western called Sea
of Tranquility which is what the SFX guy
is working on before he's called on to
manufacture fake footage to save Calvin
embarrassment no won an Emmy for his
effects work on that HBO Moon Western
thing be tranquillity yeah you won't
find that another striking repetition is
the song anyone who knows what love is
it first featured in season 1 episode 2
15 million merits an x-factor or
American Idol inspired dystopia where
people either have to
themselves to fame on the show hotshot
or spend their lives on stationary bikes
harassed by the mandatory watching a
bath
new from race beef the haunting song a
brief moment of humanity in the episode
shows up again in karaoke and white
Christmas and it's sung in manic
inspires me jack both hotshot and winner
Abbie appear again in the Waldo moment
and white Christmas we also see some
technologies that resemble each other
the Zi is the augmented reality devices
implanted in eyes in white Christmas
Fair a striking resemblance to the grain
the ear implants that record everything
from the entire history of you the VI
seemed to be an improvement on the
grains which Chris suggests that white
Christmas
takes place later in the same universe
as the entire history of you still while
the writers like to make connection for
chris says he doesn't like to hold to
that religiously because he feels it
would limit what they could do so now
let's talk about the black mirror flavor
if they're all set in separate universes
what is it that identifies an episode as
last year or in the black mirror galaxy
we're dropped into a situation that's
not immediately explained the episodes
generally don't fall all over themselves
to give us exposition who want is people
who are you know them they wait for the
facts of the universe to be revealed
gradually through events often what we
gather in the opening minutes is far
from the whole picture as they attempt
to be a twist or major reveal in the
later minutes of the show
usually the show is set in the future or
an alternate world involving some
advanced technology that's central to
the story so these characteristics
alignment with sci-fi but the setting
doesn't immediately appear to be light
years away from our world they look like
our world but with a slight twist or
flange that over the course of the
episodes grows larger at the same time
the alternate world reflects and
magnifies some real element of ours
nosedive shows that the world in which
our current climate of social media
obsession escalates until all of society
is engulfed in the pressure to maintain
high social scores online for one open
I'm on to four sorry Cass Tenley simply
from stars please there's also an
element of work or dystopia as Brooker
says it's dark chocolate at first the
world seemed promising or intriguing but
they expose their dark underbelly
like the title suggests is a mirror of
our society but a black one it holds up
a reflection of how the path we're
currently heading on could lead to
misery and dystopia fastest cars and
double damage please remove yourself on
the airport immediately as we begin
watching an episode we find it changed
with foreboding we are waiting for the
shoe to drop we almost come to expect
the twist and we know it won't be good
but what exactly that twist is and its
moral light catches side surprise thus
our intellectual suspense keeps us
wanting more what if those rates really
target the people in the list everyone
you took part the message common to all
black mirrors is more or less beware
let's think about all this a little more
carefully and look before leaving we
should examine the snap choices we make
in the name of progress without thinking
through the long-term consequences
Bryce Dallas Howard the star of
nosedives spoke about that episode in
relation to the terms intelligence
invented by Michael Crichton in the
Jurassic Park novel she describes the
intelligence this way they see the
immediate situation they think narrowly
and they call it being focused they
don't see this around they don't see the
consequences this concept applies to
most black mirror episodes and they're
critiquing a realized mentality that
most of us are familiar with we
immediately begin using our cool new
technologies so we don't think about the
lasting effect after a time suddenly the
black mirror characters find themselves
in transformed world that they don't
feel they agreed to yet step by step our
small choices as a society bring us to
these very places Howard said she hopes
people take away from those guys quote a
healthy dose of fear regarding these new
technologies Black Mirror feels like a
collection of cautionary tale designed
to heighten our awareness about how
short steps from our current world could
lead to a drastically different reality
and one that we might not like very much
usually lasts for what like an hour when
they leave it going price of progress I
suppose even if they're all different
each episode might be described as a
thought experiment designed around a
clever what is it speaks to something
very close to us the anthology series is
a rare and challenging format to pull
off in a visual medium almost all TV
relies largely on our emotional
investment in recurring characters we
care what happens to them week to week
Black Mirror gives us no recurring
characters it asks the viewer to come to
each episodes lined every installment is
like a mini movie it has a beginning
middle and end and a catharsis rather
than the unending plot of most
television according to broker one of
the pleasures of doing this kind of in
Sala Jizo of standalone worlds
if the power it gives to each director
every episodes director gets to create a
whole new world Brooker compares the
series to a short story collection which
now that it's on Netflix where viewers
can watch in any order is a quote short
story collection being delivered into
the magic cupboard of your house like
with a box of chocolates he says you
never know what you're going to get
Oh
you
