Black Mirror; The Future Is Here
<p>Black Mirror is a surprise on Netflix. Most of the stories in this anthology are remarkably creative and the ideas are very new. Even though some episodes are at a lower level, the whole series is still a must-watch.<br />
Presenting the stories in the near future made it possible for Charlie Brooker to create strange and sometimes weird situations based on our current lifestyle but with more advanced technology. New ways of living, socializing, and relationships in advanced social media, augmented reality, and features of advanced gadgets are the elements of these stories.<br />
From the first episode of season 1, Black Mirror prepares us to see unbelievable events in the series. &#8220;The National Anthem&#8221; is the sarcastic name of this episode. British prime minister is woken during the night to be informed about kidnapping Princess Susannah. The kidnapper requests the live broadcasting of the prime minister having sexual intercourse with a pig on national TV. This demand was shared on YouTube and tens of thousands of people have viewed it.<br />
In the morning, news media stop complying with a D-Notice issued by the government which requested that they not broadcast the story. Within hours, tens of millions have seen the video. Prime minister tries to find a way around it but kidnapper sends a cut finger and footage of the suffering royal member. He has no choice but to obey the demand that becomes a national expectation now.<br />
Prime minister follows the instruction and his intercourse with a pig is broadcasted on national TV. Millions of people watched it live but released the hostage 20 minutes before the broadcast.<br />
No doubt this episode is a surprising shock to viewers. Not just because the demand by kidnapper is disturbing or the acts of the prime minister and people are disgusting; but because the kidnapper and the whole story don’t reveal any motivation for the weird demand. It seems that the situation on its own is significant enough and there is no need to explain the other details.<br />
This opening of series creates greater expectations in the audience and Black Mirror fulfills it with other creative stories.<br />
In the second episode of season 1, Black Mirror tells another strange story. Ash, a social media addict, lives with his girlfriend Martha. He dies in a car accident and just a few days later, Martha learns that she is pregnant. While she is still mourning for her loss, she decides to use a new technology that creates a synthetic copy of Ash with all details of his character based on his social media presence transferred into it. Martha enjoys for a while by having his partner alive again but soon she realizes that the android is not an intelligent human with no ability to make a decision. He is just a synthetic human-shaped object who is programmed to perform particular actions. She finally incarcerates him in a small room under the roof and her daughter visits him for a short time every day.<br />
Black Mirror meets the high expectations of its audience in almost all episodes of season 1 but a few episodes of season 2 can’t satisfy its loyal fans.</p>

