Black Mirror

[seregrail7]

Well I forgot about it and tuned in 15 minutes in, I'll watch it in full on 4OD later.

[thechicken]

Thought it was amazing, and in many ways very realistic (There really would be no way to contain something like that)

[Ben]

Well I forgot about it and tuned in 15 minutes in, I'll watch it in full on 4OD later.

Ha ha, oh man, that's not a very fair way to judge a programme!

[seregrail7]

I wasn't judging, just saying that my impression was that not much was happening during that time.

[Dan]

I thought this was brilliant. Fucking horrible and dark. You knew he was going to have to go through with it, but it was fucking horrific.

The last section, from where he left to go do it, and the 'practicalities' in the face of such horror really resonated with me.

Charlotte didn't think it was that horrible. I wonder if it's actually something that men will find more upsetting than women?

Didn't sleep a wink. Couldn't get it out of my head.

[Ben]

 That was great. A little on the nose, but horribly believable. Loved the revelations at the end about her being released early and him being an artist.

[delve]

Please translate 'on the nose'?

[Ben]

Not very subtle about the points it was making.

[markbilly]

Best bit was - "he now has popularity ratings 2 points higher than this time last year..." Perfect.

[delve]

Not very subtle about the points it was making.

Ah. Thanks.

[Dan Lawrence]

I thought it wasn't really making much of a clever point beyond the obvious 'everything leaks now'. It seemed more like Brooker had a school boy giggle about the idea of Cameron having sex with a pig and then decided to make the joke funnier by seeing if he could get a large budget to fictionalise the idea on TV. Everything else was put in to try and make that Viz-esque giant cock and balls as deniable as possible.

I laughed all the way through.

[Ben]

I think it was more than a schoolboy giggle. Brooker's point as I saw it (and I never said it was a clever point, I said he was on the nose about it) was about internet culture and how we all rush to laugh at people's misfortune and embarrassment, and have become immune to seeing worse and worse things to the point of just mindlessly laughing at them.

[Ben]

Watch out for spoilers, but Brooker discusses the series and its inspirations (and self-promotes shamelessly):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/dec/01/charlie-brooker-dark-side-gadget-addiction-black-mirror

On episode 1 ("The National Anthem"):

This was inspired partly by the kerfuffle over superinjunctions, and partly by the strange out-of-control sensation that takes grip on certain news days – such as the day Gordon Brown was virtually commanded to apologise to Gillian Duffy in front of the rolling news networks. Who was in charge that day? No one and everyone.

[Dan]

I thought it wasn't really making much of a clever point beyond the obvious 'everything leaks now'. It seemed more like Brooker had a school boy giggle about the idea of Cameron having sex with a pig and then decided to make the joke funnier by seeing if he could get a large budget to fictionalise the idea on TV. Everything else was put in to try and make that Viz-esque giant cock and balls as deniable as possible.

I laughed all the way through.

Hm, I don't think you're giving it enough credit.

[Dan Lawrence]

I think it was more than a schoolboy giggle. Brooker's point as I saw it (and I never said it was a clever point, I said he was on the nose about it) was about internet culture and how we all rush to laugh at people's misfortune and embarrassment, and have become immune to seeing worse and worse things to the point of just mindlessly laughing at them.

I can't really think of a time in history when a big crowd wouldn't gather to:

Watch the prime minister have sex with a pig

that's not a new phenomena it's just human nature. If he wanted to make a point about people watching disgusting rubbish while ignoring the real world there are a million better ways to do it no?

I read the article about his inspirations in the Duffy incident and super injunctions before watching and don't really disagree with either of those points; 'everything leaks' and rolling news can be like a perpetual drum beat (though really nothing like to the government behaviour controlling extent shown in Black Mirror) but the absurdity of the central premise overwhelmed everything else for me.