Black Mirror: the best psychological series of all time?

How would we behave if technology and dehumanization took over our lives?

The title Black Mirrorwhich translates as "Black Mirror", is a reference to the screens of therefers to the screens of electronic devices. Each episode of this series created by the Englishman Charlie Brooker explores a different plot, but all of them hypothesize about extreme consequences of technological progress for human psychology and behavior, as well as for the functioning of society.

Most episodes of Black Mirror are set in more or less futuristic contexts. The versions of the present and the future proposed by the series can easily be related to everyday aspects of the digital era in which we live, such as the violation of privacy on the Internet or the enormous influence of social networks, television and mass culture.

Below we will briefly comment on the episodes of Black Mirror from a psychological perspective. Watch out for spoilers!

1x01. The national anthem ("The national anthem")

Black Mirror started with a very simple premise: to save the life of the princess of the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister must have sex with a live pig. This satirical episode focuses on the public reaction to the humiliation of the elected leader - first mockery and sadism reflecting the people's resentment of their rulers. people's rancor against their rulers, then respect and gratitude.then respect and gratitude. Rory Kinnear, who stars in the episode, masterfully conveys the peculiar emotional odyssey his character goes through.

1x02. 15 million merits ("15 million merits")

The futuristic setting of this episode is reminiscent of other sci-fi dystopias such as those in Brave New World y 1984. "15 Million Merits" is an allegory about the growing value of the increasing value of social status and money and money, increasingly difficult to achieve for many, and criticizes the degradation to which the participants of entertainment programs such as The X Factor in the pursuit of wealth and fame. Before Black Mirror Charlie Brooker created Dead Seta zombie mini-series that satirizes Big Brother.

1x03. The entire history of you".

What would happen if all memories were recorded on an electronic device? on an electronic device? Of course, Black Mirror offers pessimistic answers: we would live anchored in the past, which we would obsessively review, we would distrust natural memory and there would be voyeurs who would pay for devices removed from young girls, who would then be rejected by a large part of society. Although there would also be those who would choose to live free of such a machine -either out of principle or out of "postureo".

2x01. Be right back ("Be right back")

This is the first of several episodes of Black Mirror that withhold key information from the viewer until the last few minutes. A woman wakes up with no memories in a world where, according to what she is told, a virus has turned most people into mindless people who only care about recording everything they see with their cell phones. "White Bear" presents a fast-paced narrative to take to the limit the use of the suffering of others as entertainment. the use of the suffering of others as mass mass entertainment.. Once again, the use of memory manipulation through technology is used.

2x03. The Waldo moment ("The Waldo moment")

The plot will sound familiar: a TV character whose only role is to make fun of the "establishment" runs for the office of Prime Minister. In this case the candidate is called Waldonot Donald, and he is a blue (instead of orange) 3D animated bear. The chapter prophesied the frivolous, intransigent and allegedly anti-establishment direction that politics would take in the following years due to the absolute discredit of the rulers.

2x04. White Christmas ("White Christmas")

The Christmas special of Black Mirror special takes advantage of its extra minutes to narrate three related stories starring Jon Hamm (Don Draper in Mad Men). In "White Christmas" a device allows us to block whoever we want to the point of no longer seeing or hearing them, and computerized copies of ourselves can be used as slaves to take care of basic computer tasks. Among other topics, this episode, especially dark and disturbing, analyzes the attitude that people will adopt when artificial intelligence advances to the point of acquiring emotions and a sense of identity, and delves into the dehumanization to which technological progress is leading us.

3x01. Nosedive ("Nosedive")

"Nosedive" ("Nosedive") is inspired by Peeple, a real application that allows us to rate other people based on our interactions with them. In the style of Black Mirror style of taking everyday technology to the extreme, for the characters in this episode everything depends on their rating (between 0 and 5 stars), from social status to the possibility of finding an apartment. The protagonist goes in a few hours from being a person concerned only with appearances to the emotional catharsis of one who frees herself from the tyranny of "what people will say", embodied today in the "likes".

3x02. Playtesting ("Playtest")

A young backpacker has his credit card number stolen and decides to try out a virtual reality video game in exchange for money to get home. In addition to presenting in a very suggestive way, in a nightmarish environment, the possibilities of augmented reality and the customization of video games based on personal experiences, this episode of Black Mirror talks about the use of technology to escape from real life. real life based on the story of the protagonist, who does not feel able to interact with his mother after his father died of Alzheimer's disease.

3x03. Shut up and dance ("Shut up and dance").

A teenager is recorded through his webcam while masturbating, and the person who obtained the video threatens to send it to all his contacts if he does not follow the instructions he gives him. Paraphilias have relevance in this episode, which features, like several other episodes of Black Mirrorcharacters with whom the viewer empathizes and who turn out to have carried out more reprehensible conduct that is more morally reprehensible than we are given to understand at the beginning of the chapter.

3x04. San Junipero ("San Junipero")

The longest episode of Black Mirror is a police thriller with a format closer to what would be proper of a movie than to the rest of the chapters of the series. In "National Hatred," set in a near and very plausible future, every day the person who is most the person who is tagged the most times on Twitter on Twitter with the hashtag "#DeathA". The central themes of the plot are virtual bullying and the diffusion of responsibility that occurs in the public lynchings that take place on social networks: if someone's death depends on the hatred of many people, is it the victim's fault or the fault of each of those who would like him or her to die?