Have you seen those memes that mock modern life and technology? You know, the caricatures of people herding like cattle as they stare dead at their mobiles…the illustrations of onlookers using their smartphones to record a drowning man instead of helping…that sort of thing. Many of them are thought-provoking, especially when you consider the bleak irony of appreciating these dark parodies on the very devices they lampoon.
If this dissonance interests you, you absolutely have to watch Black Mirror on Netflix — a Twilight Zone-esque, techno-paranoia TV show for the social media age. Charlie Brooker, the show’s creator and principal writer, said of the title:
If technology is a drug — and it does feel like a drug — then what, precisely, are the side effects? This area — between delight and discomfort — is where Black Mirror, my new drama series, is set. The ‘black mirror’ of the title is the one you’ll find on every wall, on every desk, in the palm of every hand: the cold, shiny screen of a TV, a monitor, a smartphone.
Every episode presents a new cast and premise, and while it’s not ‘easy watching’ — it practically spits on the corpse of sentimentality — each story is brilliant, and terrifying, and totally worth your time.
The Amber Restorative 