[#172888]
Written by: zaghloul [12/12/2011, 01:28]
the first episode was soooooo amazing. sadly this second one is exceptionally bad. complete waste
of time. this was sooooo painful to watch
[#172918]
Written by: DungeonRaider [12/12/2011, 04:42]
topping the first one would've taken something pretty amazing... probably not the greatest move
setting the bar so high.
[#172938]
Written by: Uberlime [12/12/2011, 06:47]
oh pessimistick fuc go away
[#173001]
Written by: BoonesFerry [13/12/2011, 01:41]
Quote by verb
you talkin' to me kid? you knot spelly engish wordzeez 2 gud.
i'm gonna tell supes you've been sneaking online when he aint around bizzaro.
honestly, i love nothing more than to discuss and debate tv/movies with people, but really how do you
expect me and my pessimi-stick to respond to blathering drivel like that? c'mon, you gonna needlessly
go after someone for no reason, at least be funny 'bout it....
*scratches his pessimi-sack*
pessimi-sack hahahah scratch away ;-)
[#173009]
Written by: Mobywatcher [13/12/2011, 03:50]
i got to the sweaty man on the bike looking at the porn and the urge to hit the off button came in
like a steam train, not for me.
[#173018]
Written by: Xeno360 [13/12/2011, 06:37]
this episode was really interesting. i enjoyed it.
this show gives a kind of "twilight zone" feel. really brings something new and interesting to the table.
[#173051]
Written by: AcADIeN [13/12/2011, 20:30]
it was all about the penguin
[#173089]
Written by: NoGod4Me [14/12/2011, 10:41]
i really liked both episodes i've seen so far. i love the well written, big budget us cable shows
(the wire, boardwalk empire, game of thrones, breaking bad, mad men, the walking dead et al) but
only british tv and channel 4 in particular could come up with something this unique and
contemporary. a+
[#173156]
Written by: son_of_janus [16/12/2011, 04:59]
probably the most accurat discription of modern society. liked it very much!!
[#173347]
Written by: ockraz [19/12/2011, 17:17]
whatever else one has to say about the first episode, the plotting was pretty tight. this one felt like it
was padded with an extra 18 minutes just to fill up the hour. the classic twilight zone was only 30
minutes, and this would have worked better in that format.
the bit about people wasting their money/energy on junk that doesn't actually exist was really quite
clever. the idea that many (especially younger) people seem to equate fame with having a life worth
living isn't exactly new, but seeing it taken to this extreme is somewhat interesting. i agree with verb
that the treatment of the two girls was a refreshing departure from the way that "in most shows/movies,
the hero would've gone after the homlier girl who loved him." otoh, i got the feeling that they were
trying to build to a big surprise when abi was made into a porn starlette rather than a singer, and i think
most viewers probably saw that coming from a mile away.
i kind of wish that they'd showed us a bit more of abi after the decision because the fact that she chose
under pressure, and under the influence of "cuplience", and was told that she'd constantly be drugged
was something that i thought deserved more air time. are the show's creators drawing parallels
between pornography and human trafficking? if so, then that's pretty controversial and they shouldn't
gloss over it.
verb's 'network' comparison is fairly apt, not only because of the rant and the fact that in both stories
television was portrayed in a kind of "bread and circuses" way (i.e. as a distraction created by the ruling
class to keep the plebes and slaves in line), but also in that the howard beale character had intended to
kill himself on air. one way in which the two were different is that beale was plainly mentally ill and got
exploited by the network, whereas bing was perfectly sane and knowingly colluded with the powers that
be.
'black mirror' is a clever name. i'd not really thought about how today's flat screen tv's and monitors
do seem like black mirrors before. still, this show could've been called 'bleak mirror' because it's so
depressing. i don't know how to end that story in any sort of uplifting way, though. had bing not
betrayed his principles, what would he have done instead? kill himself? kill one (or more) of the
judges? i suppose he could have 'rescued' abi, although i don't know where he'd have taken her. i
noticed that they didn't show him making any effort to reunite with her. had he lost interest in her
because she was 'damaged goods'? that's the impression i had. the character really wasn't the least
bit noble, after all.
this first episode was so lurid that it would have needed a more biting social critique to justify the
lengths that they went to. it's like sex and the cinema, as far as i'm concerned. the difference
between appropriate and inappropriate isn't what gets shown, but how necessary it is that it be shown.
if it isn't necessary, then it's gratuitous. this epsiode wan't as lurid as the last one (although it did have
lurid elements).
i don't really understand the decisions they made about what to show on this episode. the porn on the
screens had some topless shots and some pretty convincingly simulations of sexual activity with creative
camera angles preventing things from becoming explicit. yet, when abi got dragged into that world, and
we actually had an emotional connection to a character that was being exploited, they seemed to
chicken out and just show her sucking on guy's thumbs. that seemed weak to me. if you're making a
point about sexual exploitation, then either leave things to the imagination (perhaps with explicit
sounding audio and reaction shots) or if you're being explicit to make a point about degradation then
include the character we empathize with to drive the point home and affect the audience more
profoundly. they tried to have it both ways, which meant objectifying the unnamed actresses and not
having the courage of their convictions when it came to the featured actress. (hell, they were more
explicit with the p.m. character in the first show, and that had less artistic merit.)
finally, a pet peeve of mine is when s.f. stories (like this and the matrix movies as well as a spate of
less popular s.f. stories) have energy generated by human bodies. that just makes no sense at all. if
you know anything about science, you'd realize that that would be like cutting down trees, making them
into paper, printing them into books, and then burning the books for heat. it's the most inefficient way
to generate power that i can imagine. i suppose that they could've justified it here (although not in the
matrix) by saying that the people needed to be fed anyway and that they wanted a zero emissions
power source to preserve the environment. the climactic shot could have been worked into that notion,
but it wasn't developed that way. actually, turning people into human slaves to preserve a pristine
environment might make an interesting politically incorrect s.f. story.
by the way, if power was at a premium because it was generated by people, then why was there a
penalty when people tried not to watch tv? shouldn't they get extra points for turning the tv off?
[#173348]
Written by: ockraz [19/12/2011, 17:19]
Quote by verb
t may of been a bleek and untraditional way to end a show/shortfilm, but by turing the "black
mirror" on us and letting "winston" finally fall in "love" with "big brother", the comedy come from just how
true to real life the story was. even in such an odd future/alt.universe.
winston? i don't get the reference. also, why is 'love' in quotes? (presumably another reference that i
missed)
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