“Black Mirror” reflects on technology in today’s society
“Black Mirror” is a science fiction series that pulls on psychological horror to create its standalone episodes, which examine modern society and the possibilities of new technology.
It was picked up by Netflix after the second season was released. Netflix had resounding success with the third season, which was released in October of 2016. “Black Mirror” also won its first Primetime Emmy award in 2017 for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special.
The fourth season looks just as promising as the others. Over a three month period, Netflix has slowly been teasing its fans with new information about this season.
The first look viewers got was a release of episode titles which showed some prominent cast members, but ultimately revealed nothing about the plot line.
But that didn’t stop eager fans from speculating. The cryptic marketing, worked exceptionally well for Netflix, led to a large boom in publicity for the series.
As the episode trailers were released, fans became more excited, which prompted analysis of the material they had and thus sparked discussion of the technologies at hand, the very thing “Black Mirror” was created to promote.
In fact, the unique aspect of “Black Mirror” is that it takes the technology that the world is on the cusp of—rather than the far future—and brings the worse side of it to light in an extreme way.
While it’s often compared to “Twilight Zone”, “Black Mirror” focuses more on the impact technology could have, rather than the paranormal, supernatural, and extraterrestrial.
The greatest talent of “Black Mirror” is its realism, the stories that turn dark and could happen to anyone. It’s what truly strikes fear into the hearts of the audience, and it’s what lures so many people into the show.
Season four will be released on Netflix on December 29th.
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Emily Hanna is a sophomore returning for her second year at The Stampede. She's a member of the GSA and Mu Alpha Theta, and is quite vocal about the LGBTQ+...