NPR notes that there is another series of Black Mirror coming out.
I've only watched two episodes, including the movie length Bandersnatch, and I find I can't really warm to its bleakness. (Even my son, who has watched more, doesn't seem to hold it in very high regard.)
I have enjoyed Twilight Zone in its couple of incarnations, as well as the old Outer Limits, neither of which could be described as full of cheery optimism, but I find Black Mirror's modern version of worrying about where we're going unappealing. Not entirely sure why. Maybe because I find concerns about AI and computer technology generally overblown? (Except for the problem of social media and misinformation - which is greatly underestimated.)
4 comments:
I've only watched one but that episode did bear out your description.
Maybe it is a problem with character - for instance I loved 'Buffy' though that could be pretty damned bleak, partly because the characters were very well drawn. It's hard to find anything appealing about a show about all the world going to hell AND all the characters in it are faceless meaningless entities.
It's probably a Pommy thing too, a cynical European view of the world. You see another side of it in the extreme cringe comedy of shows like 'The Office' (which I seem to recall we also share a mutual dislike of).
Speaking of European cynicism, the other week in German class I learned about this character:
"[Bernd das Brot] is a depressed, grumpy, curmudgeonly,[3] constantly bad-tempered,[5] surly, fatalistic,[6] melancholic[7] loaf of pullman bread speaking in a deep, gloomy baritone.[1] He is small, rectangular and golden brown[3] with hands directly attached to his body,[8] eyes circles and a thin-lipped mouth.[9] According to himself, he belongs to the species "Homo Brotus Depressivus".[8] His favourite activities include staring at his south wall at home,[3] learning the pattern of his woodchip wallpaper by heart, reading his favourite magazine The Desert and You, and enlarging his collection of the most boring railway tracks on video. Bernd sympathizes firstly with himself.[4] His favorite expression is Mist!, used in much the same way as the English "crap".[6][9] His other favorite sentences are: "I would like to be left alone," "I would like to leave this show," and "My life is hell."[1][9]"
So, to appeal to the kiddies, the Germans came up with... a chronically depressed loaf of bread. I actually love that.
The description reminds me a little of the chalkboard (?) on Mr Squiggle. He had a very limited role, though.
Yes! Blackboard!
Nowadays I suppose he'd be 'Whiteboard', though that might make the ABC producers a wee bit anxious ('Are we being raaaaaaaaaaacist?')
Post a Comment