Some Thinking on Black Mirror

I’m not entirely sure if this was discussed at length in class, but in fear of repeating something someone had already said I avoided bringing up the allegory this episode plays toward the role of social media and, perhaps within that, its role in relation to celebrities and fame. It’s very obvious from the start of the episode that social media is playing a role in relation to the episode itself. (i.e. Youtube being the initial source of the ransom, Twitter being used as a litmus for public opinion, etc.) But the themes that present themselves without the technology I think say the most about it.
The Prime Minister must broadcast himself having sex with a pig. This is obviously the largest part of the allegory. He must, to the masses, present a facet of himself that does not accurately represent who he is, but he must do so to reach a desired end. In this, he becomes a student of the internet. He tries everything to prevent what happens from being associated with himself, but must, in the end, use his identity as the very tool with which he makes things happen. This is similar to the way we use Facebook. We use our identities to broadcast an image of ourselves that may or may not be accurate to who we are. It may be an exaggeration, as the artist in the episode may have seen the act of having sex with a pig. Or it could be a complete falsity, as the Prime Minister (PM) himself may have seen the act of having sex with a pig. In the end, the PM’s wife sees it as falsity and turns her back on him. But at the same time, there is the importance of the audience. People watch along regardless of whether or not they want to. Again, similar to social media in that there is always a flux of information regardless of receptivity of the viewer. Most important is the moment when the suggestion to turn it off is put forward and thereafter rejected. The way we consume this information becomes a false necessity. FOMO. A fear of missing out.
Another huge proponent is the news station attempting to cover the story. This facet of the episode presents itself as the war between social media and news media. Papers are dying out and televised news is day-by-day losing its legitimacy. The initial inability to cover the story comes from higher up, but it’s quickly realized that whether in the narrative of the episode or not, more information is coming through social media than through that of the television news. And the story continues to build momentum even after the news reporter is shot near death: a very representative moment for the state of news media in the fast world of social media.
The role of the artist plays more on the second paragraph’s subject matter in that it’s the necessity one feels to broadcast one’s self. The fact that in the end there is no necessity is probably the most important part of that, in that there truly is no necessity in the realm of social media. It’s a tool that manifests its own necessity. It’s as though someone invented a hammer to produce only hammers and then that same someone convinced everyone that without hammers we’re lost.
That’s about as much as I’ve sorted out in my head, but I think that’s about as much as is necessary.