Black Mirror S02E02
An under 2000 character Review on Anthologies. Number 5, Black Mirror S02E02 – White Bear – Directed By: Carl Tibbetts – Written By: Charlie Brooker – Release Date: 2/18/2013. Originally Posted 6/12/20.
Black Mirror is a UK retelling, of sorts, of the Twilight Zone. Most of the episodes have to do with humanity or the dark sides of humanity in relation to modern society, technological advancements and media/social media sensationalism aka what I call “POOP Culture.”
We have sort of seen stories like this in the past. The Running Man comes to mind after seeing this but with a modern twist. You awake in a chair not knowing where you are or who you are. Your Head is pounding. You are immediately under attack from people dressed in masks either trying to shoot at you or get close enough to kill you with their melee weapon.
Spectators, which are may, just follow you and record you with their mobile devices. You are on the run. You do not know who to trust. After what seems like the whole day, which it is, you find out you are not the victim here, but a convicted child killer that is serving their punishment.
The punishment is to be threatened and tormented till the day is over and you get your mind wiped so you can do it all over again. People pay money to be a part of it to see first hand. You are led to believe through thought-out clues left that the child might be yours and your instincts kick in to find and protect the child. Only to find out you actually killed the child, recorded it and did nothing to prevent it.
Doesn’t sound science fiction to me. This sounds like the future of prison sentences. Why just put them in a cell when you can digitally create whatever situation you want to put them through and they’ll believe it, they’ll feel it. If they do this daily to this prisoner, at the level of stress the person goes under they probably wouldn’t last a month.
Perhaps, but there wouldn’t be much left of that mind/body connection. You put the body through that and just wipe the mind. The stress on the body is still there. You cannot remove that with a mind wipe. However, what an effective way to punish someone.