Control

I watched season 3, episode 5 of Black Mirror, “Man Against Fire”. The primary theme was control. The first thing that I noticed was the drab, washed out colors of the outside world. Buildings are splotched with algae and vines. Interiors feel dank and moldy. The effect is a world that seems in general disorder. This stands in stark contrast to the scenes in the military complex, where the environment is sterile, white; controlled. The viewer is shown by interactions amongst soldiers that the enemy and cause of the disarray are disgusting beings called “roaches”.

This episode does a good job of showing, not telling. This is particularly impressive in a sci-fi show, where the technology and setting are unfamiliar. The main technology showcased in this episode is called Mass, a brain implant with which soldiers can receive intel briefings into their brains, improve their targeting, and communicate with one another. This device also controls all of their senses to varying degrees, and is used to reward soldiers for killing roaches. The mass gives them sexual dreams the night after they get a kill. This gives soldiers the positive association of sex when killing, giving the military never before seen psychological control. This is all showcased in action, whereas a lot of sci-fi technology is explained through cheap dialogue. The viewer knows intuitively when the protagonist’s Mass begins malfunctioning, due to a high pitched whir and distortion coupled with images of him in pain, or seeing his systems go offline. Once this is introduced, any time the whirring begins the viewer is easily clued in.

The Mass gives the military even more control, however. It is revealed that the roaches are actually just humans, and the Mass alters their appearance and voice in the mind’s of the soldiers. Thus, they can commit horrible acts without remorse. This dehumanization of the enemy is often found in the military today. This is one of the intriguing aspects of Black Mirror: while it can at times be far fetched, it really is a dark look in the mirror of society today, socially as much as technologically.

Suspense is spot on in this episode. Build up is accumulated as the viewer is shown a knife clutched in the hands of a man protecting the “roaches” as he is being drilled by soldiers. The camera narrator shows us what is going to happen wordlessly. The action was unfortunately unsatisfactory to me, as it was disjointed by overuse of camera cuts and shaky cam. I imagine the idea was to give the sense of chaos to the action, but I think it subtracts more than it adds.

Oftentimes in Black Mirror episodes, the ending is not happy. This is no exception. However, it’s kind of refreshing to not have the expected “good guys win” ending. It subverts typical expectations. The power of controlling information was the overwhelming theme throughout. Control of information is dangerously powerful. This is why documentaries that control exactly what does and doesn’t get put into them can be exceptionally misleading. This is why Trump’s cry of “fake news” to discredit the media is troubling. When you control the flow of information, you control everything.