Pigs, Prime Ministers, and the Dangers of Technology

I was warned about the first episode of Black Mirror; I was told the rest of the series wasn’t quite like the pilot. Being myself, I couldn’t stand to start a series on episode two, so I braced myself for episode 1: “National Anthem”. Even with a good “bracing”, I wasn’t prepared for what Black Mirror had in store for me.

Prior to watching the first episode, I was told that the premise of the show is to highlight the negative effects that soon-to-be-released technology would have on our society. While most of the episodes center around futuristic tech, the first episode starts off the series in the present day with technology that already exists. Princess Susannah of England’s Royal Family is kidnapped and held for ransom at the expense of the prime minister, who is ordered by the kidnapper to be filmed on live television having intercourse with a pig in exchange for the princess’ freedom. The following series of events may be one of the most stressful productions I’ve ever watched. “National Anthem” was a very dark episode, both in content and cinematography. The dialogue and scene composition were similar to the show House of Cards, which also depicts poorly illuminated scenes of people with political power wrestling over major issues. “National Anthem”, however, feels more in content like the show Designated Survivor in the sense that we watch a government do everything in its power to try and prevent a national crisis.

From what I can tell, Black Mirror seems to be very well produced and backed by a team of insightful writers. As silly as the premise of the first episode was, the culmination of all of its features built a credibility that makes the viewer feel terrible for the prime minister before the show is even over. At the end of the episode, the screen reads the director’s name, and then immediately jumps to post credit scenes to fill in all of the plot’s gaps. The story jumps to the one year anniversary of the incident and how the event had, in reality, little to no effect on the nation and its respect for its leaders. The incident did leave damage on the prime minister’s marriage, which seems to be permanent. At first, I was surprised and skeptical about the idea that a nation could get over such a catastrophic event in just one year, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this could be the case. The fact that the plot of “National Anthem” is very possible in today’s world makes it a strong precedent for the rest of the series. If someone in today’s world could bend popular media to their will for evil, in what ways could the powerful technology of the future be abused?

As uncomfortable as the first episode of Black Mirror made me, I am still interested in watching the rest of the series. I have always been a sucker for shows about futuristic technology, and I’m impressed by the plausibility of the writing in the first episode. We are already living in the future, and today’s Black Mirror episode could be tomorrow’s reality.