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Reality TV Gone to the Extreme?

"Black Mirror: White Bear" Review

By Karen ChaperoPublished 7 years ago 5 min read
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Part I: Message of the Episode

Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror is an anthropology series from the United Kingdom that touches on people’s everyday use of technology, and how it can or has shaped us in the 21st century. While many episodes do a good job portraying their stories and characters by having them come face to face with the situation often revolved around technology, there is one episode in particular that stands out because of its grim environment and how writer Charlie Brooker, and director Cal Tibbetts, utilize the public space, media, and technology to create a setting that is fueled with hatred, retribution, and obsession with reality television. The episode, White Bear, follows a simple plot: a young woman named Victoria awakens in a disordered house with her hands tied to a chair, and has no memory of what happened nor who she is exactly. From there she joins another woman to reach an area known as “White Bear,” that is supposed to bring an “end” to what is going on, while also being hunt down by masked killers and surrounded by bystanders recording everything on their phones instead of helping out the main characters. What is interesting about this episode is the fact that the public space is set up like a reality show where the public can come together and discuss as well as punish Victoria for recording and killing a young child not too long ago. Because of this she is forced to watch news reports about the murder, paraded in a glass case as the audience call her out as a “murderer,” and be strapped down on the same chair she found herself in earlier, and given a headset that produces shock therapy before reliving the same frightening scenario she endured throughout this episode.

Part II: Analysis

The message it conveys in this episode is intriguing and somewhat relatable due to the fact that it is something that people have done and continue to do whenever they see someone or something that is considered “bad.” White Bear seems to follow an idea where the creators of this fictional reality show place Victoria in a scenario where she’s the one who is in danger after a couple of unidentified killers seem to go after her, while other bystanders simply look and record her panic on their mobile phones just like she had done it to the little girl. The audience, in return, witnesses her danger from behind a screen and applaud when revealing that this was merely a game for them. It’s a harsh, extreme way of not only punishing a criminal, especially using similar tactics that Victoria had used in the murder, but demonstrating to the world that this is okay and fully justified. It would also be like saying that she doesn’t deserve any mercy while overcoming these obstacles because she’s a murderer, and that she should be punished in such a way that can be psychologically tormenting for any individual.

I think the reason the writers chose these particular topics and setting is to help convey society’s obsession with reality television, whether the show is exhibiting good morals or bad ones for the public. It’s the type of entertainment that fuels the audience’s rage and anger towards the participant because they represent someone who has made some really bad choices in their lives, and because of that they need to face the consequences of their actions. It’s much like how people watch reality shows about teen pregnancy, criminal behavior, famous families, or competition shows that degrade who the person is or what they have done or is about to do.

It can also be similar to how news and social media exploit the person’s wrongdoings in such an extreme way that we become blinded with negative emotions, and believe that our own words and actions are fully justified because everyone else are encouraging us to feel this way by making or watching another person suffer those consequences. In other words, the writers of this episode point out even our own flaws as the bystander who may record a person’s danger instead of helping them out, the viewer who is entertain by the producers’ choices showcasing more drama or suffering on that person even if the choices made are harsh and immoral, and as the public who may be taught by the government, producers, or even each other that our anger and vengeance towards a dishonest person is totally okay. One can say that this episode got the message across for the viewers that the writers were intending to target, and I think they did a great job of showcasing our flaws as the viewer and as a society.

Part III: Is It Any Good?

White Bear has a lot of good qualities to portray everything about ourselves, whether it’s by being obsessed with reality TV or the person who doesn’t call out about what we see or do is wrong. Nobody feels excluded in this episode, and we can all relate to it some way or another. Even if the viewer may disagree with what the writers were intending to do, it can still demonstrate how much we are unaware of our faults as a viewer or bystander, as demonstrated through the characters who psychologically abuse Victoria. In my opinion, I think the episode really heightens the dark side of human mentality, fusing in today’s use of technology, reality TV, and media to explore how far we, the public, are willing to allow ourselves to dive into our negativity in which producers, like in this fictional reality show, won’t say it's wrong. In other words, how the creators of this reality show wanted its viewers to act is based on how they want them to respond towards criminals like Victoria.

As a whole, White Bear can act as a cautionary tale or black satire that places the main character in a dangerous, unpleasant situation while the rest of the world cheers and watches Victoria’s suffering on reality TV, forcing her to relive the same thing over and over with little to no regard of treating her as a human being, and instead see and treat her as a criminal.

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About the Creator

Karen Chapero

I am a poet and fiction writer with a poem published in my English department's literary magazine called the Pacific Review. Check out more poetry and fiction written by me on my personal blog http://www.the21stage.com.

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