Essay Sample on Exploring Society Through the Lens of Black Mirror

Introduction

Ordinarily, literature provides readers with various lenses with which to see the society, changes therein and their contemporary environment. Ultimately, they mold people's perceptions and perspectives about their circumstances. Adrian Martin's "Cautionary Reflections: Looking into Black Mirror" and Donovan Conley and Benjamin Burroughs's "Black Mirror, Mediated Affect and the Political" provide a projected analysis of the TV movie series "Black Mirror." Through their uncanny use of symbolic writing, contextualization, dilemma presentation, and appeal to emotions, the authors perfect the art of not only captivating the reader's imaginations but also unsettling their minds. They focus on showing the fact that the episodes of the film are primarily unconnected hence jogging the attention of the reader from one context to the next. The readings that draw from "Black Mirror" provide a futuristic look at the unprecedented influence of technology, the fluid nature of human emotions, and judgmental capacity of readers. They present the "Black Mirror" as foreshadowing technological change in a subtle yet unsettling way. Through mixing creative tragic scenes, realistic impressions and subtle narrations, the writers achieve the noteworthy milestone of connecting the imaginations and reality thus making their writings more natural to understand.

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In "Black Mirror, Mediated Affect and the Political, the author reflects on how the unpredictability of scenes is used to not only create suspense but also arouse anxiety. For instance, the authors note that the series are characterized by continued change of actors, technologies and settings. Through this, the imaginations of the viewer are captivated, and they are left guessing what may be next. Through focusing on the incoherence as well as dynamic nature of the movie series and episodes, the author shows how dramatic tension can be used to propagate an imaginative idea in a way that actual viewers can relate. In the same way, "Cautionary Reflections: Looking into Black Mirror" focuses on variations in tone and style of "Black Mirror" to demystify it as being unique. For instance, a viewer can think of it as being an action film, a horror movie or sheer comedy. With this possibility of varied perceptions, the viewers are left to have own experiences of the film. The authors see the dynamism in "Black Mirror" as one that gives it different impressions of being a fantasy, action, horror, or comedy. Effectively the authors use cinematic analysis to show that at the end of "Black Mirror," each viewer will come out with their subjective conceptions about it. For instance, Donovan Conley and Benjamin Burroughs posit that some viewers may arguably see the frightening scenes as just fictive manifestations of reality while to some, the futuristic nature of the film may portend an unrealistic portrayal of the contemporary social settings. This multifaceted approach in analyzing the series ideally helps in overcoming biases on which dimension of it is weightier than the other.

The authors aptly show how attempts to associate contemporary life with the imagined in successfully creating dramatic tension in "Black Mirror. In "Cautionary Reflections: Looking into Black Mirror" the authors show that in the third episode of "Black Mirror" called "Crocodile" begins like in an ordinary life situation but then as it unfolds turns to become extraordinary. Through the infusion of unique aspects turns it around. For instance, Adrian Martin shows that in "Crocodile," the viewer is introduced to Shazia's Recaller's instrument as being just his random gadget that he uses for investigation for an insurance company. Surprisingly, the story unfolds the Recaller is used by the police to unravel a murder case. The authors detail how the progress from the ordinary life presented in one episode transforms into an imaginative context. For instance, as the authors state, watching the episode of crocodile leaves the viewers' wondering how the transitions would be effected. The recognition of how the scenes transform into something beyond their superficial impression well reflects on "Black Mirror." Ideally each case of manifest contemporary life in the series changes into a unique futuristic setting hence the concept of isolated magnification. Isolated magnification is well illustrated as having the potential of creating a general air of unreality, an unreality that well serves in attaining the allegorical aim of "Black Mirror."

The thematic analysis provided by the authors revolves around everyday issues such as privacy, relationships, and interactions but in futuristic way. This approach creates the impression that films depict human lives but then can be manipulated to forecast on some changes that the society may go which result in overreaching changes. For instance, the authors develop a background of everyday human interactions which is one on one then proceeds to show how technology would create a virtual form of interactions characterized by pre-programmed dating game, robotics, mediated interactions and intrusion into privacy. While these may be an accurate portrayal of change, it is evident that the authors exalt dramatic exaggeration in "Black Mirror" in conceptualizing future progress. Technological progress ideally transforms the way humanity transacts their business and interacts with one another. Nonetheless, the futuristic approach depicted by the authors is a direct projection of the aspects presented in "The Black Mirror," that misleadingly informs the writer that technology will overturn existing forms of social and economic interactions. This symbolic depiction would imply that technology should be rejected. For instance, the author of "Cautionary Reflections: Looking into Black Mirror" provide assertions to the effect that no human experience, even the most intimate, remains private any longer.

While demystifying contemporary issues, the articles embody the ability of film to stretch emotions and feelings from one extreme to the next but continue its plot unabated. For instance, "Black Mirror, mediated affect and the political" shows a transition from a show of humanity to tragedy in which Carleton Bloom releases the Princess unharmed but I a twist of events hangs himself on seeing the Prime minister. This dramatic change of circumstances shows that the authors appreciate the fact that films in their nature ought to accentuate changes in situations that effectively trap the consciousness of the viewer. The articles present the reader with a vivid impression of the "Black Mirror" film characterized by graphic portrayals of noble actions combined with gory scenes thus giving the readings an emotional appeal. As Martin reflects on the final shot of Bloom in which his body dangling from the ceiling, bandaged bloody finger stump in the foreground, the reader emotionally associates with the film and probably develops an empathy for the suffering antagonist. Donovan Conley and Benjamin Burroughs further appeal to emotion in how they document the episode of "A national Anthem." Here, the authors focus on a somehow besieged protagonist called Victoria Skillane who struggles to escape murder and torture. This serves to make the reader sympathize with the lady. By using explicit connotations of terror, the lady is portrayed as being at the verge of being murdered by her tormentors (Conley and Benjamin 12). But in a dramatic twist, the authors unmask the lay as someone who does not deserve any form of sympathy or pity. In a traumatic twist, the authors show her as having been involved in the kidnapping of a young. Somehow this points to the fact that as much as the protagonist in "A National Anthem" faces the threat of being hunted by sadistic hunters, she deserves the treatment due to her evil nature.

The articles focus on provoking the judgmental power of the viewers by showing "Black Mirror" as being an interactive film. For instance, Donovan Conley and Benjamin Burroughs's "Black Mirror, Mediated Affect and the Political" show that the "Black Mirror" is not fundamentally a movie that imbues the viewer with a particular point of view but instead provokes divergent reactions that typify human perspectives. Donovan Conley and Benjamin Burroughs's "focus on the theme of justice and how it is acted in the episodes of "Anthem" and "White Bear" (Conley and Benjamin 12). Through this thematic focus, the articles succeed in showing how the film tests the limits of the viewers' visceral tolerance. The authors recognize the fact that each episode has its own messaging which then implies a need to concentrate on developing how they connect to the reader. In the case of the "White Bear," the articles graphically presents the woman wriggling in agony over the revelation of her misdeeds. With this, the authors show a dramatized mediated justice as a way of arousing the judgmental power of the viewers. As the woman, deserving punishment is narrowed down, and the authors present the reader with the impression of a moral dilemma in which they have to decide whether she deserves punishment by vigilante or sympathy.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both "Cautionary Reflections: Looking into Black Mirror" and "Black Mirror, Mediated Affect and the Political" are incisive as well as informative. They present a comprehensive view of the movie "Black Mirror" in ways that unsettle and fascinates the reader. Through focusing on the transitions or the lack of it from one episode to the other, the authors draw close attention to the fact that dramatic tension can be created in various ways. For instance, from one episode to the next, there is change of tone, characters, and setting which means that they communicate a different story within the larger story. This effectively jogs the minds of the readers and bring out the drama inherent in such films. As the narration moves from one extreme of appealing scenes to one that is tragic, the authors demystify the underpinning of any movie which is to entrap emotions and carry them along to the final episode. The articles note that, at some point, the viewers may be tempted to sympathize with characters before they realize their evil nature. The contextual analysis of each episode in the articles enables the writers comprehensively document the intricacies in "Black Mirror." The title of "Black Mirror " is well encapsulated in the fact that the authors show the movie as inadvertently ing to focus on the future concerning aspects such as technology. They hold the film as mostly speculative in its futuristic dimensions.

Works Cited

Conley, Donovan, and Benjamin Burroughs. "Black Mirror mediated affect and the political." Culture, Theory and Critique 60.2 (2019): 139-153. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735784.2019.1583116

Martin, Adrian. "Cautionary: Reflections: Looking into Black Mirror." Screen Education 90 (2018): 16.