So, I know I'm somewhat late to jump on this bandwagon, but shit me, Black Mirror is amazing. I've been meaning to get around to watching the highly praised British comedy series for a while now. Last night, on a whim, I gave the first episode a whirl. Holy bejesus. I wasn't expecting that! For the uninformed the first episode of Black Mirror, titled 'The National Anthem', tells the story of a mystery kidnapper how abducts a much loved princess and demands that unless the Prime Minister has sexual intercourse with a pig on live television she will be executed. The kidnappers demands are broadcast via YouTube and before anyone can even try to keep everything quiet things have "gone viral". From there, things only get worse.
The setup sounds ludicrous. Which it is. But what stands out above all else is the deadly serious tone Black Mirror takes on the subject. This is dark, dark television. Nothing is taken lightly. It's a bleak study of our social media dependent society. And it cuts deep. Series creator Charlie Brooker doesn't pull any punches and isn't afraid to go places most writers would shy well away from.
But is it funny? To be honest, I think I laughed once, maybe twice during the first episode. But it's not that kind of comedy. Black Mirror's humour comes from us being aware of the absurdity of the situation these characters have been thrust into. We might not laugh, but we know that what is happening on screen is "funny". And the brilliant thing is we still care. We feel for what these people are going through. Hell, the last shot of this episode is absolutely heartbreaking.
Comparisons to the brilliant work of Chris Morris are inevitable. And to some extent they are accurate. Perhaps the most apt comparison would be Morris' Four Lions, but even that has a much lighter tone than Black Mirror. Morris and Brooker have even worked together in the past. But where Black Mirror outshines any of Morris' efforts is in its uncanny ability to evoke such pathos from such an outrageous premise. It's ability to still feel like a comedy while simultaneously being the bleakest 45mins of television I have perhaps ever seen. I don't quite know how he accomplished this. Colour me impressed.
Comparisons to the brilliant work of Chris Morris are inevitable. And to some extent they are accurate. Perhaps the most apt comparison would be Morris' Four Lions, but even that has a much lighter tone than Black Mirror. Morris and Brooker have even worked together in the past. But where Black Mirror outshines any of Morris' efforts is in its uncanny ability to evoke such pathos from such an outrageous premise. It's ability to still feel like a comedy while simultaneously being the bleakest 45mins of television I have perhaps ever seen. I don't quite know how he accomplished this. Colour me impressed.
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