Analysis Of San Junipero

Heaven is a place on earth. In the hit Netflix original television series Black Mirror, specifically the episode “San Junipero,” individuals are allotted 5 hours a week to enter a virtual reality to live as a younger version of themselves. Individuals can then choose to ‘pass over’ or upload their consciousness into a cloud and become permanent residents of the town, San Junipero. The show centers around two women who become lovers connected by their want of nostalgia. Nostalgia defined by Svetlana Boym is a “longing for a home that no longer exists or has never existed… a sentiment of loss and displacement” (XIII). San Junipero, has allowed two broken people connected by nostalgia to live together forever in a utopia but in reality, San Junipero

The first major instance that is shown in the show is the altercation between Kelly and Yorkie in the bathroom. Yorkie accuses Kelly of running away from her and Kelly dismisses the idea saying that she owes nothing to her. Yorkie then responds by saying “Maybe you should feel bad. Or at least feel something.” Both Kelly and Yorkie have had terrible experiences in the past that made them both want to look to the past for comfort. While seeking comfort in the past, they found each other, allowing them to move together towards the future. Boym states that “nostalgia is paradoxical in the sense that longing can make us more empathetic toward fellow humans” (XV), and especially for Kelly and Yorkie, it was true. Yorkie, trying to get the life that was stolen from her turned nostalgic. Kelly on the other hand went through the heartbreak of experiencing the death of both her daughter and her husband and aimed to enjoy the last few months of her life by being nostalgic. They both felt a sense of loss and by coming to San Junipero and finding each other, they completed each other. This is when the paradoxical portion kicks in. Boym states “the moment we try to repair longing with belonging, the apprehension of loss with a rediscovery of identity, we often part ways and put an end to mutual understanding” (XV). These experiences brought them together but it is also these experiences that tear

The Quagmire is a hedonistic hole for people that are “trying anything to feel something.” The ordinary loses its charm and boredom sets in. The need for novelty and excitement compels people to search for more and more creating a self-perpetuating unfulfillable cycle. The residents and users that go to the Quagmire are those who grew numb and calloused to the things in San Junipero and are trying so hard to get back the initial feeling of pleasure. As a last resort, those people come searching for Quagmire a place of decadence and a state of debauchery to fulfill their desires. The “eighty [to] eighty-five” percent of full-timers are more prone to falling in this trap than infrequent users. Kelly simplifies this entire argument into a few sentences when she asks Yorkie if she “[wants] to spend forever somewhere nothing matters? Spend eternity in this fucking graveyard?” Kelly is arguing that the people in San Junipero are in such a state of stupefaction that they essentially are