Black Mirror Satire

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The show “Black Mirror” is renowned for discussing how current and future technologies may affect society, both in a positive and negative light. The show presents a dystopia filled with ethical dilemmas, and the episode “Hated In the Nation” presents a wide array of social commentary, from social media use to the consequences of online actions and government surveillance. These concepts are shown through the symbolism of the bees, the song “Fall Into Me”, and the characters of Karin and Blue. Though “Hated In the Nation” takes place in the near future, it is important to learn from the episode and see where a world of increased connectivity parallel with a lack of empathy may lead us in the future. The social commentary of this episode is shown primarily through the use of bees. The bees …show more content…

This phenomenon is similar to the Asch Conformity Experiment, where fear of being against the group’s ideals causes a person to say something that they know is not true, even if they were confident in their answers before (Zimbardo). Those who stick to their own group can find themselves in a dangerous situation, especially as online hate can “[spread] in minutes to thousands of people who can quickly add to the harassment, creating a flurry of mean and deadly support of rumors and mean comments” (Dellastua). As such, the episode’s social commentary is that the hive mind is dangerous, and ganging up on others while being forced to agree with the majority can lead to dangerous results. Finally, the episode states that as the live bees die, they are replaced by their robotic counterparts. This symbolizes how those using social media have their empathy replaced by a more robotic, reactionary version. This is paralleled in real-life events, when instead of going out and helping in dire situations, those on social media are content to change their profile pictures, thus showing the world that they “support” the situation. This is nothing more than a

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