Black Mirror is a critically acclaimed show known for the unique way it portrays technology and its’ harmful effects. One particular episode called “Nosedive” is very interesting because it focuses on social media which is very prominent in society. To properly convey the message of the episode the creator used visual elements, symbolism, and imagery. Visual elements such as, social media and clothing, provides insights into the mind of Lacie who is the main character. The imagery and symbolism illustrated what type the society in which she lived and the principles that is important. In the episode “Nosedive” social media is an important visual element because it determines a person’s worth. The higher a person is rated, the more they are …show more content…
valued in society. An example of social media determining worth is when Lacie, the main character, pities her brother because he is low ranked. She also blames him for the lack of romance in her life. Lacie equates low ranking with having little appeal to the outside world. She decides her brother had little worth in her life and that he held her back. Ratings are more important than family and an example of this is when Lacie and her brother have an argument and all she thinks about is how to increase her rating. Another example of ranking determining worth is when Naomi tells Lacie not to come to her wedding. In the episode Naomi calls Lacie and tell her that she cannot come to the wedding because of her low rank. Naomi did not have any use for a low ranked person at her wedding. Similarly to Naomi the society in “Nosedive” does not want or need a low ranked person. The people in this society do not want to have low ranks because it means that life will get hard for them. An example of this is at Lacie’s job, when another employee had a low rank and was unable to enter the building. The social media element was very important to the society to the point that having your points docked was a punishment from law enforcement. The social media aspect of the episode is to warn of how rating one another over superficial reasons can be dangerous. Lacie clothes and personality is a mask she puts on for social media so she can increase her rank. In the beginning of the episode, Lacie is practicing her smile and laugh for upcoming conversations. Her need for rehearsal shows that her true personality does not come out, but is hidden behind her mask. The smile and laugh are a sham so she can get good votes and a higher ranking. She is an actress in the world around her. Similarly, Lacie appearance is very clean so she seems approachable and likable. She wears light colors because she does not want to appear intimidating. She wears the clothes for the world around her. It is her theater wardrobe for when she gets on social media. The mask she created was perfect enough that she believed that it was the real her. The society valued appearance and politeness over individuality and critics. The setting for the episode “Nosedive” is an extremely valuable visual element that adds to the overall story.
It is set in a future with advanced technology like retina lens and electric cars. This futuristic technology is used to show that technology can blind society while making it harder for them know themselves and drive them to ruin. The purpose of technology is to make one’s life easier, however, it made Lacie’s life worse. In the episode, Lacie is looking for a house and finds one with many fancy features she wants to experience. However, she cannot afford it which sends her on a path of greed. The allure of the technology and comfort made her blind to the other options she could have chosen. At the end of the episode when Lacie has her high-tech retinal lens and phone taken away, she begins to see the world differently. She was freed from the thrall of technology, now she is experiencing life for …show more content…
herself. The most noticeable symbol of the episode is the title “Nosedive”.
The word nosedive means to dive or plummet. It is important to know the definition because it conveys an early message to the viewer on how this story will go. The beginning of a nosedive will always start at the top and that's where Lacie’s story begins. Lacie life seems great in the beginning because she is someone with a good rating and friends she can talk to. As the title suggests that did not last long, she eventually lost her good rating and ended up in confinement. She lost her technology that she was attached to and her feeling of belonging. The concept of a nosedive is interesting because no one would willingly do it and continue on a downward plunge if they have other options. Lacie had many chances to stop her situation from getting worse, however, she did not choose those routes. For example, when Lacie was at the airport and her point system was docked, she could have just returned home instead of carrying on. In spite of the ominous sounding nosedive, it resulted in Lacie’s benefit. She was at the bottom and her only choice is
up. In conclusion, the visual elements, symbolism, and setting played a critical role in the episode “Nosedive”. These elements conveyed the dangers of social media and the effects it can have on the life of a person. Social media can cause a person to forget to live for themselves and even damage relationships in your life. The title informs the viewer of the potential downfall of people who are like Lacie. The episode also warns against technology addiction and putting on a show for others because it will eventually lead to greater trouble. Every element mentioned helped convey the story in a clear way for the viewer.
In “The Social Networks”, Neal Gabler discusses on the many issues that the invention of television and social media has had on the society nowadays. In his writing, he explains in more detail how television series and social networks have change the way humans interact with other humans, friends, and family members. Gabler points out on how the typical setting for a group of friends is shown in a TV’s show, using examples such as “Friends”, “Seinfeld”, and “Glee”, of how connected all the characters are in a show. He begins by stressing how is very hard to find relationship in the real world like they have in television series. Also, discuss the negative part of how having a lot of friends on social media doesn’t mean anything, he just says
These sources include Sherry Turkle, a professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and analyst Andrew Frank from Gartner Research (171,173). While both of these sources are from respectable technology backgrounds, Wortham does not disclose why their work is relevant to her essay. She gives no research results from studies that her sources have completed that supports the idea that Facebook corrupts the emotions of the public. The scarcity of support from her sources fails to reinforce her main points in her
Technology in the world has changed people’s aspirations from creating solid relationships; up until now, to obtain self-respect, it helped to get flattering remarks from a friend, but now someone’s pride relies on the number of favorites they get. He declared that people need to see “how many names they can collect.” He convenes this “friendship lite” because it is not real friendship, just virtual (356). The technology has not just made social media more approachable, but furthermore television
Nowadays, technology has completely changed how people live in their life such as the way they think, the way they communicate with each other, and the way they spend their free time. A short story “The Social Networks” by Neal Gabler discusses about the increase of television shows and social networking and the influence of those on one’s real personal life. Throughout the story, the author argues that due to the fact that people are wishing for unreasonable relationships that can be seen in television shows and that the social networking has led them to worry about their online image and to connect with as many “friends” as they could, the deep social interaction in their lives has decreased.
Their technology has become so advanced that they will spend hours and hours in their ‘parlor’ surrounded by four wall-sized TVs. Mildred also mentions that the script was a new idea that was being tested and that means that their society is still advancing in technology. In a conversation between Montag and Clarisse, Clarisse starts talking about drivers and the advancement of technology, “‘I sometimes think drivers don’t know what grass is, or flowers, because they never see them slowly,’ she said, ‘If you showed a driver a green blur, Oh yes! he’d say, that’s grass! A pink blur? That’s a rose
When a society forgets to pay attention to the world beyond the parlor TV walls, everything corrupts. People live their lives without thinking twice, like Montag, a fireman who never questioned the way he has been living his life, until he realizes that people in his society are like robots, programmed to use technology. People have been brainwashed by the technology that has taken over their community. Clarisse, Montag’s neighbor, is an outcast in this society filled with “robots” because she has a deeper knowledge of what goes on around her, why things happen and how things work. Clarisse started pointing things out to him; as they walk down a cold deserted road, Clarisse looked up into the night sky and told Montag, “’If you look…there’s a man on the moon.’ He hadn’t looked for a long time” (7). Montag has been sucked into their society’s w...
Socialization plays in important part in the passing on of culture from generation to generation. It is defined as the lifelong process of social interaction through which we acquire a self-identity and the skills needed for survival. The agents of socialization provide the necessary social interactions to teach culture to individuals in a society. The four primary agents of socialization include parents, education, peers, and media. The most pervasive one, media, has a major role in teaching messages about the norms in culture. The purpose of this project was to observe the subtle messages that a TV series, like The Simpsons, send about gender, class, disability/ability, and age.
Currently, social media plays a significant role in our everyday lives and the way people in society interacts with one another. A few years ago, before its influence reached the point where it is now, the large platforms such as Facebook or Twitter which function was merely to keep family and friends connected no matter where they were or what they were doing, and the requirements were an internet connection and a smart phone or a computer. People would share pictures or posts to keep others “updated” on their lives and what they were thinking. Now social media platforms are far more complicated. In various of them, such as Instagram or Snapchat, it is not enough to only share a picture or video of your day, but it is almost a requirement and people are pushed to take an extra mile further away and make yourself appear interesting in the eyes of others. The “feed” requires to be eye catching, the captions should be memorable, the places one goes to ought to look way better than they actually are, you have to include friends in such posts to prove one have a social life outside of the phone. The importance of the number of followers, likes or viewers
Because popular culture is widely accessible, artifacts easily affect the way human beings perceive the world by shaping the collective view. The opinions and representations presented through popular culture artifacts are accepted by the collective and thus become real as they inform the basic assumptions of soci...
Black Mirror. Black. Dark. Empty. You can’t see anything. The title of the series gives off that vibe. It’s kind of useless to have a black mirror since you can’t see yourself clearly. At some point, it hit me that it describes the black screen of our phones. From that, I got that it’s a show somehow related to technology and the black part signifies the dark side of that technology. I expected the visuals of the episode to be dark but it’s the opposite. Black Mirror currently has three seasons and each episode is independent from one another, so you can literally start anywhere. So I started with season three episode one titled “Nosedive.”
Self-esteem and Social Media Social media has taken over the world of communication and has changed the ways in which we communicate on a daily basis. It is extremely influential in our lives because of how easily we are able to access these mediums of communication. I’m intrigued by the effects that social media has on people’s perceptions of their self-worth. Almost all of the social networking sites seem to measure, at least to some extent, the popularity level or status of its users.
On social media, the things that people like are helping people and companies become more widely known, and in turn, improve the company’s sales. People assume if they do not have followers or likes, they are not noticed as much. Teenagers are mainly concerned with being “liked” by everyone. The more followers that a teen has, the more money a company is making. However, they do not understand how beneficial they are to the companies. To them, the likes they receive are instant gratification, and prove their worth; but for companies, if more people view someone’s photo, and the photo advertises an Alex and Ani bracelet, then the viewer is inspired to purchase t their own bracelet to maintain the same level of popularity as the person in the photo. The companies are literally turning these likes into
Drawings a boy may draw of a gun might be seen in a cartoon that they religiously watch, and this is looked to as being a social norm. Boys often watch violent or action-packed cartoons or television shows, whereas girls might draw a pony seen in their favorite cartoon. Girls are often expected as a norm to watch cartoons and shows that might involve drama and romance. “Again, identity is a social concept”. When we engage with any media, no matter what form it may take, we are in essence receiving the ideas from those authors.
In this “Digital Age” that we currently live in, it becomes very easy for an individual to become infatuated with the amount of social media outlets available on the internet. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat all revolve around the idea of showcasing one’s personal life for the sake of receiving positive feedback or attention by peers and strangers from the outside world. An episode of the Netflix sci-fi anthology series, “Black Mirror,” decides to tackle this topic in a surreal yet imaginative way. The episode in particular, “Nosedive,” investigates a hypothetical future or alternate universe where social media profiles and star ratings have become the norm. The plot revolves around a young lady named Lacie, who
Social media can be used in our days as a very helpful tool for many things in changing any person’s life ant attitude. It has a positive impact on the society level. These media will keep the person socially active and open to all what happened in the world. Sharing the latest news, photos, finding new friends and knowing the culture. Also, it allows for millions to keep in touch with each other and update for all the new technology. And, it helps people who have difficulties in communication with others to be more socialized and stronger and develop more confidence to feel more comfortable, protected and relaxed just sitting behind a screen. “It saved me time and money without ever requiring me to leave the house; it salvaged my social life, allowed me to conduct interviews as a reporter and kept a lifeline open to my far-flung extended family” says Leonard(231).