A New Years Television commentary, recommendation & gift (in link form) for Black Mirror fans (and recent detractors) from Evan OPinion: As someone who has been sharing the brilliance of UK televisions Black Mirror with people for 3 years now, I am saddened but unsurprised by the responses of new viewers who abandon the series after only trying Season One, Episode One on Netflix. I have long felt this first episode The National Anthem was a poor introduction to the Charlie Brooker series for American audiences. Over the years, I have often suggested that viewers start with Episode Two or Three-- all are better tone-setters for the modern-scifi-storytelling and darkly comic social allegory that the series manages so well. (Plus, episode Two has Sybil, for you Downton Abbey fans!) Because every Black Mirror episode stands alone as a self-contained story, there is no real argument for watching Black Mirror in order. The sensibility of episode one amounts to a dirty joke played straight, and while British audiences attuned to the best work of Chris Morris (Brass Eye/Jam) or Armando Ianuccis Veep precursor The Thick of It, might not be as disoriented by the black-comic crudity executed in the first episodes premise, it does a terrible job of introducing viewers to the pleasures of the rest of the Black Mirror series. A better introduction to Charlie Brookers media-skewering/genre-bending sensibility, that he has perfected on Black Mirror, would be this reality-TV spoofing mini-series Dead Set, which aired just a few years before Black Mirror. The scifi/horror premise set against the backdrop of UK Big Brother, rounds out to a enjoyable movie-length-viewing and in my opinion it is the best zombie-themed thing that has shown on any screen, large or small, in the past decade (dont even talk to me about that high-rated crap-acting-marathon they air on AMC).
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 21:04:53 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015