I think my favorite analysis of the divide between fantasy and sci-fi has been George RR Martin, and how he relates it back to “furniture rules” “We can make up any definitions of science fiction, fantasy and horror that we want. We can draw our boundaries and make our labels, but in the end it's still the same old story, the one about the human heart in conflict with itself. The rest my friends is funiture.” “The House of Fantasy is built of stone and wood and furnished in High Medieval. Its people travel by horse and galley, fight with sword and spell and battle-axe, communicate by palantir or raven, and break bread with elves and dragons. The House of Science Fiction is built of duralloy and plastic and furnished in Faux Future. Its people travel by starship and aircar, fight with nukes and tailored germs, communicate by ansible and laser, and break protein bars with aliens. The House of Horror is built of bone and cobwebs and furnished in Ghastly Gothick. Its people travel only by night, fight with anything that will kill messily, communicate in screams and shrieks and gibbers, and sip blood with vampires and werewolves. "
Great review. However I have a few thoughts. First, I see these as like Twilight Zone episodes. There is some current reality mixed with the supernatural mixed with future technology. If you look at what China is doing with social scoring, that episode is not too far fetched. Retargeting and remarketing is a real thing. So are devices like Alexa who keep voice recordings on file. If you asked someone 20 years ago about AI, quantum computing, nonobots, and robotics they would have laughed. The episode with the demon is more about mental health than demons.
So for Demon 79, I believe it is hinted at that the demon isn't real. It was all in her head. But yeah not exactly scifi. Tbh I personally don't mind if black mirror strays from scifi as it continues to explore the human condition and our society though I can see why some people might not be totally onboard if they were hoping for more of a scifi spin.
In defense of Demon79, it's Red Mirror, a purposed spinoff. He doesn't wanna run out of ideas but....Shearsmith/Pemberton out here killing it. Also BM has never been about technology, its about how people abuse and prevert it.
I just view this season as having an 'in the past' theme, where the episodes feature technology from those eras while also commenting on the state of things today.
I think Charlie Brooker himself explained all of these decisions already. The core of Black Mirror stories is people twisting technology for some sinister purposes (therefore, Loch Henry works as Black Mirror as well), and the last two episodes are openly labeled as Red Mirror, aka Black Mirror ish sister production with supernatural elements.
Mazy Day was 💩 😑 I literally laughed when she turned into a werewolf. The rest were solid. I liked the found footage aspect of Loch Henry. And I liked Demon 79 but I kept rewinding the end of the episode because I knew it was the end of another Black Mirror season 😢. That and “The boys” are all I watch so for the next two years I’ll be banished to my own oblivion void of time and space like GAAP….Only I don’t have a cute boy in a 70’s getup to come with me.
I fail to see how the viewer's expectations matter. I've been watching Charlie Brooker's content since the mid 1990s. My "expectation" was that it would be "well-written." I don't care what he wants to talk about or what stories he cares to tell, "Black Mirror" means it's Charlie Brooker's headspace. You can't define Brooker. You can only enjoy him.
I agree with the fantasy part adding these in the two random episodes was definitely confusing because it has not matched the themes. It almost felt forced onto viewers and just out of place. I like when they push boundaries to our reality rather than bring an aspect viewers did not want to see in a black mirror theme
Excellent review. I actually loved the one about the daemon and I thought the documentary one was also excellent. BUT i was super disappointed during watching them because they are clearly not Black Mirror. I agree, they should have just started a new series called "red mirror". If he is burnt out then either stop making episodes of Black Mirror or bring in some new writers. There is so much from the black mirror universe that can be used to create new stories with links. As a last point. It was really a disservice to the production team and actors who were in the horror episodes as it set them up for failure.
I think my favorite analysis of the divide between fantasy and sci-fi has been George RR Martin, and how he relates it back to “furniture rules”
“We can make up any definitions of science fiction, fantasy and horror that we want. We can draw our boundaries and make our labels, but in the end it's still the same old story, the one about the human heart in conflict with itself.
The rest my friends is funiture.”
“The House of Fantasy is built of stone and wood and furnished in High Medieval. Its people travel by horse and galley, fight with sword and spell and battle-axe, communicate by palantir or raven, and break bread with elves and dragons.
The House of Science Fiction is built of duralloy and plastic and furnished in Faux Future. Its people travel by starship and aircar, fight with nukes and tailored germs, communicate by ansible and laser, and break protein bars with aliens.
The House of Horror is built of bone and cobwebs and furnished in Ghastly Gothick. Its people travel only by night, fight with anything that will kill messily, communicate in screams and shrieks and gibbers, and sip blood with vampires and werewolves. "
Great review. However I have a few thoughts. First, I see these as like Twilight Zone episodes. There is some current reality mixed with the supernatural mixed with future technology. If you look at what China is doing with social scoring, that episode is not too far fetched. Retargeting and remarketing is a real thing. So are devices like Alexa who keep voice recordings on file. If you asked someone 20 years ago about AI, quantum computing, nonobots, and robotics they would have laughed. The episode with the demon is more about mental health than demons.
So for Demon 79, I believe it is hinted at that the demon isn't real. It was all in her head. But yeah not exactly scifi.
Tbh I personally don't mind if black mirror strays from scifi as it continues to explore the human condition and our society though I can see why some people might not be totally onboard if they were hoping for more of a scifi spin.
In defense of Demon79, it's Red Mirror, a purposed spinoff.
He doesn't wanna run out of ideas but....Shearsmith/Pemberton out here killing it.
Also BM has never been about technology, its about how people abuse and prevert it.
I just view this season as having an 'in the past' theme, where the episodes feature technology from those eras while also commenting on the state of things today.
I think Charlie Brooker himself explained all of these decisions already. The core of Black Mirror stories is people twisting technology for some sinister purposes (therefore, Loch Henry works as Black Mirror as well), and the last two episodes are openly labeled as Red Mirror, aka Black Mirror ish sister production with supernatural elements.
Mazy Day was 💩 😑 I literally laughed when she turned into a werewolf. The rest were solid. I liked the found footage aspect of Loch Henry. And I liked Demon 79 but I kept rewinding the end of the episode because I knew it was the end of another Black Mirror season 😢. That and “The boys” are all I watch so for the next two years I’ll be banished to my own oblivion void of time and space like GAAP….Only I don’t have a cute boy in a 70’s getup to come with me.
I fail to see how the viewer's expectations matter. I've been watching Charlie Brooker's content since the mid 1990s. My "expectation" was that it would be "well-written." I don't care what he wants to talk about or what stories he cares to tell, "Black Mirror" means it's Charlie Brooker's headspace. You can't define Brooker. You can only enjoy him.
I agree with the fantasy part adding these in the two random episodes was definitely confusing because it has not matched the themes. It almost felt forced onto viewers and just out of place. I like when they push boundaries to our reality rather than bring an aspect viewers did not want to see in a black mirror theme
Basically, we came for dystopia and got horror and supernatural thriller.
Excellent review. I actually loved the one about the daemon and I thought the documentary one was also excellent. BUT i was super disappointed during watching them because they are clearly not Black Mirror. I agree, they should have just started a new series called "red mirror". If he is burnt out then either stop making episodes of Black Mirror or bring in some new writers. There is so much from the black mirror universe that can be used to create new stories with links.
As a last point. It was really a disservice to the production team and actors who were in the horror episodes as it set them up for failure.
What 3 episodes aren't sci-fi? Demon 79 and Mazey Day I get. But everything else was sci-fi or at least felt Black Mirror imo
Loch Henry too
They're still bad compared to season 1-4
The wokeness is over 9000!