With the development of special effects, the cost of filming decreased significantly. Thanks to this, dozens of television series are stamped annually. However, most of them are of the same type and boring. The happy exception is the British project âBlack Mirrorâ (2011). Being unique in its kind, for several years he continues to amaze his fans with fresh ideas and relevant topics.
TV series "Black Mirror"
No matter how humanity tries to deny this fact: but television, the Internet, social networks and other âgiftsâ of the digital age affect not only the quality of life, but also gradually force users to change their worldview. Very often this happens not for the better.
These and many other similar problems are devoted to the British television series Black Mirror, which started in 2011 and is still one of the leaders on television.
TV format
The author of the idea, as well as the main screenwriter of most Black mirror series, is the English TV presenter and writer Charlie Brooker.
The director of each series is an individual person, which allows you to simultaneously work on several episodes. Among the directors of the project are such stars as Eiros Lin (Doctor Who and Sherlock), Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice) and James Thomas Watkins (Cool Measures, Woman in black ").
As a format for the project, the so-called procedural drama was chosen (the plot is built around each series), while a separate episode is a new story, unrelated to previous or subsequent ones. In fact, "Black Mirror" is a television series consisting of individual films that sharply criticize the dependence of the thinking of modern society on the media.
Project Theme
The âBlack Mirrorâ raises a lot of urgent problems of our time, and in order to more clearly convey them to viewers, most of the events are transferred to the near future.
The Nosedive and Hated in the Nation series are dedicated to the likes of Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and similar social projects.
The main character Nosedive, trying to raise her standard of living, is forced to constantly pretend and deceive not only others, but herself, pushing away really close people. Having lost her rating due to a series of annoying accidents, she overestimates her views on life and realizes that happiness is in no way connected with the number of âlikesâ.
The episode Hated in the Nation tells how an unknown hacker with the help of bee drones exterminates famous personalities if the idea of ââkilling them collects enough âlikesâ on his website.
The lie of all the so-called reality shows is dedicated to the episode of Fifteen Million Merits. It shows the world of the future, in which a talent show is the only chance for a person from the bottom to get to the top. However, in fact, the jury of the program does not help people develop their abilities, but forces them to do disgusting things to entertain the crowd.
So, the beloved of the protagonist, who dreamed of becoming a singer, at the behest of the judges turns into a pornographic actress, and the guy himself daily threatens the audience to commit suicide on the air to ensure a comfortable life.
The Entire History of You, Be Right Back and White Christmas series talk about the impact of modern technology on family life. In the first story, a man learns about the betrayal of his beloved wife by looking at the recordings of his memoirs (the plot of the episode echoes the movie âFinal Installationâ in 2003). In the second, the widow collects data about her husband on social networks and, on the basis of this, creates a robot that looks like two drops of water on a deceased spouse. The third story tells about the spouseâs attempt to hide betrayal from her husband in the future, where the concept of âbanâ acquires physical meaning (a person who has been subjected to this does not see and does not hear âbannedâ him).
The media are influenced by the episodes of The National Anthem, The Waldo Moment, Men Against Fire, and Hated in the Nation.
At The National Anthem, public opinion forces the head of government to sleep with the pig live to save the lives of the hostage princess. However, when the princess is freed, no one notices this, because everyone is enthusiastically watching how the politician has sex with the animal.
In The Waldo Moment, for fun, political party candidates are asked questions by Waldo's blue cartoon bear.
Gradually, the audience begins to like him so much - that he becomes a politician himself, despite the fact that he does not have a program or any special knowledge and skills, except for entertaining the crowd with base jokes.
The episode Men Against Fire talks about how, with the help of the media, Danish people are forced to hate and ruthlessly exterminate fellow humans, making them perceive them as monsters.
"Black Mirror": how many episodes and seasons in total
As in the mega-popular British television series Sherlock, Black Mirror originally consisted of 3 episodes in one season. In addition, the seasons of the project did not come out annually, but with short breaks of 1.5-2 years. A similar format was chosen not only to warm up the interest of the audience, but also for the scriptwriters to have enough time to choose interesting stories.
Thus, the first two seasons contained 3 episodes (a total of 6). In addition, in the middle of December 2014, a separate Christmas issue was released - White Christmas, combining three stories in one episode. Total - 7 episodes.
Features of the third season
In the fall of 2015, the American company Netflix bought the rights to the Black Mirror project from the British.
The new season of the television series (third) was released in October 2016 already on Netflix (previously the series was broadcast on Channel 4). The Americans decided to slightly change the format of the project. Now consists not of 3, but of 12 episodes, one season of the series âBlack Mirrorâ.
Season 3 started on October 21, airing simultaneously 6 new episodes. This act of Netflix caused mixed reviews from viewers. However, now the debate on the network does not cease whether the next 6 episodes of the Black Mirror project (release date is scheduled for 2017) can be considered separate - the fourth season, or is this the second part of the third, as was previously announced.
To date, 13 episodes of the project have aired: 3 in the first two seasons, a special issue and 6 episodes of the third season.
The first season of "Black Mirror": actors and roles
In addition to an interesting story, viewers on all continents are attracted to this project by carefully selected leading actors.
In the debut series of The National Anthem, the main role went to the Briton Rory Kinner (âHorror on the cheapâ, âBe a manâ, âEmpty crownâ).
The name of his charming pink "partner" in the erotic scene, unfortunately, is not known, but some other leading performers are already familiar to the domestic audience. These are Lindsey Duncan (Ideal Husband, Birdman) and Lydia Wilson (Boyfriend of the Future, Star Trek 3), who played the kidnapped princess.
In the second series about the future reality show of the future Fifteen Million Merits, the role of the vile jury member was played by Rupert Everett (âWithout Tantrum,â âEnd of the Paradeâ). And the roles of its main victims went to Daniel Kaluy (Bing) and Jessica Brown Findlay (Ebi, who dreamed of becoming a singer, and turned into a porn actress).
In the last episode of the season (The Entire History of You), the unfaithful spouse was played by Jody Whittaker (Odnoklassniki, Royal Wedding), her husband - Toby Kebbell (Ben-Hur, Monster's Voice). The role of the lover went to Tom Cullen ("The Last Days on Mars", "Daddy's Daughter").
Who played the main roles in season 2 of the project
After a two-year hiatus in 2013, the television series Black Mirror was again released. The new season, contrary to the fears of the audience, was no worse than the debut.
The first Be Right Back series, touched to the core, millions of viewers from around the world. The plot centered not on a specific event, but on the experience of the main character, who decided to replace her dead husband with his robocopy. The role of the rushing widow of Martha was played by Haley Atwell (âDuchessâ, âAgent Carterâ), and her wife and his robocopy were embodied on the screen by Donal Gleeson (âDon't Let Me Go,â âBrooklynâ).
The heroine of the second episode (White Bear) was a woman guilty of killing her own daughter.
As a punishment for her deed, she is daily subjected to public harassment and beating by other citizens. The role of Victoria, the killer mother, was played by Lenora Crichlow (Open Door, Death in Paradise).
In the last episode of the season (The Waldo Moment), Daniel Rigby (Miss Marple Agatha Christie, Funny Showcase) played the role of the voice of the cartoon bear, and Jason Fleming (Journey to China: The Secret of the Iron Mask) played his greedy unprincipled boss. "," League of Outstanding Gentlemen "). Also, Tobias Menzies (Game of Thrones, Night Administrator) appeared in this series, playing one of the candidates.
Actors White Christmas
The Christmas special issue, which was released between the 2 and 3 seasons of the Black Mirror project, was also positively received by the audience. The reviews left by them were primarily praised by female performers: Natalia Tenu ("Womb", "Dear Friend"), who played a killer psychopath; Unu Chaplin (Quantum of Solace, Taboo) and Janet Montgomery (Downton Abbey, The Cosmos Between Us). The main male roles, comrades in misfortune, divorced from society, were played by Ralph Spall and John Hamm.
The plot and actors of the first half of the third season of "Black Mirror"
In the new season, leading roles began to be assigned not only to British, but also to American actors in the project "Black Mirror".
Season 3 opens with a series of Nosedive, dedicated to a world where the social status of a person depends on the number of âlikesâ. The main character was played by the American Bryce Dallas Howard (âThe Twilight. Saga. Eclipseâ, âPete and his dragonâ). Her friend was embodied on the screen by the British beauty Alice Eve (âGet into the top ten,â âBefore we partâ), and her brother with a low rating was played by James Norton (âWar and Peaceâ, âKomatoznikiâ).
In the second Playtest series, dedicated to testing a new virtual game, which eventually killed the main character, he was played by the son of two Hollywood movie stars Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn - Wyatt Russell (âTo Each His Own,â âCowboys Against Aliensâ).
The third episode of Shut Up and Dance talks about how people become hostages of online blackmailers, forcing them to do terrible things. The roles of the victims were played by Alex Lauter (âThe Game of Imitationâ, âDepartureâ) and Jerome Flynn (âGame of Thronesâ, âStreet of the Ripperâ) in this series of the project âBlack Mirrorâ. The reviews of many viewers who watched this episode characterize it as the most likely for all 3 seasons.
A bit reminiscent of the plot of The Matrix, the fourth series of San Junipero. In it, two inmates of a nursing home live an active life in a virtual world where they are young and happy.
The roles of young projections of old women were performed by Gugu Mbatha Rowe (Beauty and the Beast, Climbing Jupiter) and Mackenzie Davis (Friendship and No Sex ?, Into the Trash).
The fifth series of Men Against Fire shows how easy it is to manipulate social creation through the media. The main roles in it were played by Sarah Snook (âPatrol of Timeâ, âSteve Jobsâ) and Malachi Kirby (âRootsâ, âFallenâ).
The last episode to date (Hated in the Nation) tells how ordinary law-abiding people choose victims for a hacker-killer, do not consider their act immoral, because everyone does it. The main roles were played by Fay Marsay (Doctor Who, Game of Thrones) and Kelly MacDonald (Trap for the Bride, Bravehearted).
The project "Black Mirror": reviews from viewers and critics
Starting with the first episode of The National Anthem, this project has attracted worldwide attention. Chinese viewers especially liked him, having received the highest rating among all English-language projects on the Douban website.
The famous publication The Beijing News called the project "The Apocalypse of the Modern World", which, despite its desperation, is quite deep in content. In another article of the same publication, it was said that the Black mirror shows the immorality of modern society.
The popular English-language aggregator site Metacritic put the television series one of the highest ratings 82/100 based on 23 positive reviews.
As for ordinary viewers who simply love to watch a good movie, they also highly appreciated the Black Mirror. Reviews of such people, as a rule, contain praise for the unusual plot, as well as the absence of too bright special effects.
âThis is a sight for thinking people who are able to analyze and draw conclusions,â write fans of the project in their reviews. Most fans appreciate it precisely because a lot of questions are raised in each story, but they donât give ready-made answers to them, leaving an open finale in each series.
They say that all TV shows eventually bother fans. The Black Mirror project is a happy exception to this sad rule. He not only does not give up his position for many years, but with every new season he gets new fans.