Our third viewing of Black Mirror: Fifteen Million Merits stars Daniel Kaluuya as Bing Madsen and Jessica Brown Findlay as Abi Khan. The scene is set in a place where people’s lives consist of riding exercise bikes to gain credits, random untimely advertisements and a strong stigma against people who are unhealthy or out of shape. In this unusual universe Bing sees an opportunity for Abi to take her talent of singing to the Hot Shot competition. His brother’s recent passing transferred 12 million merits to Bing’s name. He ends up “gifting” 15 million merits to Abi, allowing her to sing in front of the judges and a massive virtual audience. However, the two’s dreams are short-lived. The judges are more impressed with Abi’s looks rather than her voice. They ask her to join a raunchy porn site called “Wraith Babes” to stream sexually content on the web. She accepts this offer to leave the lower level living and pursue a “better life”. This outrages Bing, causing him to spiral and almost take his own life. He builds the strength to ride the bike for 15 million more merits and take the stage himself as an “entertainer”. His real purpose is to deliver a message to all the people who poke fun and mock the minority. He puts a broken piece of glass against his neck as he curses out the judges for their inability to seek out real emotions and feelings. At the end of his spiel, Bing is fuming and dripping with sweat. How do the judges respond? They come to the conclusion that he was so passionate and athletic that the judges offered him a screening twice a week, for 30 minutes. Did Bing stand up to these giants and slash his throat to die as a martyr? Nay, he simply folded for greed and his best interest. The last scene depicts Bing looking over a large jungle or forest in his newly upgraded living quarters. I felt a range of emotions throughout this episode and struggled to find its true meaning. I believe it sheds light on the power media has over the individual and how our generation has become obsessed over the concept of “going viral”.

Tom Standage is a well renowned journalist, author and editor. His insists and perspectives on the movement of social media covering the last 2,000 years is truly remarkable. He explains how before mass media, there was still a network amongst people passing “…information in a highly personal way”(Theverge Paragraph 1). He describes ancient society such as the the Romans and countries of Tudor England using quips and manuscripts. They used these different forms of communication to share and expand their messages through social connections. This “…two-way, conversation manner…”(Theverge Paragraph 2) Standage explains was the basis of all communication before mass media provided a more convenient and efficient way to interact.

At the University of Vermont, Michel Foucault also shared his unique perspective on the impact of technologies of self in October of 1982. Like the Greeks, Foucault focused on the “…principle of taking care of oneself…”(Foucault Paragraph 17). He emphasized the importance of self-care and being aware of ones ability and potential. I believe in today’s society people are so occupied with their busy lives, they forget to self diagnose themselves. Self evaluations such as: “How am I feeling? What is stressing me out? How can I mentally prepare myself for these challenges?”, are all simple productive ways to keep yourself in check. I find Foucault’s statements still relevant almost 40 years later. I hope we can understand the importance of ones self-care and mental health in this ever-changing society. This issue continues to plague our country and needs to be addressed.

Weekly News Article: This article touches on the evolution of mass media and its effect on our society. It also covers most of the earliest and latest forms of social media.

https://www.future-marketing.co.uk/the-history-of-social-media/

Published By: Samuel Erickson