Black Mirror's Bleak Future

Whilst at work the other day I found myself completely lost amidst my colleagues discussion of the X Factor. Now the X Factor is something I do not watch partly because I don't have time for it, but majoratively because I really don't like it. And I specifically, really don't like everything that it stands for. It is a never-ending, completely pointless, fame hungry, mind numbingly tedious programme.

This is why I was thankful for a decent, thought provoking piece of television. Black Mirror. Severely underrated. Written by Charlie Brooker, whom I don't normally find very funny or entertaining, but Black Mirror is great dystopian programming worthy of Orwell or Atwood.

The second episode of the 3 part drama focuses on an unspecified point in the future of our own society; where the only way to escape a lifetime of exercise bike based drudgery is to enter 'Hotshot', a darker X Factor, which promises wealth, fame and a lifetime free of troubles. The technology is far more advanced, simple walls are interactive and advertise Hotshot frequently throughout the day. One of the scariest moments of Brooker's dystopian fantasy is that the adverts can only be skipped if you allow a fine to be incurred, however if you do not have enough 'points' (instead of money) you must watch, closing your eyes only pauses the advert. It must be watched.

Black Mirror is clearly an exaggeration but a lot of what Brooker points out already rings true. You only have to look at the power that the X Factor wields. It dominates viewing figures as well as the charts with it's manufactured brand of shitpop. But the X Factor not only creates it's own popstars but has power over existing chart acts. Any act put on the X Factor immediately begins to sell more.

Similarly songs featured in the X Factor receive a spike in popularity. This year's winner, Little Mix's debut single a cover of Damien Rice's single Cannonball, which was released a few years ago and went into the charts at no. 11, it re-entered last week at no.7. It achieved 4 places higher due to the power of the X. Madness.

Brooker's vision is very clear. It is a dig at our consumerist world, based around celebrity and everyones quest for something better than this provincial life. Whilst I watched Black Mirror on my laptop I found myself at one point, unable to pause let alone skip an advert. Which reminds me of Spotify's annoying habit of pausing an advert if you turn down the volume, only a problem if you do not pay for the premium account. And all of this makes me wonder how far in the future Brooker's dystopia is set? And if he really had exaggerated it that much after all?