Even as arguably the most disliked episode of the series, The National Anthem to me is perfect at catching the attention of viewers in this anthology series.
Black Mirror is a series of stand-alone dramas on Netflix where each episode focuses on the negative impacts of a futuristic world on individuals and overall society. As this is one of my favorite TV Shows, my passion blog will be my review of the most notable episodes and my view of the deeper meanings behind them. In my first blog, I will be looking at the pilot episode: The National Anthem.
The plot of The National Anthem is quite bizarre and very off-putting: Princess Susannah, a publicly loved figure of the Royal Family, was kidnapped and is threatened with murder unless Prime Minister Michael Callow has sexual intercourse with a pig live on all British networks. Again, extremely off-putting. However, there is meaning in the episode, hidden deep under the obvious bestiality.
Many viewers do not believe that this first episode fits with the overall theme of the show, but in my opinion, this episode does a great job at introducing the world of Black Mirror— the unimaginable can become a reality. Throughout the entire show, we see government officials denying that this request from the kidnapper is a real ransom. There is also a relevant conflict in understanding whether the personal humiliation of one individual is worth the saving of another. But the main takeaway is the behavior and structure of the overall society. The citizens of this fictional Britain were entirely absorbed in the drama that was occurring that they hadn’t noticed that the princess was released before the act of intercourse was done– the entire situation could have been resolved if the public was not so influenced by social media.
In today’s society, we easily become distracted by events that are behind a screen, especially with real-life events that are far removed from Western society, like current conflicts occurring in the Middle East. This episode of Black Mirror is a direct commentary of this phenomenon, where we privileged individuals seem to have a disconnect from actual events that occur in our society. The people in the show are treating the “event” as some sort of entertainment, which can be seen as people host parties to watch what is going on, every person indoors and watching the intercourse take place. Some laugh while others look with disgust, but nevertheless, they still look, staring even while the princess is freed. No one notices that she has been freed because everyone is too busy watching their screens– a perfect, yet distasteful introduction to the show, Black Mirror.
I watched this series before and the first episode was very intense. It does explore morals and distraction. People were too busy invested in the media that they failed to notice the princess was actually released. It really makes us think about our own culture and its fixation on drama.
I love how you showed the deeper meaning behind this episode of Black Mirror. My friend told me to watch the show but I never made it beyond this first episode, because of how bizarre the events were. I think the show does an amazing job at bringing attention to issues in our society or topics that may soon become an issue. I particularly liked how you connected the theme of the episode to current events our world is facing, such as our blindness to events occurring in the Middle East due to our own obsession with the version covered by social media.
Wow! Even though this episode is distasteful, I really liked the connection you made to the real world and how much of victims we are to the power of social media. I liked how you were able to find the message in the episode and how much you emphasized that even after the princess was freed they weren’t able to notice because they were so wrapped up in watching someone else’s hardships. It really leaves us as readers to think about how much we are consumed by social media. Really great post!
I never really got fully into Black Mirror and I’m quite ashamed of that. This show is very philosophical but also thrilling at the same time. After every episode I ever watched, I always had to sit down and process what I had just witnessed. I really like your analysis of this first episode. I think part of the reason I didn’t get fully into to this show was just how disturbed I was with the overall concepts I saw. It freaks me out to think that some of this stuff could actually happen in real life.
I love the way you analyzed this show. It does seem very intense but the way you described it made it seem very interesting! Well done! I also loved your connection to present society. We all really are so invested in what is going on on social media that we aren’t paying attention to what is going on in outside the screen.