As my favorite episode, White Bear provides everything that you can get out of a thriller series like Black Mirror— distrust of technology, a major plot-twist, and a questioning of your own morality.

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 eighth and last post, I will be looking at Season 2, Episode 2: White Bear.

The episode follows Lenora, who wakes up with a terrible migraine, and the TVs in her house all show a strange symbol. As she runs out of her house, panicked and fearful, she asks her neighbors and other people to help her. Yet, all they do is record her with their phones, while masked men chase Lenora with guns. Throughout the episode, we see Lenora trying to escape the mobs that are chasing her. Towards the end of the episode, Lenora is caught and held at gunpoint. However, when the gun fires, confetti sprays instead of a bullet. The background is suddenly a backdrop, and an audience is watching the entire scene— the fourth wall breaks for everyone but Lenora. The narrator suddenly informs Lenora that her real name is Victoria. Years ago, Victoria’s fiance had abducted and murdered a small girl, all while Victoria had recorded. As punishment for her crimes, Victoria/Lenora has her memories erased daily and is harassed in the White Bear Justice Park facility while the audience simply records her. The episode ends with Victoria/Lenora being taken back into the facility to have her memory cleared for the next day.

There is a significant amount of analysis in this episode. To start, the behavior of the audience reflects the current public. People are so absorbed into filming an objective view from their phone that they refuse to show any sort of sympathy. No one bothers to help Victoria because they are all to busy filming her.

Furthermore, this episode raises a question which was also expressed in Black Museum (PAS 6): If one commits murder, how far can you go into punishing them? White Bear stays in the perspective of Victoria/Lenora, causing the audience to sympathize with her up until the end plot-twist. Yet, Victoria’s/Lenora’s punishment still seems terribly cruel, and having to go through it every single day seems excessive. It becomes an issue of morality, and how our society needs to bring in a new perspective into the conversation of modernity.

The creation of advanced technology in this episode brings up a new issue— how can we stay ethical in an increasingly technological world? Watch Black Mirror and answer the question for yourself.

The COVID-19 pandemic came abruptly, changing our lives in the most chaotic of ways overnight. I can still recall the earliest days of it all, when the term “COVID” was trending on social media, when it was only China’s problem and not a global crisis. Even when schools and businesses were put on lockdown, the magnitude of the situation did not fully occur to me until I fell upon this picture on Twitter.

At first glance, the photograph displays a toddler holding his hand out to a man, who stands on the other side of a glass sliding door, his hand pressed up against the boy’s. It is easy to infer that the man is most likely the father of this boy, and he is a doctor, as indicated by the wearing of green scrubs. Though the picture is quite simple, there is a lot that can be unpacked from the visuals, specifically from the timing of the photo, the hand-placements, and the size difference of the son and father.

This photo was posted on March 28, 2020. Back then, there was very little to be known about COVID— it was fast-spreading, and it was deadly. The climate of March 2020 was one of fear and unease, and this picture seems to reflect that atmosphere while also spreading happiness. Alyssa Burks, the wife of the doctor in the photo, posted this picture on Facebook, stating, “He [her husband] is working right now in a rotation that has him all around the hospital, including the ER, and he just felt like it would be responsible for us to quarantine from each other.” Front-line workers showed bravery throughout the pandemic by facing the unknowns of COVID, and this picture truly reflects the sacrifices which they all have made.

Another thing to note is the hand-placement of the father and son. The picture captures the boy ‘high-fiving’ his father’s hand through glass. This represents how family can united, even in the most difficult of times. Although the two are separated by a sheet of glass, they manage to ignore it, spreading their palms out in order to share a touching (no pun intended) moment.

Finally, the contrast between the small toddler and the father provide deeper meaning to this photo. The juxtaposition of various ages demonstrates how every single person in this pandemic is being affected— from young infants to healthy adults. This ties in well with the last analysis point, that even though we are in an unfortunate event, we are all in this together, (gloved) hand-in-hand.

As the most popular of Black Mirror episodes, Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too draws in a great number of viewers for “exposing” the management teams behind pop stars with a wonderful portrayal from Miley Cyrus.

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 seventh blog post, I will be looking at Season 5, Episode 3: Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too.

The episode follows sisters Rachel and Jack. Rachel is a big fan of Ashley O and receives a robotic doll of her for her birthday, Ashley Too. Rachel becomes obsessed with the toy, which begins to annoy Jack. When Rachel performs an Ashley O song for a talent show at her school, she falls and embarrasses herself, causing Jack to hide away the Ashley Too doll. Rachel blames Jack for suppressing her creativity.

While this occurs, viewers also get to follow Ashley O. Ashley O wants to follow a rock music path, but her management is pressuring her to continue singing and writing pop music. When Ashley tries to stand up for herself, her manager, Catherine, drugs her, forcing Ashley O into a comatose state.

Months later, a news report about Ashley O airs on TV, which triggers Rachel’s Ashley Too robot to activate. Ashley Too claims that it is a clone of Ashley O’s consciousness and begs Rachel and Jack to expose Catherine. Rachel and Jack drive to Catherine’s house, and instead of finding evidence to frame Catherine, they find Ashley O’s unconscious body. The Ashley Too doll is able to unplug the medication that Ashley O was receiving, causing her to wake up. Ashley O starts her new career under the name “Ashley Fuckn O”, producing her own rock music.

This episode truly does an incredible job at how society limits creativity for the sake of “public image.” We see this with Rachel, who wants to be a singer just like Ashley O, but her sister Jack tries to suppress her because she believes that Rachel is embarrassing herself. This also occurs with Ashley O, who wants to be a rock star, but her management wants her to continue to be a pop singer. Using Miley Cyrus as Ashley O was also an excellent creative decision, as Miley herself started from pop music and is now slowly transitioning into rock. It almost seems as though Miley’s own story is being portrayed hyperbolically, since she has been vocal about how her past management forced her to be someone that she wasn’t.

But the one main take away I got from this Black Mirror is that it isn’t technology that we should fear— we should fear lack of creativity.

Punishments for crimes have evolved for centuries– the brazen bull, the guillotine, stoning. They all happen to be ancient techniques, but what if there were futuristic punishments for crime? Black Museum offers a new perspective at how dangerous technology can become.

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 sixth blog post, I will be looking at Season 4, Episode 6: Black Museum.

Nish is traveling through the southwest and finds her way to the Black Museum, which displays a collection of techno-crimes. It is owned by Rolo, who tours Nish throughout the various exhibits and provides gory backstories to each object. Each of the objects tend to contain the consciousness of a criminal, forcing them to continue their existence as limited beings. The main exhibit happens to be a hologram of Clayton Leigh, a man who was accused of murder even though new evidence proves that he is not guilty. Visitors are able to push a lever to electrocute him, and they are able to receive a souvenir after they do so. Nish turns on Rolo, telling him that Clayton is her father. After killing Rolo, she transfers Rolo’s consciousness to the hologram, freeing her father’s consciousness. The episode ends with Nish lighting the museum on fire and driving away.

This episode is intriguing in the way that it makes the viewer question their morals. While Rolo explains each object and their backstories with glee, the viewer and Nish emphasize with the criminals who are being punished, even though those people have also done terrible things. If one commits murder, is it okay to preserve their consciousness and keep them alive for eternity just to punish them?

The exhibits at the Black Museum also portray a fearful truth— technology will advance and there is no doubt about it. Yet, what restrictions, if any, will be in place to prevent punishments like those in Black Museum from coming true? It will be interesting to see this conversation develop in various governmental organizations, but hopefully we will never get too close to the horrifying dystopias of Black Mirror. 

From “Remember the Other Victims of 9/11” by Abby Gibson, drawn by Jessica Ragsdale

The discussion of the devastating attack on the Twin Towers consistently takes into account the lives that were lost– the selfless heroes, the workers, the families and friends. However, those who are repeatedly left out of the conversation are those who have been impacted for years to come– Muslim-Americans. Their story has been hidden as they face stigma against Americans, perceived as “terrorists” who do not belong in a country that they rightfully deserve to live in. Many non-Muslim-Americans simply have not heard their story, and it is extremely important that they learn it in order to end the wave of hatred and stigma towards this religious group. For my paradigm shift essay, I wish to share the experience of Muslim-Americans living in America post-9/11 and how they have faced hardships that many people do not truly understand. However, I have noticed that since 2020, there is beginning to be more unity and awareness of this issue, with more positive representation of Muslims in media and an outward stance against Islamophobia.

I am particularly intrigued by this topic because of my personal connection to the issue. My family and I are Muslims; my parents immigrated to America in the 90s, and my siblings and I have all grown up here directly after 2001. The experiences that we have faced through the TSA, subtle comments, and direct hate crimes are all extremely unique to me, but they unite all Muslim-Americans. Our story has been in the shadows for so long that I wish to bring it to the light for this particular assignment, in hopes to educate those who do not know of the hardships that we go through.

The starting point of this essay will be September 11, 2001. This date in particular caused a societal change in the way that Muslim-Americans were perceived, and thus will be the “shifting” point. I hope to explore how the American viewpoint has changed from 2001 to 2021, twenty years later. I plan on having 3 major eras– the first era being directly after 9/11 from the years 2001 to 2016, the second era being during Donald Trump’s presidency from the years 2016-2020, and the third era being 202o to today and the future.

My main research question will be: How has the stigma around Muslim-Americans after 9/11 evolve into inclusion and representation in American society twenty years later?

My subsidiary questions will be:

1. How has the government taken responsibility for its rhetoric and policies toward Muslims?
2. How has the media shifted to include more positive Muslim representation after 9/11?
3. How has the overall public view of Muslim-Americans shifted (through analyzing hate crime statistics and public approval/disapproval)?

Dating apps are seemingly harmless– having flirty fun with strangers who you’ll most likely never meet. But imagine if you and your Tinder match were forced to be together for an exact, set time. Black Mirror strikes up another false reality with the use of technology, this time with a futuristic dating device.

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 fifth blog post, I will be looking at Season 4, Episode 4: Hang the DJ.

The episode takes place in a society where all people have a device known as Coach, which pairs individuals with a partner for a certain period of time until “pairing day”, which is when a person is paired with their ideal partner for life. Characters Amy and Frank are paired for 12 hours, spending the time talking to one another. After their 12 hours, they are each paired up with other people but cannot stop thinking of each other. They pair with many other people and participate in meaningless sex with them, but to each other’s excitement, they pair again months later. Amy and Frank promise each other not to check how much time they have together, but Frank checks anyway; the time was initially 5 years, but it dwindles to 20 hours because of Frank breaking his promise to Amy. Amy is heartbroken as they part and connect to other people. The day before Amy’s pairing day, she begs Frank to run with her. The two of them scale a wall that surrounds their town, realizing that the society they were living in was just a simulated reality.

Hang the DJ is a direct commentary of dating apps like Tinder taking over real, social interactions, but I thought of this episode in a different way. The plot highlights the power of trust and love through the use of technology. We see how Amy and Frank choose to not have sex the first time that they meet, which is surprising considering that they participate in intercourse with every other person that they meet. When Frank checks his time with Amy, he breaks her promise and it diminishes their time together, demonstrating how important trust is between partners. Frank and Amy are only able to break out of their false world because of their love for each other– their love provided the clarity needed to escape.

For once, this Black Mirror episode ends with a happy ending and a message that love conquers all, including technology.

As a procrastinator myself, I was immediately drawn to the Ted Talk by Tim Urban titled “Inside the mind of a master procrastinator.” It’s a video that I watched previously in one of my high school classes, but I revisited it for this blog post.

Urban’s main thesis of his speech is that procrastinators are the way they are because their brains are simply different. He argues that procrastinators have an “instant gratification monkey” in their brain that prevents rational decision-making from occurring unless there is an imminent deadline. He offers a paradigm shift by explaining that procrastinators are not “lazy,” which is what most people perceive them to be. Instead, Urban says that procrastinators simply think about tasks differently, and there is no way for them to be able to prioritize these tasks until the last minute.

I really appreciated the message that Urban pushes towards the end of his speech. He defends procrastinators by telling the audience that everyone is a procrastinator. There are two kinds of procrastination– that which relates to deadlines and that which does not relate to deadlines. Procrastination of tasks that do not have deadlines impacts all people, from taking the time to talk to an old friend to going to the gym. Urban encourages everyone to make sure to not procrastinate on those tasks because life is short, and life itself is a deadline. He offers another paradigm shift of how short life really is by presenting a figure of boxes of each week we have to live. This speech truly expanded my idea of the timeline of life and what I wish to accomplish before the deadline of my existence.

Urban does an incredible job at keeping his audience engaged. He incorporates humor throughout his speech, talking openly and honestly. He starts his speech with an anecdote of how he wrote his senior thesis in one day, which smoothly transitions into the topic of procrastination. Even his explanation of procrastinator’s brains is humorous, using stick figures and doodles to add to his talk. Urban does a presentation, for he does not simply deliver a monologue. He does a performance where he effectively engages his audience with his topic through humor and a likable personality. He refers to ideas that are relatable to all people– we have all forgotten about a deadline at the last minute, and Urban knows this. He uses this to his advantage, making sure to talk about something that his audience can understand.

As we prepare for our own Ted Talks, I hope that my speech can be like Urban’s. I believe that it can indeed be as successful as his… so long as I do not procrastinate.

The pastel themes and serene music act as a façade in this incredibly deep and meaningful episode that perfectly reflects upon our society, where individuals are too invested in the aesthetics of social media.

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 fourth blog post, I will be looking at Season 3, Episode 1: Nosedive.

The episode revolves around a society where everyone is given a rating out of 5 stars. This rating is based upon their real-life interactions with others. The higher your rating, the more “likeable” you are and the cooler you are. Viewers follow Lacie, who averages at a 4.3 rating. Throughout the episode, we see her obsession over her rating, especially after her higher rated friend asks her to be a maid of honor to her wedding. As Lacie travels to her friend’s wedding location, we see her become more and more frustrated by the rating system. She stops trying to be “nice” to increase her rating, instead being honest, even if the truth is harsh. Lacie snaps at her friend during her wedding, cursing her and her guests out by accusing them of all being fake. The episode ends with Lacie being arrested because of her actions and low rating, but in her cell, we see her smile while exchanging insults her cellmate.

Nosedive does an excellent job at depicting our current society and the obsession that we have with our appearance. We are too conscious of how we appear on Instagram, whether we have enough likes or followers, whether we seem cool or not. There is too much societal pressure to always put up an image of ourselves that is not the true us, and we see this through Lacie’s character. Lacie is put through extraordinary stress because of the mask that she puts on, and eventually, she breaks free. Even when it seems as though her life is completely ruined, we see that she is happy because she no longer has to worry about her rating.

As mentioned, the society in the episode is extremely aesthetic, but we see how miserable Lacie is in this world. Nosedive creates the idea that, even though social media can curate a fantasy, that is all it is: a fantasy.

The 2016 election was one of the most unique and controversial elections of United States history. The candidates both had their own ways of campaigning, from hosting rowdy rallies to quoting “Pokémon Go to the polls.” But the campaigning led to a great deal of propaganda, both good and bad, some pieces more effective than others. One specific quote that I’ve noticed on bumper stickers and have taken a liking to comes from Hillary Clinton’s campaign: “Love trumps hate.”

The phrase is a double entendre. It can either be perceived as “Love trumps hate” or “Love Trump’s hate.” For the first statement, Clinton uses Donald Trump’s last name as a verb, allowing her message to translate into “love over hate.” In the second statement, Clinton uses Trump’s name to signify that she loves his hate. In both way of interpretation, Clinton was referring to the rhetorical situation and persona of her opponent in order to gain support for her candidacy.

Donald Trump’s campaign was… untraditional to say the least. His statements were quite bold: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best…They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists”, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts”, “Total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the U.S.”. His irresponsibility when it came to spreading these ideologies caused a great deal of hatred towards minority groups to spread across America. The FBI has even found that hate crimes spiked after the 2016 election (https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/11/13/16643448/fbi-hate-crimes-2016).

It is no coincidence that this all occurred– words can truly ignite a fire. But to douse the flames, Clinton created her phrase of “Love trumps hate.” She is trying to say that love, which she attempts to practice instead of spreading dangerous rhetoric, will always win over hate, which Trump fuels with his speeches. Clinton represents the “love”, while her opponent represents the “hate”, so the overall message is that she will indeed win the election (unfortunate, really). The other perception of the statement is to love Trump’s hate. Donald Trump has said how much he dislikes certain racial and religious groups, so Hillary Clinton is telling her audience to love those groups. She will stand for Mexicans, for Black people, for Muslims, even if Donald Trump will not.

Of course, we all know how the election of 2016 turned out. But the overall positive messaging that Hillary Clinton tried to spread was truly refreshing in a time that was filled with overwhelming negativity and hatred.

There have been many terrible advertisements since the beginning of the use of propaganda, but this infamous Pepsi commercial starring Kendall Jenner is one of the most recent monstrosities. This ad simplifies the motive of the BLM movement by offering support towards the police force, it poorly depicts what a protest looks like, and it white-washes an issue that impacts black lives.

For context, this advertisement was released in 2017. Throughout 2016, there were many protests regarding the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, leading to a rise in the Black Lives Matter movement. The BLM movement and the use of protests were becoming more prevalent throughout the United States. This advertisement tries to fit into the rhetorical situation of the time by portraying a protest, but it ultimately fails by inappropriately depicting the events that were occurring at the time. This commercial seems to infantilize the issue of BLM by showing how easy it is to bring peace– it is apparently as easy as offering a Pepsi can to a police officer.

The BLM movement specifically targets the police force in the United States. Police officers are not taught how to calm down a situation– they are taught how to react. This makes it extremely easy for innocent citizens to be shot and killed, especially black men. This commercial reduces the significance of the movement and the necessity for there to be reform by promoting the idea that there can be “middle ground”; however, this is not an issue where middle ground can exist when so many black and brown people are dying from police brutality.

In this video, the protest that is happening in the background seems to be… joyful. The people do not show real emotion– they are simply yelling. Towards the end of the advertisement, everyone smiles and hugs each other. Any photograph of a real protest shows how angry the people are, how sad they are, how pained they are. A real protest has deeper meaning and significance, whereas the video makes it seem as though it is just some sort of “act”.

Not to mention, the people in the video are overwhelmingly white. The white-washing of a movement that specifically supports black lives seems extremely bizarre and misses the point. Kendall Jenner’s appearance is also a miss. It was an odd placement for her to be the face of this advertisement, when she has no understanding of the BLM movement as a wealthy white woman.

Pepsi Protest

BLM Protest

Overall, the advertisement was extremely off-putting and faced a lot of backlash. Pepsi pulled the advertisement, and Kendall publicly apologized. However, this commercial really does make one question– What were they thinking???