The thought of Black Mirror , the twisted British dystopian series , having a Christmas special might seem unmatched . But while White Christmas does give us a dark near future that ’s not all tinsel and lights , its trio of tales is really all about a really Christmassy message of compassion and empathy . Spoilers ahead …
White Christmas ’ dystopia claim a leaf from present day concerns about Google Glass ( and partake some familiarity with the ‘ always pelt , always watching ’ concept of a previous Black Mirror news report , White Bear ) with the technology of ‘ Z - Eyes ’ – an ocular implant that lets the great unwashed control what they see in the real world , and apportion it with other viewers . It ’s through Z - heart that we meet Matt ( Jon Hamm ) in the first tale , who ’s second job take offer real - time romantic advice to people through their implant … as well as streaming the footage recorded by his clients to intimate deviant online on the side . When Matt ’s wife finds out about his study after a especial advice sessions consume a bout for the spoilt , we ’re introduced to Z - Eye ’s other , horrific feature film – a drug user ’s power to ‘ block ’ people , reduce them to a pixelated , unrecognizable and unhearable silhouette to the blocker , and rendering them likewise invisible to the blocked person . It ’s a simple twist on our own world call for to a logical , yet horrifying conclusion – but through it , and through the three protagonists we fulfill , it ’s used to ask us all about whether the disposability of a societal media ‘ block ’ is really the way we should be treating other the great unwashed , whether it ’s in White Christmas ’ near - future tense , or online in our own world .
But whether it ’s through Matt ’s block , or through the other two tales in this anthology – the confessedly weak midway chapter go around around spoilt woman , Greta ( Oona Chaplain ) upload a copy of her conciousness into an Amazon Echo - esque home insure gimmick , and the questions about the nature of identity that such a thing would fee-tail , or the much more compelling third revolve around Potter ’s ( Rafe Spall ) former girlfriend permanently blocking him as she becomes pregnant with another serviceman ’s nipper – all of the stories are about what applied science ( applied science that we ’re beginning to see in our lives powerful now ) can do to us , or the consequences it can have on human human relationship . Greta ’s hardness in torturing a transcript of herself into being a personal assistant , Matt ’s penalization for his illegitimate natural action with Z - Eyes , or Potter ’s psychological rupture when his girlfriend and who he believes to be his daughter are completely cut out of his life – the underlying thread might be the technology that allows all these terrible things to happen to these the great unwashed , but White Christmas is at last a human story . The hideous nature of the engineering is just to serve the human play that plays out in front of us .
I wo n’t discuss the ultimate twist in the tale , what brings Potter and Matt together through the frame equipment that severalize the story – the two of them immobilize in an Arctic base on Christmas Day – but it wind all three write up together in such a clever way that the reveal feels less like an ‘ a - ha , gotcha ’ mo and more like a pathological , natural conclusion of everything Brooker has told us about up to the tip . It ’s an imaginative ending , but it also function to punctuate the sheer lonliness of our three character . It shows us the fear and sorrowfulness that an idle use of technology can bestow – Black Mirror ’s raison d’etre , just play out over the snowflake and pageantry of Christmas ( you ’ll never hear Wizzard ’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas the same way ever again ) .
Yet oddly enough , for all its glowering , cutting comment , White Christmas might just be the one Christmas Special you keep an eye on this year that ’s really about the real life of Christmas : about take pity for other people . Brooker offers us a cautionary set of story about the style we handle people online today , with no chance for salvation or discourse before they ’re blocked out of our lives for skillful , with a story about how that conduct could transition into the real world as well . It ’s an extreme extrapolation , of course , but still one carry of our own reality – and an extrapolation that enquire us conceive the way we handle each other in our attached world . To try and see , to sympathise with each other a short more before we reach for the blocking button . A surprisingly Christmassy message for a extra Brooker himself did n’t opine was really all that much about Christmas .
Black Mirror : White Christmas aired last dark on Channel 4 in the UK . It will air onDirecTV ’s Audience Networkon Christmas Day in the US .
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