Black Mirror: "Nose Dive" Review " Spoilers"

Hey you, welcome back to the channel. And guys, today we're going to review Black Mirror. This is season 3 and this is episode 1, Nose Dive. And guys, um, what happens in the Black Mirror series as we get to season 3 is, um, there, there have been twice as many episodes. This went from like 3 episodes to about 6, I believe. And, um, in the much more later seasons, as I understand it, it's more 12 episodes or higher. So there's getting more close to your standard TV series episode release. And I'm not exactly sure why Black Mirror took that approach as it did start in Europe. I believe it started in Europe, and they don't refer to TV episodes as seasons, but as serials, I believe. Don't hold me to that, but I think that's how it goes. But for whatever reason, Black Mirror started out with only 3 episodes for the entire season, and now it's become, they have more episodes. Sometimes that might be due to, as the show becomes more popular, and more accepted, they add more episodes. Also interesting to note is I noticed that as we get into season 3, we're starting to see a lot more American actors involved in storylines, whereas before it just seemed to be a type of British thing happening in Europe. And so far in season 3, getting a great deal more variety of people from different places starring in this. But this episode, uh, kind of hit close to home for me. And maybe some of you, uh, especially some of you who are involved a lot of social media, who, um, rely on feedback from the community quite a bit, whether that be through ratings if you're on YouTube, it might be likes if you're, um, trying to create a big audience on Facebook, or the like. For whatever reason, you're going to rely a great deal on feedback. But also in one of the new popular social networks that's become, that is in growth right now, and what I think will be big is Steemit. I think of them all, Steemit came closest to mirroring this episode, you know, in many respects. Although it kind of relates to many, this came out, I believe, in about 2013, way before different social media sites like Steemit. But as we get into the episode, I think you'll see some similarities, especially directly related to Steemit, but also, you know, related to a lot of other— the lifestyle and social media that we've become engaged with. So, you know, it— this episode follows the story of a character named Lacey, and To understand this type of near-future world, if you will, that Lacie's a part of, there is, as far as technological advancement, they're basically using these contact lenses. We see a lot of the use of the contact lenses to display a screen. This has been done in other Black Mirror episodes. And their lives are pretty much tied into social media. When you see someone, uh, it identifies who they are, some facts about them, just like how we're watching the screen on many social media sites. But, um, the twist to this is that your engagement, your interaction with the public throughout the day, um, when you rate an individual, uh, Uh, you know, you basically, uh, when it's done in their world, it's actually so, so much interwoven, uh, into their real lives that it affects their real lives to the point of it controls how much money they have, it controls where they live, it controls, um, what social circles they're a part of. So this has become a type of commerce of the future. This has literally become a type of social capital. That you can spin. And this is very relative to what we have today. You know, a lot of platforms are finding out that through use of certain types of social media, there you can— the type of money that social media can generate. You know, wasn't long before people discovered that you can move money through social media. So this is a literal social capital platform where your engagement is really the commerce of the future. It's really the money. And so what Naomi here would represent in this, you know, in this particular picture, she represents what everyone wants to be. And that kind of, you know, puts me in the mind of the likes and dislikes, the votes and upvotes we get. But where it reminded me so much of Steemit, with Steemit when you get likes and upvotes or you get downvotes, there is actually money on the line. So, you know, you, how you engage with an individual will affect your lifestyle, how much money you earn, where you live, all the things important to you. So it very much is gonna change your behavior, but it's not, and I would say, a real change, right? It's more artificial. And this is what this episode is all about. It's about what this new world, this new society, how they interact with people, you know, that it requires a lot of butt kissing. And the entire episode's about butt kissing. So I found that all very interesting, somewhat scary, because when we engage in social media, there is a fear of becoming a pariah, um, you know, in that, uh, how we engage with our community can somewhat create a type of restriction on what we can say. And so we don't necessarily have the freedom of artistic expression because we're controlled by money, we're controlled by society. And those things are good to a degree, you know, but when it comes to authenticity and genuineness of the interactions and engagements, that's when everything becomes questionable. And that's what we start to get with Lacey and Naomi. Um, and so Lacey is one of these people who— she wants the good life. She wants the 4.8 rating. They use a like scale, and once you get over like 4.5, uh, you actually have become the cream of the crop of society. Uh, you know, again, this isn't just, um, uh, being liked on the social media platform. This is your entire social circle. This is your entire lifestyle. This is where you live. It's also interwoven into a type of credit check. So if you got really bad rating score, you're not gonna be able to live the places you want to live. You're not going to be able to, you know, drive the type of car you like. You're not going to be necessarily able to date the type of people you want or marry the type of people you want because they immediately are being judged by their scores, right? And it's, these is all public. That's another thing. It's all, all of this information is basically for public viewing, right? So that's what you got here, and I just thought it was a great episode, guys. Uh, you know, with Lacey having to step on eggshells the entire episode and basically being someone she doesn't want to be, as she's, you know, basically a part of this type of system. Uh, it's so bad to the point that the, the— in order to get ahead in this type of social world. Uh, her friend here, Naomi, who's actually slept with someone she was in love with, she has to overlook that in order to, uh, uh, you know, uh, get ahead because she needs Naomi's likes, she needs Naomi's upvotes, she needs all these various things from Naomi in order to be accepted. And, you know, when we compare that to our day, uh, pretty much everywhere you go, that's the commerce that's driving a lot of our social media, that's driving many of these things. And as I said, to a certain effect, it's a good thing in that society should be held accountable to a degree for their actions. And I think a system like this sets up a situation where that is what happens, that, you know, people are held accountable. But at the same time, it does restrict the authenticity and the genuineness of a human being, as to say, as soon as that 4.8 score drops, uh, you're basically an outcast, a pariah. And so this is what we get in this episode with the story being driven by Lacey finally being able to get to the better life by using her friend Naomi, who's about to get married, in order to, um, get the upvote she needs to get this higher score. She has this fairy, uh, fairytale wedding happening. Uh, Lacey has all type of problematic encounters, uh, to get to Naomi, starting from the airport, starting with a lot of circumstances out of her control, but she doesn't handle them well because The way this world works is it's only what you can do for the people at that particular time, even when they're engaging each other in a normal day-to-day conversation or interaction. At the end of all those conversations, they have to rate the experience they've had with one another. And so in some cases, if it was a good experience, they rate them, you know, they upvote them. If it was a bad experience, they downvote them. And it's similar to what happens in our social media. When you get downvoted, you lose money. Basically, you lose status, right? And it affects your real life. So this is the problem that is had. And there's a very interesting thing that happens through the episode. Lacey, on her route, her desperate trip that nothing goes right on, is en route to try to get to Naomi's wedding in time so Naomi can have this big wedding and get all of these upvotes from this very posh, this very higher-class community that's at her wedding. And Lacey who's actually played by Ron Howard, the very famous film director Ron Howard, played, uh, by his daughter Dallas, Dallas Howard. Um, she's played in some great movies. She's done some M. Night Shyamalan movies. Um, she, uh, meets this woman who's a truck driver in her desperation as her car breaks down, as we got to see, and The woman is like a 1.5 on the scale, so that means she is kind of like the, um, the, uh, the lower class type of people you don't want to hang with. Maybe she would be equivalent to a drug dealer, or, uh, you know, just hanging around this type of person is very bad for your ratings, your scores, your upvotes, your likes. And so, um Uh, it's very interesting because this truck driver woman lets her know that she once had this type of life. She once had the life of where she struggled to be accepted with upvotes, was restricted, and that, uh, you know, I believe it was her husband that died, if I remember the story correctly, and she, uh, she kind of, you know, began on this downward spiral. But she was also able to see what was important in her life and able to understand that she much more have a more free life than have a life that is, uh, basically this fake, this very fake, artificial, non-genuine lifestyle that this social media world has created for her. And, uh, you know, she's free. And it kind of reminds me of, you know, there's You know, I've heard, read several stories, articles where people have been in big corporate jobs, have been in the higher echelons of society, and the goal to make it all the way to the top, only to encounter that they've left behind a lot of their integrity, left behind a lot of their morals, left behind a lot of their principles, and, uh, it's made them very unhappy in the, uh, in the process. And some people come to the conclusion, uh, in some cases where it's a high-level corporate job or something to the like, that they would much rather take a lower-paying job, be the people they want, be happy with themselves, not compromise, not have to walk on eggshells and everything they do, um, in order to, uh, be happier. And if that means being in a lower class of life, they find they're much more happier in that way. So our character Somewhere along the line, Lacey, our main character, she does discover this, and she ends up in jail. She ends up in jail as she lets her friend know at her wedding that the whole thing was fake, that it was all artificial. That, you know, and of course at this point she gets to find that out from Naomi because Naomi has noticed that her score has fallen so low that she doesn't want any parts of her. So she's been shoved out of the social circle, and their long-term, lifelong friendship has meant nothing, uh, when it's been measured up against society. So she freaks out, she loses it, Lacey. She ends up in jail, and we get this very crazy scene with her, um, basically going toe-to-toe with this another person who's in jail, and they're just letting their— they are free to let their opinions fly without, uh, any type of, um, uh, at this point they're not worried. They don't— it doesn't matter anymore. The veil has been lifted. The contact lenses have been taken out of their eyes. The technology that drives this type of life, you don't have that in prison. So they're free to be free to say whatever they want. So it's kind of this dualistic look in the end of having complete freedom to be the person you want to say, the person to say the things you wish, held up against society, but at the same time being imprisoned and contained even in that because now society has imprisoned you for wanting to be free, wanting to be self-expressive and not under control. And that was just such an artistic, very well-done ending. I love this episode. Like I said, it hit close to home. I do YouTube videos. I engage in other social media. I do this because I like to do it. I don't always get the like. I get very little views and I don't get very many likes. Uh, but I've decided that I'm okay with that. I'm much more happier doing the content that I wish to do, whereas I've seen other people in the community where they have changed a lot of their platform, changed a lot of their profiles in order to please and get views. And at the end of the day, it is a business, and we are in a, uh, you know, a type of, um, customer-driven, if you will, viewership-driven business, if you will. Type of business where we want to please our viewers. But at the same time, as we got to see in this episode, there is a type of choice we have to make in where, at what point does, or at what point do pleasing our viewers and pleasing ourselves, we have to kind of take the middle ground, or we have to find a place where we're more happy to create our art, to, you know, to bring you all our content and various things like that. Uh, and the same with all of us who engage in social media, who are trying to build up social circles and friendships, and at what cost to ourselves we're willing to pay. Love this episode, guys. Tell me all what you think, guys. If you like content like this, don't forget to like, subscribe, and until next time, take care.