" White Bear " is the second episode of the second series of the English science fiction anthology series Black Mirror . It was written by the creator of the series and showcased Charlie Brooker and directed by Carl Tibbetts. This episode follows Victoria (Lenora Crichlow), a woman who does not remember who she is and wakes up in a place where almost everyone is controlled by television signals. Together with some other unaffected people (Michael Smiley and Tuppence Middleton), he must stop the "White bear" transmitter while hanging on from merciless pursuers.
Brooker originally wrote episodes in apocalyptic settings, but when the script was going to be filmed in the former Royal Air Force base, he changed it because of the fence he saw there. He rewrote the story in two days, deleting some of the details he deems useful for sequel stories. The main change is the addition of a plot twist at the end of the script, which is noted as the most impressive aspect of the episode by some reviewers.
The episode, first aired on Channel 4 on February 18, 2013, was watched by 1.2 million viewers and was well received by critics, largely due to his writing and Middleton performance. This story draws parallels with real murder cases, especially the murder of the Moorish 1960s, in which five children were killed. The horror aspect has been said to be reminiscent of the 1970's The Wicker Man and Manhunt video games, while some similarities with The Twilight Zone have also been recorded. This dystopian episode reflects some aspects of contemporary society, such as media coverage of murder, the impact of technology on empathy, desensitization, violence as entertainment, vigilantism, the concept of justice and punishment, and the nature of reality.
Video White Bear (Black Mirror)
Plot
A woman (Lenora Crichlow) wakes up with amnesia, in a house where a television screen shows an unknown symbol. Turning off the screen, she finds a picture of herself and a man (Nick Ofield), along with a little girl (Imani Jackman) whom she brings with her. He leaves home and begs for help, but people ignore it while recording it on their phone. When a masked man shot him with a shotgun, he ran away and met Jem (Tuppence Middleton) and Damien (Ian Bonar). Jem and the woman escape from the man, who killed Damien. Jem explains that signals start appearing on television screens and mobile phones, turning most people into passive voyeur. Women and Jem are not affected, but they are also targets for "hunters", unaffected humans who act sadistically. Jem plans to reach the transmitter in "White Bear" to destroy it.
When they travel, Baxter (Michael Smiley), a man who is also unaffected, takes them. He holds them at gunpoint in the woods, where he tries to torture the woman, but Jem kills Baxter first. They continue the journey to the transmitter; when they arrived, two hunters attacked them. The woman took a shotgun from a hunter and fired at the attacker, but the gun just sprayed confetti. The walls are open to reveal that everything is staged. The woman, tied to a chair, knows that her name is Victoria Skillane, and the girl in the photo is Jemima Sykes, whose Victoria and her fiance, Iain Rannoch, were kidnapped a few miles from her home. Iain, whose tattoo is a symbol displayed on a television screen, tortures and kills the girl before burning her body, while Victoria records her action on her cell phone. After I committed suicide in her cell, Victoria was sentenced to life imprisonment she had just experienced in "White Bear Park", named after Jemima teddy doll.
Victoria is pushed back to the headquarters through the crowd of people who inhale her blood, and returns to where she wakes up. When he shows Jemima's tape, Baxter places the electrode on his head, erasing his memory of the day's events. At the end of the credits, the new day event is seen from the viewpoint of park staff and park visitors who play a part of the people who film Victoria.
Maps White Bear (Black Mirror)
Production
The creator of the series Charlie Brooker originally envisioned this episode as "an easy [zombie] doom story", featuring the same woman, but as a journalist, and the same signals will affect people around the world. It ends with a crucifixion, though Brooker has yet to determine whether the main character dies. Rotate end is not in original script; only when they searched for a location in the former Air Force base, where he saw the fence, that he came with it. Brooker then rewrote the script in two days "in a bit of a fever dream". He noted that he never changed the manuscript dramatically so late in the production process.
In fact, he rewrote four times, the original idea that came to him when he showed off the zombie series Dead Set . During the shooting of scenes where characters were chased by zombies, some schoolchildren showed up and started recording the phone and taking photos. He thinks of it as "an interesting and frightening image, because they are standing there, not intervening". Brooker converted it into a script for Dead Set , in which a photo became viral in social media and "opens [s] this main impetus for people to become voyeurs of suffering". Although the idea was given a green light, they did not have the budget to do it.
Brooker has another idea removed from the original script as they will be complicated to do. He says he can use these ideas in a sequel story that will involve the main character who finds the message he left for himself in the previous days because the process of removing his mind began to malfunction. However, since the location for the episode does not exist anymore, he feels it would be more practical to create a graphic novel instead of creating a scenario.
Cultural reference
Many reviewers have identified allusions to the Moorish killing, perpetrated by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, an English couple who killed children in the 1960s. The A.V. Club 's David Sims emphasizes the similarity between Victoria footage and the fact that Hindley recorded the torture of one of their victims. Ryan Lambie of Den of Geek also found similarities between the episodes and the crimes of Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr.
The influence of horror work is highlighted by critics and Brooker himself. Lambie discovers aspects of forest scenery that are reminiscent of a 1970s exploit film. He also feels there are some visual and thematic parallels for The Wicker Man and Kill List . Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy asserts that this is reminiscent of zombies and slasher movies "and even has been unsettling Wicker Man felt with the idea of ​​'the wrong society'." Brooker commented that it was "a Wicker Man -style horror", and noted that someone who loves the original Wicker Man would appreciate "White Bear". Because they share the same concept, 28 Days Later and The Texas Chain Massacre is also mentioned by reviewers as a possible influence. Paul Brian McCoy of Comics Bulletin stated it "remembers a number of zombie apocalypse dramas, including Brooker's own Dead Time at times" and The Signal . While Brooker said the design of the hunters was inspired by Manhunt's horror video game, McCoy felt his opening echoed another game, Resident Evil.
The Twilight Zone has been seen as influential by some reviewers. Jeffery commented that the "Black Mirror" has been "rooted in" the American anthology series "never more visible", while Sims asserts "White Bear" is "the most > Twilight Zone -y episode of the show ", and James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly says it could even be the episode of the series. Lyndsey Weber from Vulture creates a "post-vision guide" to the Black Mirror , where he inserts the The Twilight Zone episode "Five Characters in the Exit Search "as a" watch bonus "to the" White Bear ".
Themes
Regardless of its resemblance to a real murder case, David Sims notes that the focus is not on one case, arguing that when "repugnant crime" occurs, people create "hatred and evil" from the characters involved in the crime. He said Brooker was researching what he called the "media frenzy" trend. Lambie, as well as Aubrey Page of Collider, considered it primarily aimed at tabloid coverage of criminal cases that turned them into "witch hunts". Simon Cocks of Screen Anarchy insists it is an Internet allegory, but also a discussion of how people process information and treat surprising news. Paste Roxanne Sancto writes it's aimed at the media tendency "to turn horrible news into a national spectacle, inflame people to the point of mass panic and violence in the process." Alfred Joyner of the International Business Times stated "the argument is that in the media the notorious criminals must be worshiped to pacify the unsatisfied public taste to see that 'justice' is served."
Jon O'Brien from Metro and James Poniewozik from The New York Times identified vigilantism as a central concept in the story. Writing for Esquire , Corey Atad commented this about the "lust for punishment" of society, while Sam Parker of The Huffington Post and Andrew Liptak from The Verge '" and "pervert justice" respectively. More specifically, it relates to long-distance penalties committed through Internet anonymity, according to some staff members TheWrap and Page. While Sims states there is an alignment between Victoria's suffering and his crimes, Joyner considers this parallel to be central to episode criticism. When his crime was revealed, Joyner wrote, "the development of the White Bear center becomes clear now, as a real-life karmic experience for the general public looking to see biblical retaliation." Mark Monahan of The Telegraph wrote that the episode "mocked, above all, the insatiable, voyeuristic, and neo-Medieval medieval thirst for the pain and contempt of 'real life' supposedly packed recreation as entertainment ". Jeffery says it describes how people turn horror into entertainment, and Parker concludes, "The fact that Victoria is a murderer allows them to accept his suffering, but it is a phone that lets them enjoy it - after all, he's just a character on them.
Liptak said it describes people as tech victims, while Joyner commented it shows that "the way in which we are fed almost constant information through technology has turned us into a passive consumer". Joyner believes that Brooker implies the viewer with a story credit scene, saying "we are people with smartphones, passively absorbing violations of human rights and morals, and yet having fun in the image of the screen safety." Jeffery and Parker assert that it is the idea that people prefer to document life rather than live it, as exemplified by "those who see violence break... and decide to film rather than intervene." Leigh Alexander from Boing Boing said the episode reflects how violence is easily accessible on the Internet and quickly arouses people's attention. He notes, "You can see this episode as a critique of all kinds of themes: car mentality, reality television, even complicated treatment of women in the judicial system... Especially, though, this episode is our deep criticism, mass insensitivity that is often not researched , or at least a sign of fear of its potential for growth, which aims to ask: How far can you stand and watch horror before you get involved, punishable? "
Sims said Victoria's suffering was shown to make the audience sympathize with him, but noted it was difficult to do because he committed an unforgivable crime, even though his mental state was not entirely clear due to the fact "his mind was removed many times, that the crime was almost without memory". Lambie states that it was done to explore "how human empathy breaks down when the individual is reduced to a screen image," and concludes, "whether it is aimed at an innocent or guilty person, cruelty is still cruelty." Atad insists that ultimately leads viewers to choose between "so-called justice and competing empathy". Writing for the Sabotage Times, Gareth Dimelow concluded it made viewers ponder: "If a person does not remember their crime, can they effectively be punished? Is our bloodshed for revenge making us as dangerous as criminals who we are looking to be disciplined? "Richard Edwards of GamesRadar found that Brooker was able to present" morally complex ideas "without taking part in the discussion. Sancto felt the episode "playing with the audience's emotions... makes it all the more difficult to find a moral attitude to the story in the end".
Joyner stated that the episode uses "the idea of ​​owning what the viewer believes to be a fact that is exposed as a fraud". Alexander asserts this can be interpreted as questioning "the assumptions we bring to the things we see - we can capture almost any problem from all angles and embed it into virtual glass forever, but still only have a piece of the story, the unknown remains filled with our own prejudices ". Alasdair Stuart from Bleeding Cool commented that "built on the idea of ​​reflection that you know is false but can not turn around and internalize it." With the storyline, Stuart said, "we are shown exactly what is a reflection of the truth all along, everything". He also asserted that the question "our own fundamental need to be the hero or hero of our own story".
Reception
"White Bear" was first broadcasted in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 on 10 Ã, pm on February 18, 2013. According to the Research Council of Broadcaster Viewers, this episode was seen by about 1.2 million viewers, of which 7, 2% of English audience. This is lower than the second premiere series, "Be Right Back", which is watched by 1.6 million people (9%). Brooker argues that "White Bear" is an episode that gives "the deepest holy reaction of the audience," while Hibberd considers it a "fan-favorite".
This episode was very well received and appeared on some of the best series episodes list. Sancto sees it as the best episode of the first seven because the theme is presented "in a terrible way", while O'Brien places it as second best. He calls it "a strong watch from start to finish" and says "it is an episode that is undoubtedly the biggest emotional blow". The page ranked fourth best among thirteen episodes, confirming that it has "the ability to really interrupt" and "has delayed many viewers spinning at a cheap touch, but despite the fact that the impact of the episode is not turn on a disclosure, there is little in the episode that even feels long before. "Mat Elfring from GameSpot placed him fifth from thirteen, labeling him" the most successful horror episode [of the series] to date ". Atad ranks it seven out of thirteen, saying it's "a dystopian horror start that reminds 28 Days Later , but where it ends up is much more annoying". From thirteen, Hibberd ranked eighth, highlighting his plot twist and noting that "most [will] rank this episode much higher, I just happen to like the rest of the better episodes." In addition, Stuart said it was "probably one of the best hours of TV produced [in 2013]". He emphasized how to transit from "John Wyndham stuff" to horror and then action, and praised his final touch. He concludes: "The last fifteen minutes of the White Bear are among the most angry television pieces I've ever seen."
It is considered to have "one of the most surprising turns on the Black Mirror ", as Jenelle Riley puts it from Variety , some time before the third series begins. Writing before the third series, Margaret Lyons of The New York Times said it was the most blatant "episode" episode of Black Mirror . Right after the show, Cocks thinks it's "the darkest episode of the Black Mirror so far" and considers the change to be "no genius". Sims states that "is, by a significant margin, the most disturbing episode of the Black Mirror has produced". Though he praised the turnaround as "intelligent, cleverly concealed and intelligently exposed," he criticized him for "once a point is made, it is made repeatedly." Lambie praised "frightening speed" and highlighted his "subtle approach", with rare dialogue, giving "bigger events and performances of impact." He concludes: "His horror-infused drama makes us uncertain of who we can believe or what will happen next, and his final act is truly heartbreaking." Monahan wrote that the rotation was unpredictable and the episode "is an interesting and efficient part of narrative attraction".
Regarding acting and character, Sims and Monahan praised Middleton's performance. In contrast, Crichlow's role is considered recurrent. Monahan declared he was just wailing, and Parker called it "a monstrous performance without a bow or a resolution, just fear and misery." Lambie said: "If there is criticism aimed at two-thirds of the White Bear, it is that Victoria is carried powerless by events." Simon says Crichlow's potential is wasted because of his script. Jeffery criticized the fact "Victoria maintains an emotional level throughout the episode... she cries, panics and fears all along", but she says it was not Crichlow's fault, while praising Middleton and Smiley as "good uniforms". Cocks are more profitable, praising Crichlow's commitment to his performance. He also attributes to his appearance "one of the greatest achievements of the episode... how big it makes the audience feel as though they are in [Victoria]" position. Edwards asserted that he gave a "tour de force" appearance that was "an excellent and convincing portrayal of a frightened and confused woman".
Some reviewers have mixed feelings about the episode. Jane Simon of the Daily Mirror says that "White Bear" does not have an "instant emotional pull" from the opening series. He commented that, a third of the way through the episode, he had lost hope that it would end up effectively, "[...] the acting was amazing, the script was full of horror horror movies, the violence was a bit excessive,...] ", but in the end he was really surprised. Joyner praised him as "breathing... style" with "intense action", but felt "the themes were very flat" and "not original". He was disappointed until the round, and concluded that Brooker had "made the television hours bolder and bolder than I have ever seen in a long time". Jeffery says "this is the Black Mirror as a full blooded horror" and it's never boring, while criticizing the characters and the last order as "a bit too long and clear". TheWrap Staff is shared; while some find it has good social criticism, others consider it "least effective when it goes to horror". Although Parker compared the first 45 minutes with "low-budget, low-quality versions of 28 Days Later ", full of "horror horror movies", he realized that it was "the whole core". He is positive about his social critics and writes: "So the reason it all feels like a 45-minute garbage horror movie is because it's true, only with real people at the center." It was ranked eleventh of the thirteen episodes by Charles Bramesco from Vulture, who said his message "lost under a simple twist that pulled the switcheroo and it failed to do much else."
See also
- The Truman Show
Note
References
External links
- "White Bear" in IMDb
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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