‘The National Anthem’: How Western politics has made affected our perception of reality
This article is based on the Black Mirror Pilot episode, “The National Anthem”, a British television series that delves into a concoction of psychological drama, and Sci-Fi intricacies.
dys·to·pi·a noun. “An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.”
This term is straight from the search engine of Google — you don’t need to look far. It is suspected to have been defined in the late 18th Century, but didn’t seek rise until the late 1960's — an era that began asking critical questions to either i. corrupt, ii. unlawful, and; iii. unethical behaviour within Western politics. It was a time where humans alike began questioning society (and its quirks) at hand — a society that they were born into and raised in.
Now, the advent of television and mass influence of cinema had much to do with this. And as technology progressed even further and news broadcasting became more aggressive, demanding, and fast-paced. We’ve seen it with the Vietnam War, Watergate, Clinton scandal, and now, Russia with the ’16 Election.
“The National Anthem”, least to say, is a controversial episode within the censored perimeters of North American television. It follow Britain’s Prime Minister Michael Callow, whom receives a disturbing YouTube video message from Princess Susannah, the Duchess of Beaumont, claiming that she has been kidnapped. In order to ensure a safe return, she tells Callow that he must have sexual intercourse with a pig. On public television. In front of the whole world. And if he doesn’t, she will be executed.
Of course, he’s expectantly horrified and unwilling to do so. However, after many tries of an alternative solution, he reconciles with the notion of saving the Duchess of Beaumont through bestiality. He announces this live on television, and the public roars in laughter all throughout the United Kingdom. Tweets, YouTube comments, and Facebook posts occur, subconsciously shaping the morale of this event.
It’s so absurd that they want to see this happen with their own eyes. Social media has prepared them for this moment. Everyone knows about it — it’s a moment you cannot miss. If you don’t, you lose — you’re not apart of the conversation. And when you do, you’re dismayed, disgusted, and in shock at what just happened. You’ve just watched a grown man of reputation be degraded to his lowest form via television.
It’s a twisted, yet subtle internal logic that Black Mirror introduces. The narrative provides us with a dystopian cocoon that our perceptive reality couldn’t possibly endure — no, there’s no way real life would ever emulate this tech-savvy television show.
Keep telling yourself that.
Social media, and all its intricacies, has informed us to be open, transparent, and most of all, aware — for better or for worse. We’re so hyper-aware of our external surroundings, that processing of hyper-information, and over-indulged consumerism has become an obsession. And our fears were validated to be reality during the American election in November. And Russia meddling within that election — tapping into America’s private security, and ultimately (investigation ongoing) manipulation its results.
Our line of sight and external awareness has proven to be failed. We can’t indulge information the way we think we can. We failed in thinking someone like Donald Trump couldn’t possibly become the President of the United States of America. What was to be faces of excitement and laughter, turned into horror and sadness. The amusement of the persona of then-Republican nominee Donald Trump has vanished. It is now reality — a reality we are still coping with and trying to comprehend.
Black Mirror doesn’t probe you into fearing the narrative at hand, but instead delivers you a Catch-22: it validates your fears that concurrent within your reality, but also saves you from the distorted reality of its narrative.
