Hi Everyone, welcome to the first instalment of my Black Mirror series analysis.
Black Mirror is a sci-fi anthology series created by British writer, presenter and critic
Charlie Brooker.
The first two series were initially aired on British television’s Channel 4 in 2011
and 2013 respectively.
In 2014, when the show was added to Netflix it garnered increased attention and a year
later the show officially moved over to the streaming platform, where an increased budget
and more creative freedom led to several more series, an interactive film, widespread critical
acclaim and an avid fan following.
The show presents each episode as a standalone story, set either in an alternate reality
or somewhere in the near(ish) future.
The tales examine and critique modern society and values as well as explore the potential
future consequences of technological advancements.
The name Black Mirror refers to the black screens of our switched off tablets, phones,
computers and televisions. These screens reflect our images and act as black mirrors.
In this video I’m going to explain and analyse one of the very first episodes in the series;
fifteen million merits.
The world of fifteen million merits is a dystopian future which presents a brutal reflection
of our own daily lives in a capitalist system.
The average person, wakes up, gets ready, does the morning commute, grinds all day at
a repetitive job, goes home, plays video games and does it all over again the next day.
And all of this is punctuated by streams of virtual entertainment and intrusive advertisements.
Everyone is surrounded by screens at all times. There is no ‘outside,’ almost everything
is computer generated and people live in a world of graphics.
Most of the people we see in the episode pedal bikes. That’s essentially their ‘job’
and in return for doing it they rack up merits.
To break up the monotony of their task they can lose themselves in one of eight daily streams
which range from programming on fat-shaming, to porn to a reality TV show, entitled Hot Shots.
People have to pay to watch these streams and they also have to pay to skip adverts,
similar to how in-app advertising works in today’s world. Either you have enough credits
or in this case merits to allow you to skip ads or else, you’ll have to sit through them.
There's also a definite class system that exists in this world.
It is the moderately fit and healthy people who peddle the bikes and they seem to make
up the majority of the population. These people are all dressed in a uniform of grey tshirts,
cardigans and jogging bottoms, symbolising the fact that they make up the
homogenous middle classes.
They work hard, earn their merits and dream of a better life by losing themselves in their
streams – in particular the Hot Shots stream that promises them salvation from this mundane
life via the magic of reality TV.
The lower class comprises the overweight who tidy up around the middle classes.
Dressed in yellow uniforms the downtrodden lower class are looked down upon by the rest.
So much so, that it explains the fat-shaming streams that exist for the entertainment of the masses.
This reflects programs in real life such as Benefits Street or chat shows like the now
expired Jeremy Kyle show where the less privileged are exploited for entertainment purposes and
the middle classes are allowed to feel a sense of superiority over them.
Above the lower and middle classes sits another more affluent, seemingly more fortunate class.
A prime example of one of the prosperous, is Selma Telse. Her story is blasted everywhere,
she was one of the bike-pedaling many until she climbed her way out of that life using
her talent as a singer.
Very much like the reality TV shows of the early noughties,
Hot Shots pedals an impossible dream.
Given the sheer volume of people who try out for these talent shows, the chance
of someone not only winning the show but also going on to have a successful career is a
fraction of a percentage but the way the shows presents the narrative is that it is a possible
and achievable goal for anyone who has enough talent.
Bing Madsen is the main character in this story. He’s a fit and healthy young man
and he belongs to the middle classes. He goes through the motions of each day with dead-eyed
efficiency, disinterested in his surroundings until one day, he encounters a new girl who
joins himself and a group of others in a lift on their way to work.
In distinct contrast to those around her, she’s smiling and seems happy. She’s also
undeniably pretty and Bing is immediately attracted to her.
Bing runs into the new girl again while washing his hands in the unisex toilets.
He hears her singing and is enchanted by her voice.
They exchange a few words and Bing later manages to have another conversation with her when
she uses a dodgy vending machine.
Bing helps her extract an apple she purchased with her merits using a trick taught to him
by another girl earlier in the episode.
Bing makes a quip about the apple being one of the only ‘real’ things in their world.
He borrows the dialogue from his earlier conversation with the other girl.
Throughout the episode the characters make references to how few things are ‘real’
and they seem to be aware that they are living in a very artificial world.
In a short interview snippet we see with Selma, she talks about being able to pick and choose
her clothing and also being allowed to see the world outside.
She laments the fact that not everyone is able to see the outside, so it appears to
be a privilege reserved for the select few.
Bing learns that Abi has just turned 21 and has arrived in this giant complex to take
up her position as one of the many grey outfit-wearing bike peddlers.
Abi references a sister who is working in another complex and she wanted to go there
but she was told there wasn’t enough room.
The grey-outfitted middle classes are all solitary figures, there are no families,
no children and no old people in these complexes.
Bing compliments Abi’s voice, he’s moved by her rendition of an old song, ‘Anyone
Who Knows What Love Is.’ For him it’s one of the few ‘real’ moments he’s experienced
in months.
He suggests that Abi try out for Hot Shots but she laughs off the idea, she says she
doesn’t want to chase the dream and expose herself to the potential disappointment.
She also points out that it takes 12 million merits just to buy a ticket that will let
you try out for the show.
She estimates that it takes about 6 months of bike time to accrue that many merits.
This gives us a measure of how long and how hard the bikers have to work to save their merits.
In the show, each character is followed by their own personal avatar as well a display
of how many merits they have at any one time on the myriad of screens around them.
Bing has 15 million merits and so he’s fairly well off and able to live comfortably.
He thinks nothing of skipping adverts and paying for whatever stream, food items or however
many pumps of toothpaste he fancies.
Coming to a spontaneous decision, Bing offers Abi the 12 million merits needed for her to
try out for Hot Shots.
She’s stunned that he has that type of clockage accrued and initially resists his offer.
Bing tells her that he got the merits as an inheritance from his brother who died.
We’re not told how or why the brother died and the pair don’t dwell on it.
Abi suggests a number of alternative ways Bing could spend his merits but Bing dismisses
her suggestions. He tells her he doesn’t want ‘stuff.’ He doesn’t want to buy
apps or dress up his avatar, these things are distractions, they are fake whereas her
singing is real and he would rather spend his merits on giving her a chance to achieve
the dream.
Abi is persuaded and agrees to take his merits.
When Bing returns to his room he goes to buy the ticket only to discover that the ticket
price has gone up, from 12 million merits to 15 million merits.
The number is apt, 15 million merits for the potential of 15 minutes of fame.
Even though paying 15 million merits will effectively wipe out his bank balance Bing
is still willing to pay for the ticket and he sends it to Abi as a gift and she in return
gives him a kiss via her avatar.
In the early naughties British TV was dominated by Simon Cowell and his reality TV shows.
The popularity of these shows soon meant that the format went global, with international
versions of them popping up all over the globe.
Contestants and judges pooh poohed the daily lives of ordinary people in favour of the
search for fame. To work in a call centre or to be a receptionist or serve behind a
till were all terrible fates and celebrity and stardom was everything.
Ordinary people dreamed of being plucked from their ordinary lives because they had a good
voice or some other such talent.
The masses in 15 million merits have also subscribed to this dream as illustrated by
the number of contestants Bing and Abi encounter as they wait for her to be auditioned by the
Hot Shot’s judges.
The crew who manage the background of the Hot Shots production seem to sit somewhere
between the middle class and the upper echelons of society.
They clearly don’t care about the contestants and are just churning through them as cannon
fodder for the programme.
This again reflects the workings of how reality TV operates in our own world. People and their
stories are exploited for entertainment purposes and once an episode or a series is over the
shows move on to the next batch of people without giving the previous group a second’s thought.
And every contestant has to have a clearly defined narrative.
In 15 million merits they ask Abi what her talent is and when she says she’s there
to sing they ask her if she wants to be as big as Selma one day, thus ignoring Abi's own
individuality and desires.
They don’t have time for her to articulate her dream, they need a quick sentence that
sums up why she’s there and what she wants to achieve and the best way of doing that
is to replicate a narrative that the audience is already familiar with.
Before Abi goes on stage they ask her to drink something called cuppliance – obviously a
take on the word compliance.
This cuppliance is a nod to the real life forms and agreements contestants have to sign
before going on TV shows.
Once on stage Abi is greeted by three judges.
There’s Judge Hope, the mean lead judge and a parody of Simon Cowell, Judge Charity,
his female sidekick and finally Judge Wraith, something of a renegade.
As soon as Abi is done introducing herself Judge Wraith demands to see her chest.
This is a shock as up and until then Hot Shots appeared to be nothing more than just a talent show.
But the judges on the show and the audience take Judge Wraith’s request in their stride.
The audience is made up of the avatars of people who watch the show from their tiny
box rooms in their complexes
As Judge Wraith continues to talk we put two and two together and realise that he owns
the porn stream Wraith Babes which we’ve been seeing throughout the episode and now
he wants Abi on his stream.
Nevertheless Abi is given the chance to sing and her sweet rendition of her song seems
to win over both the judges and the audience.
But that’s an illusion which is brutally ripped away when the judges let her know that
the market is saturated with singers and her best bet is to join Wraith’s streaming channel.
Abi is reluctant but she is pressurized by the judges and the audience.
Judge Hope rebukes her uncertainty, saying she’s thumbing her nose at the people who
are at home, who pay their dues every day so she can be on that stage.
This gives us a hint as to what the people on the bikes are doing – they are powering
the spotlights, generating electricity, in a post-apocalyptic world.
The judges tell her that it’s either Wraith Babes or returning to the bikes and in their
opinion there is nothing worse than the bikes.
The audience chants for her to take the opportunity and Abi is backed into agreeing.
A combination of factors seems to be at play when it comes to Abi’s capitulation.
Her own judgement that any type of fame is better than an ordinary life, the effect of
the cuppliance drink she drank and the forcefulness and manipulation employed by the judges and
the avatar audience.
The way Hot Shots backs Abi into making a choice she is unsure of mimics the way Simon
Cowell’s own reality TV shows force contestants to make decisions they are uncertain of.
A prime example is when he convinces members of bands to split and either go solo or join
new bands. Contestants are forced, on stage, to wave goodbye to years of friendship in
favour of merely the chance of fame.
The sacrifice is always deemed worth it.
Fame is more important than anything else.
Fifteen million merits exposes just how our culture is obsessed with celebrity worship.
Be it the supermodels of the 90s, the It Girls of the early 2000s, or the modern day Influencers
– it doesn’t matter what these people do or promote, as long as they are famous.
Even sweet, innocent Abi has bought into this value system – agreeing to be a porn star
of all things – just so that she’s not condemned to a life of the ordinary.
Konnie Hoque - Charlie Brooker’s wife – who helped co-write the episode had been a long-running
presenter of the well-loved British children’s TV show Blue Peter, where she observed that
many children wanted to be famous without knowing what they wanted to be famous for.
We live in a world where fame is valued for fame's sake, over and above everything else
and fifteen million merits reflects this.
Bing is devastated by the outcome of Abi’s audition and we see him back in his old life,
going through the motions listlessly.
His merits have dwindled down to less than 1000 merits and this means that one day he's
unable to skip an ad for Wraith Babes that features his beloved Abi.
Bing tries to cover his eyes but that’s no good – alarms blare and he is ordered to
watch the ad and he sees his innocent Abi engaged in seedy sexual acts.
Distressed Bing tries to leave his room but he can’t and enraged he tries to smash his
surrounding screens and although he can’t destroy them entirely he does manage to break
one sufficiently enough for a large glass shard to fall onto the floor.
Thereafter Bing has a plan.
We see him determinedly spinning on his bike for merits, eating other people’s leftovers
and even skimping on toothpaste in order to save his merits as quickly as possible.
And in his spare time he seems to be teaching himself to dance.
Once he hits 15 million merits we know he plans to go on Hot Shots but why –
to try and free Abi?
When he’s ready he takes his glass shard and goes to audition for the show.
Luckily for him, they’re looking for someone ‘ethnic’ so he’s fast tracked onto the
stage unlike some other contestants who have been waiting for weeks and months
for their opportunity.
Bing has stashed away the empty packaging of Abi’s cuppliance and when they offer
him his own drink he holds it up and pretends that he’s already taken the drink.
Once onstage Bing performs a dance routine and then at one point he suddenly pulls out
his glass shard and threatens to kill himself if they don’t let him say his piece.
He denounces the world they live in. He calls out all the fakeness, the hierarchy, the consumerism
and the futility of people living a life where they never have the chance
to experience anything 'real.'
His words leave everyone stunned – he has spoken the truth, given words to feelings
and thoughts they’ve buried beneath the surface.
Judge Hope is so impressed that he offers Bing a chance to have his own show on one
of his streams and just like that Bing is seduced.
In the last moments of the episode we see that Bing does indeed have his own show, railing
against the excesses of their artificial world and once he’s done streaming we see him
in his own plush new, pristine apartment.
He’s surrounded by beautiful things and he no longer needs to peddle his bike – he
entertains the masses, he is now one of the privileged few. What began as a voice of protest
has been transformed into another form of entertainment to distract or even pacify the viewers.
Bing could have been a threat to the system but by Judge Hope making him a part of the
system, Bing’s effect has been neutralised.
And for Bing’s part, it appears that everyone hates the system until they're at the heart
of the system. Bing’s hypocrisy is jarring because it reflects the hypocrisy of human nature.
Black mirror acknowledges its own hypocrisy.
They present these messages to us via an entertainment
programme, where we are lost in our screens and enjoying and consuming an artificial world.
In addition, the creators of the show have success and fame already and it’s easy for
them to talk about ‘realness’ and ‘authenticity’ when they like Bing are some of the privileged few.
Another problematic aspect in fifteen million merits is Bing and Abi’s love story.
On the face of it, it’s sweet and innocent love story
but the pair only know each other fleetingly.
What attracts Bing to Abi is nothing more or less than her pretty face.
He objectifies her and gives her credentials that she may or may not have.
Abi for her part doesn’t resist very hard when it comes to taking Bing’s 15 million merits.
What kind of woman would take a large chunk of someone’s money, on such short
acquaintance? A naive 21 year old or someone who feels entitled to take gifts from the
opposite sex just because they are attractive.
Abi’s beauty helps her skip the queue when she tries out for Hot Shots and it’s clearly
something that has helped her in life until she’s actually on the stage where it becomes
a distinct disadvantage because it’s what leads Wraith to want her so badly to feature
on his stream.
Abi’s agency was clearly tampered with when it came to making her decision to join Wraith’s
channel because of the cuppliance. What would she have chosen if she
hadn’t had that in her system?
Would she have been stronger than Bing? Would the allure of fame and fortune have still
been enough for her to compromise herself?
We like Bing, don’t really know Abi at all.
There’s a character in the film that is largely ignored by most of the others in the
episode and it’s the other girl who helped Bing get his piece of fruit from the defective
vending machine in the first place.
She clearly has a crush on Bing but it doesn’t stop her from seeing things clearly.
Even though she’s jealous of Abi, when Abi is being forced to join Wraith Babe’s at
her audition, the other girl doesn’t join the avatar audience in cheering Abi on to
‘do it.’. She is sympathetic to Abi’s plight.
And when Bing sells out, she sees it for what it is. She doesn’t eagerly watch his stream
as others do and buy into his messaging, knowing that it is a manufactured piece of programming,
masquerading as authentic truth-telling.
Bing is not the man of principle she or we thought he was.
And this brings me to the end of my explanation and analysis of Black Mirror’s Fifteen Million
Merits. It’s a great episode and one that makes us take a long hard look at our own
society and values.
As always I hope you enjoyed this video and look out for more upcoming Black Mirror episode
explanation and analysis videos. Thanks for watching and make sure to subscribe,
and I'll see you next time.