Black Mirror's White Christmas Presents Technology as a Double-Edged Sword (2024)

With Black Mirror Season 6 around the corner, fans are rolling through the archives to reconnect with the dystopian sci-fi anthology. Creator Charlie Brooker has done a fabulous job of spreading the wings of the show, shifting from just a British gaze to something more global.

Still, he's never sacrificed Black Mirror's main message, reiterating that technology has had a dramatic impact on humanity. For better and worse. And no episode dissects this duality more than the "White Christmas" special from 2014, which perfectly illustrated the Catch-22 at play.

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Black Mirror's White Christmas Spotlighted How Divisive Tech Is

In "White Christmas," tech was used in a harrowing manner, firstly forging a system of digital enslavement. It came with Jon Hamm's Matt who worked with a device called the Cookie. This egg stored copies of people's minds, which Matt would then torture by giving them a "human form" inside a digital construct. He'd speed up their time there: seconds in the real world, while months and years elapsed in the matrix.

This allowed people like Greta to have her copy, Greta-Cookie, mentally break until they're forced to become subservient. The copies became personal assistants, operating in smart homes to reduce the chance of error. After all, they knew the subject best, so it was better than using random AIs from companies with a skewed view of capitalism and exploitation. Still, it was sick and twisted, made even worse by Matt and Greta turning a blind eye to the unethical, immoral practices.

However, after going to jail for recording his time as a dating coach, Matt did redeem himself. He uploaded his own mind into Joe's Cookie, tricking Joe into thinking they were prisoners. Matt feigned solidarity with his own sob story and extracted a confession about Joe killing his ex's dad. This was pretty brilliant sci-fi/cop stuff, reiterating how tech really is a double-edged sword.

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Black Mirror's White Christmas Has the Show's Best Approach

Such a direction best represents the ethos of the show. The same tech that creates slaves was used to shape a better legal system without police brutality and violent interrogation. It's much more palpable for the audience, as the narrative doesn't vilify any one side. Because at the end of the day, these tools are meant to make life easier.

And people would be lying or hypocrites if they said they didn't appreciate that convenience -- one of Black Mirror's focal points. Greta, for example, is happy life is more efficient with someone she trusts. It reduces the concept of invasiveness with a strange presence. However, it's still disturbing and abusive to her cloned mind. As for Matt, extracting info like this also gives him access to other things that could influence the case and judgments. That's because it's still a shady duplicity as he goes undercover, preying on emotions and other memories not associated with the crime of passion. But again, Joe has to be brought to justice as his actions additionally caused the death of a child.

Thus, Black Mirror has people bending their moral compasses because Joe, while evoking sympathy as he repents, is indeed a villain. It nods to Mia from "Crocodile" or Liam from "The Entire History of You," where viewers can't feel sorry for fiends who cut likable figures on the outside. Ultimately, it's a thought-provoking approach, made even more intriguing by Matt being freed but still having limitations on social interactions as he can't see or hear certain people. It perfectly sums up that tech can punish as much as it's meant to save, all depending on choices and how the public appropriates these tools.

Black Mirror Season 6 premieres in June 2023 on Netflix.