Black Mirror episode 2: "15 Million Merits"

[Comrade Trollface]

Has anyone else here watched this? I highly recommend downloading and watching it. It is an excellent speculative satire about modern modes of capitalist social control.

But for those who've watched it, what are your thoughts?

EDIT: MOTHERFUCKERS BE SPOILIN' THIS SHIT LIKE CRAZY UP IN HERE. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET AND DON"T WANT YOUR ASS SPOILED, GTFO!:star:

[Offbeat]

Out of all the dystopian futures which literature and film have predicted, I think this is one of the most likely to come true. It really isn't a very far jump from the annoying opt-out advertisements which are everywhere on the internet to advertisements piped directly to your bedroom which can only be skipped by spending money. I thought it was also a very accurate reflection of reality television and how exploitive it is of both its audience and its participants.

I did think it seemed a bit easy for him to get those 15 million credits though, as soon as he set his mind to it. Would such a system really allow people to advance themselves just by exercising a lot?

[Comrade Trollface]

I did think it seemed a bit easy for him to get those 15 million credits though, as soon as he set his mind to it. Would such a system really allow people to advance themselves just by exercising a lot?Keep in mind that all that bought him was a spot on a reality TV program. It bought him a fucking lottery ticket, not a shoe factory.

[Offbeat]

True, but it did lead to him getting a cushy job and a nice place to live at the end, and presumably he could have bought other things with those merits.

[Comrade Trollface]

and presumably he could have bought other things with those merits. Yeah. Like sandwiches and custom avatars. The reality TV lottery is the only mode of class advancement shown though. Which is a pretty good metaphor for current modes of social control vis-a-vis the 'Horatio Alger' ideal.
True, but it did lead to him getting a cushy job and a nice place to live at the endBecause he won the lottery. The cooptation lottery.

[Ravachol]

One of the best sci-fi/dystopian stuff I've seen in years. I love the entire mini-series but 15 million merits was by far the best. Not only is it 'not that far off', If you watch it through the lens of it being a visual metaphor, its this society. The endless, alienating treadmill leading nowhere with a chance to 'escape' being offered through the spectacle (literally) where its either public degradation or 'untouchable stardom', all to end up with just longer chains and a more gilded cage.


True, but it did lead to him getting a cushy job and a nice place to live at the end, and presumably he could have bought other things with those merits.

Thing is, the symbolism made clear he was as alienated and empty as before. His chains got longer, his cage got bigger but he was still watching screens (or windows, though I think they were screens) displaying endless forests instead of the real thing. And the wooden penguin which held the paper penguin given to him by his crush is sort of a metaphor too, its 'more of a penguin' but still a replica, a fake. While all he wanted was something real for once.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

I was blown away when I watched this; truly amazing piece of television.I will be watching the other parts soon.

[Ravachol]

Perhaps we should add a spoiler warning to the top of the thread? Or is that just me being deadly allergic to spoilers? :p

Also I loved the point of the first black mirror episode with its conclusion of people being so absorbed by the torrent of media fragments, twitter updates, etc. that when the most important event occurred, everybody was 'elsewhere, watching screens'.

[Will Scarlet]

I was blown away when I watched this; truly amazing piece of television.I will be watching the other parts soon.
Prepare not to be blown away. The first episode is good but nowhere near as good as 15 Million Merits, and the third episode which is by a different writer is a waste of a neat concept.

[Ravachol]

Also, I hate shows like 'the X-factor' even more than before because of 15 million merits. The way they portrayed it in the black mirror episode was so spot-on that I cringe every time the X-factor or whatever is on somewhere and some dipshit jury member either verbally abuses some contestant or shouts in Ecstasy (for the 1000th time :rolleyes:) that it was THE.SINGLE.BEST.PERFORMANCE.EVER!