This terrifying black mirror episode was inspired by a real war documentary

This post contains Spoilers For “Black Men” Season 3 “Men Against Fire”.

Although “Men Against Fire” issued two seasons (five years) After the first show “Black Mirror” for the first timeIn fact, it was the first episode of Charlie Brocker. Well, kind of; In her early draft, the episode was called “Inbound”, and it was not similar to what would be “men against fire.” in 2018 “Inside Black Mirror” book, Brocker explained:

“In income”, the first episode of the “Black Mirror” is fully written but never made, it was based on a horrific true story. (The Black Writer) made me (HUQ) watch this amazing documentary of 2010 called a family called. I was killed.

The “war that you do not see” was sweeping because it refused to sterilize the consequences of the Iraq war, which was most of the media was happy enough to do it. The invasion of Iraq was easier to support when people thought about this in more abstract terms, but this documentary has never retracted the personal destruction caused by the war. If the media coverage of the war had done so from the beginning, then perhaps fewer members of the public had supported it in the first place.

The relationship between the documentary and “Men Against Fire” is clear. Stripe (Malachi Kirby) is a mysteriously enthusiastic participant in the war specified in which he fights-until a candidate is damaged and can see the actual damage that causes him. The government’s manipulation of its visualization may be more exaggerated, as civilians are photographed by the candidate as blood -thirsty monsters or “cockroaches”, but the basic idea is the same.

Although the spark behind “men against fire” was exposed in 2010, Brucker’s early draft of the episode was still difficult to identify from what would be. “In this story, you thought that the strange power was attacking Britain, but it turned out that it was Norwegian,” Berker explained. “Jay Hunt (the chief content official in Channel 4) said, it was very heavy and serious, in addition to humor, given the topic.”

This concept has been suspended for a few years, but Brukil and producer Annabel Jones never stopped being captured by that basic idea of ​​removing digital allergies. Jones said, “There was definitely something interesting in the way the war clips are constantly broadcast for us and the resulting beam, but we could not find the story to make it more. At a later time, the idea became more about the future of war and military air conditioning, and how technology can provide the final advertising tool.”

Meanwhile, no decision would come to be filmed as a screaming from the documentary, but from the controversial British column writer Katie Hopkins. In response to the refugee crisis in mid -2010, it was Hopkins Refugees in the Middle East are referred to as “cockroaches”. It was an inhumane rhetorical tactic, Brucker was horrific and would be cultivated.

“Men Against Fire” said: “I was definitely looking for a word that could be used as a racist or inhuman term to describe a full group of people.” “At that time, I thought it was incredibly outdated, the idea that the future fascist government might come and ferment a huge part of society. Then I felt closer to the house.”

Despite the hypothesis of the science fiction represented in “Men Against Fire” as it is convincing and socially related, the episode was not created by fans much. Often The weak link for the strong season 3 is considered otherwisePartially, because the dynamic between Malakhi and the villain of Arkout (Michael Kelly) is very simple. While the other “black mirror” heroes are governed by their concerns or inherent defects, Malachi mainly stands a zero opportunity here. Arquette explains his evil technique, and forcing him to comply, and this is the end. You can say that Malachi is wrong to agree to wipe his memory, but let’s be real: no one actually thinks that he will choose life imprisonment. Other episodes, such as “15 million advantages”, gave the protagonist real choices. The dilemma of Malakhi was simple and predictable.

However, there is a lot you like in the episode in general. Although most of the “black mirror” is naive towards human nature, the main hypothesis behind the large bad technology in “men against fire” is amazingly optimistic. Humans reveal Arkit, they are very hesitant to kill each other even during the war. The army’s decision was supposed to stabilize the perception filters in the brains of their soldiers to overcome the innate sympathy that the average person has. Certainly, the third season episode ends on Downtir complete (with the hero forced to wipe his memory and return to the killing of innocent civilians), but I think it is good that the “black mirror” to indicate that the hesitation in killing is a root part of human nature. It is a nice contradiction with Episodes like “White Bear” Or “Black Museum“Whoever argues that we are all in the depths of the Sadi.