Black Mirror: The National Anthem Review
Is this the most disturbing episode?
The National Anthem is the very first episode of Black Mirror and it's (in my opinion) one of the best. Even in the pilot; the darkness of this show was still far grittier then, than it is now. Of course I won't go into the details of the later seasons, but as a long time fan, I always appreciate a creepier episode and this is certainly one of them, if not the creepiest.
Plot:
When the fictional British princess in this story is kidnapped by an unknown abductor, she is held for ransom demanding a very unusual and dehumanising request. In order to secure her freedom, the prime minister of the United Kingdom must make love to a pig, on national television. Of course, this demand is utterly absurd and the British Government begins hatching plans to track down the abductor and to fake the scene so that the poor prime minister (played excellently by Rory Kinnear) doesn't have to subject himself to such a humiliating situation. The episode clearly satirises the public's disdain for UK politicians, as even today, it seems every single prime minister gets an incredible amount of hate and protests against their actions. Many of the civilians in the story are actually laughing and cheering at the screen, when the news inevitably announces that he may have to go through with the demands. What follows is a collection of scenes where the government desperately searches for the missing princess, attempting to fake the broadcast (the demand states he must commit the act on live television) and there are even scenes of the news media trying to gather more information on the case that the government is trying to keep secret. Ultimately everything is exposed, everyone across the country knows what's happening and when the abductor realises the government is trying to trick him, he severs his own ring finger off and sends it to the police, pretending that it is hers. This sadly leads to the prime minister having no choice but to finally submit to the horrendous demand. Ending with him making love to the pig on live national television, to the shock and horror of the entire British public who watch the gruesome scene unfold on televisions all around the country. The streets of London are derelict, just to really push the point that the whole city is watching this abomination, meanwhile the Princess is finally free, walking alone in the city, wondering where everyone is.
Conclusion:
This episode is utterly disturbing and terrifying, the idea of having to do such a disgusting act in order to save someone is a very conflicting premise to wrap your head around. Although this episode doesn't really carry the 'dark future' theme Black Mirror is mostly known for, it still satirises the public's desire to witness shock content. There are scenes that tend to drag on a little bit, board room scenes where they discuss at nauseam how to deal with the situation could've been cut down a little bit here or there, but the acting is top notch (especially that horrifying yet dramatic ending). The fact the episode feels like modern day makes this look visually less interesting than later episodes. Yet really these are the only critiques I can honestly think of. I consider The National Anthem to be one of the strongest episodes in the series, although it can be a bit dull at times, the dark comedy and horror within this episode is sorely missing in a lot of the newer episodes. So I believe it deserves to be recognised as the perfect example of how dystopian Black Mirror can truly be.
I'll rank this episode 4 out of 5 stars.
About the Creator
Joseph Roy Wright
Hello there!
My name is Joseph Roy Wright, the British author of over 30 Independent novels!
I like to write about movies, pop culture, fiction and horror! I review all the latest films (and classics), I also like to write short stories.
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Immortal Society
Call it evolution or a breakthrough in biology science, but in 2199, humanity will achieve the impossible. Immortality. The future is unclear, but somewhere down the line, mankind will stop aging and dying of natural causes. We'll still go grey and wrinkle, but our bodies won't deteriorate anymore and some will even go to surgery to rearrange their faces once they become too wrinkly. Of course the poorer civilians in this future will inevitably look like tree bark, unable to afford these much needed face lifts as gravity continues to pull down their skin (which is why we get baggy facial features with age in the first place). Reading this as of 2025 might sound like a dream come true; a future where you never have to say goodbye to your Grandparents or elder relatives, where you can rest easy, knowing you'll never die (unless you get some rare disease or go into war, as we'll still be able to be killed). This is something scientists have only fantasised about since the dawn of mankind. When it first becomes a reality, everyone will celebrate. You'll kiss your parents and hug them warmly, knowing they'll never leave you. If you have kids of your own, you'll do the same; holding them tightly in the knowledge that you'll never die before them. It will seem so wonderful, so utopian! Yet, what you've likely forgotten to remember is that just because humanity is suddenly immortal, that doesn't mean we still won't have class divides. Poverty and the super rich. Many of us look forward to retirement, sure getting old and grey sucks, but the only good thing about it is finally quitting work for good and spending your last years in bed reading a decent book or playing video games like Virtual World or Imagine Space for hours at a time, completely entertaining yourself without any financial worries to speak of. Heck, I'd happily trade in my youth right now just to never worry about impressing my boss or random customers ever again. Yet, in a world where everyone is forever young (at least physically) the premise of retirement would become quickly abolished! Now, if you're a rich person, this won't bother you, as you'll still be able to sit back and relax without worrying about bills or going into debt, as for the rest of society. Well, it'll be hell on earth. Just imagine it, working almost everyday, seemingly forever, without end, just to get by! If you think the economy is bad now, wow! You don't know how lucky you have it. Most people in this future will be homeless, living on the streets in cardboard boxes and makeshift houses, still working however, just to afford bread. The least wealthy will look older than ancient mummies, some with skin so baggy and wrinkled it becomes a disability, some will need to literally wear pilers to open their eyes to stop their baggy skin from blinding them. Others will find it impossible to smile, as their face pulls down into a permanent frown (matching the misery they feel inside). Some won't stand the sight of themselves in the mirror anymore and suicides will skyrocket! Which to the elites of this new society (what with their baby smooth skin and beauty model features) may find this to be a blessing in disguise, as population control will inevitably become too overwhelming for society itself to handle. The class divide will only accelerate at an alarming rate, eventually the rich ones will move to space, then the moon and even mars, as earth slowly yet inevitably becomes a toxic wasteland of ancient looking people, some even resembling zombies by 2237. Yes, within 38 years, the world as we know it will become something completely unrecognisable. Before 2199 there will have been skyscrapers across all cities and small towns, flying cars and a somewhat stable economy. Yet, when humanity continues to only grow (but never shrink) the numbers become unfathomable. Beyond trillions. Like a disease, one that never cures, continuously spreading without end. Planet earth by 2300 will be impossible to get personal space, people will literally crawl and walk on top of each other to get from place to place. Builders will develop long metal bridges from one building to another, while earth below will look like an Ants nest of human bodies continuously crawling around like bugs. The stink would be horrendous, hideous body odour and human waste would become common smells. In time, we'll evolve not to smell it, the people of 2300 won't be bothered by this stink, but a human from 2025 will surely die of suffocation just sniffing this dark future. Even on earth, which will be abandoned by the space people, those on the highest levels of these towers will live peacefully, looking down upon the rot of humankind far below. Eventually by 2312, these new rulers of earth will find their top floor sanctuaries in danger of over population too. As the poverty from the bottom of the earth will inevitably reach the highest towers. There will be homeless living on the bridges between skyscrapers, rather than on the streets far, far below. As for the piles and piles of junk and litter, those will stand just as tall as the mountains and towers above earth. The high people (as they'll become to be known as) will make the hardest decision of all, in order to control any sense of society within the last pockets of earth, a mass genocide will have to be ordered. Beginning (of course) with the bottom feeders (the ones still stuck on the grounds of the planet), who at this point in time won't resemble even the poorest person on earth as of 2025. They will be like wild animals, complete savages, almost like cavemen, who don't speak any language, only grunt and roar like apes that look a thousand years old. The contrast between these animalistic humans at the bottom and the high people will be scary. The high people will look exactly like you and I do now, with enough facelifts done to hide their incredible age, some will have even dyed their hair different colours some natural like brown and blonde, others wild colours like green and blue. Killing the bottom feeders won't be seen as murder, as by this point in time, they won't even be considered fellow humans, instead categorised as wild beasts like something akin to an ogre or orc out of some dark fantasy film (not to mention they'll look like them too). Scientists on the top levels of the towers will be ordered to create toxic gases and devastating bombs, which will be dropped down onto the earth below by dropping them out of windows and over railings. Slowly but surely, high people across the whole globe will begin to copy this method of population control, essentially nuking the already hazardous wasteland of earth down below. Eventually a green mist will arise, killing not just billions of humans still stuck on the ground, but the whole ocean too, all the fish and seagulls will die, leaving only the humans on the higher levels of these towers alive. In 2331, scientists will find a much more peaceful solution to this over-population problem, they will introduce a new gas like substance that essentially undoes the immortality issue humanity will have been plagued with since 2199 (that's 132 years!) by inhaling this gas the human life span will reduce to that of only 25 years, as it will permanently damage the lungs of the people who inhale it, slowly killing them off, essentially reintroducing the concept of old age and natural causes back into society. Of course the high people will not subject themselves to this substance, as it will only be ventilated to the lower levels of the towers. None of the people on the lower floors will have any idea that they've been poisoned, as it will be an invisible, tasteless gas that perfectly blends in with the oxygen that they'll breath in and out on a daily basis. None of them will know this until the year 2356, when everyone will begin dropping like flies, they'll think it'll be a new toxic gas that the high people up and decided to introduce, seemingly out of the blue, unaware that the plan will have been hatched 25 years before hand. Of course some people will still have kids on the lower floors, who will be younger than 25, watching in complete horror as all their relatives suddenly die off all at once. Soon a rebellion will form, as the lower societies of this tower world will battle their way, slowly but surely to the higher levels of the towers within the next 20 years. This strange war across the world will only exist in some countries, others will cry under the boot of a limited lifespan, never reaching the top of their towers to infect their high people. In other places; everyone there will be cursed (or more accurately infected) with the 25 year lifespan, as the virus will be spread through the salvia, blood and exhaling air. It will become normal by 2390 for most humans to only live up to the maximum age of 32, only a few select elites will remain immortal, some hiding above the planet in blimps and airplanes, completely isolated from the rest of humanity. In a strange way, reintroducing death by old age will be a good thing for humanity. Trillions of people die (which is a tragedy), so a million more can finally live more stably. Eventually the green mist will either fade or become non-toxic to the new humans, as they evacuate their towers (which will have become like prisons) and repopulate/rebuild the old wastelands. At first life out there will be like something straight out of a post apocalyptic action movie. Small societies will gather together, some forming gangs that only strive to take and kill anyone who stands in their way, others will form families and peaceful settlements like tribes and villages, reusing old scraps of ancient cars, buildings and other structures to recreate new homes and shelters. The world by then will look much closer to that of mars, a neverending desert of sand, where long abandoned relics of society poke out of the ground. There will be pools of toxic waste, as mutants and other deranged or deformed humans may begin wars over land and territory, all the while, humanity will slowly repopulate as those living in isolated societies will continue to reproduce. These small settlements soon become towns, then cities and crime is eventually reduced as new law enforcement teams are created to keep peace. Soon enough the human life span will lengthen once again thanks to evolution, from 32 years to 40 and then 50 and so on. The green mist will completely evaporate one day, the piles of rubbish will dissolve into mud, becoming part of the earth yet again and even sea life will somehow re-emerge. Eventually nobody will remember the past, where old age was seemingly cured and the whole planet came so close to extinction. In time earth will resemble our past and the towers of the 2300s will become ancient relics found by archaeologists. It is unclear what year it will be by this point, but one day, the old immortal humans will return to their home planet, approaching in spherical space ships. Eventually the humans still on earth by then won't look much different than we do now, perhaps a bit taller or possibly shorter, they'll likely be much skinnier after surviving another dark age, perhaps many of them will be a lot stronger, all looking like professional bodybuilders but not a whole lot different than how you or I look right now. However, those immortals who went up into space, hundreds if not thousands of years ago, won't look anything like us. They will have abandoned all human languages centuries ago and living in space will have drastically altered their features. Becoming much paler in skin tone, with long wiry bodies, limbs like those of spider legs and when they look down upon the new earthlings down below. These aliens won't see an intelligent civilisation of human beings, we will only look like an infestation of parasites to them. 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