Media Curation Assignment COMM372T

Video: Black Mirror 15 Million Merits

https://youtu.be/EpAICeAsEb4?si=RCJK7QFLIodzMsOg 

Category: Dystopian

This is a scene from 15 million merits that depicts people in a futuristic society completely ran by technology. This scene gives us a dystopian view of the use of advanced technology by showing how virtual reality can be dehumanizing, isolating, and dangerous. This could be foreshadowing what Mark Zuckerburg is trying to create with Meta, which is a completely virtual world. The individuals in the show are forced to make their money by riding on an electrical bike that generates energy, the money they receive can be used for necessities like food, entertainment and cosmetics. The pressure to get to the top, to escape the working class is very high, which is why the main character is seen trying to increase his merits. This reminds me of people who own Peloton bikes, they make the classes competitive and even have a leaderboard so that you can see where you are compared to others. Of course, this scene is more dramatic and goes beyond people using Peloton for exercise, but I wouldn’t be surprised if something similar was introduced to us soon. Another clip in this video showed him in a room surrounded by advertisements, in the show, these advertisements continue for 24 hours and can’t be turned off unless you have money. This can be a parallel to our reality and what we see in the media when watching television, scrolling through social media, and especially YouTube. YouTube has even started charging people subscriptions so that they can remove ads completely. I feel as though we are not that far from becoming a dystopian society.