Beyond Black Mirror: Fifteen Million

Merits Side One

Welcome to our weekly video series Sight Unsound, where filmmaker
and writer Ted Wilkes offers his own alternative theories on film,
television and pop culture.

This week: Fifteen Million Merits, the second episode of the first season
of Black Mirror. As Ted states, In my eyes this storyline is the best to start
with as its the one which most accurately represents Charlie Brookers
own voice and the overall message hes trying to convey to us through
Black Mirror before its too late.

And for those who prefer a long-read, heres the full text from the video

If you havent had the delight of seeing them yet, each episode of Charlie
Brookers Black Mirror is a frighteningly warped insight into a slightly
altered version of our not too distant future that critiques the present day.
In an interview Brooker professed that the series was like a box of dark
chocolates riffing on the famous quote from Forest Gump you never
know what youre going to get, but its going to be bleak.

Fifteen Million Merits draws on the two things Brooker is best known for:
video games and ranting.

The overall aesthetic of the episode gives the feeling that the occupants
of the pod-like structure were introduced to is akin to a large games
console. Even our heros name, Bing, is a reference to this. Its
onomatopoeic eerily similar to the noise that an Xbox or Playstation
makes when you turn it on. Also, at the end of Fifteen Million Merits we
see Bings assent from bike to on-camera commentator. The second of
his rants is one which could be an extract from Brookers own on the
Channel 4 series Ten OClock Live. It could also be said to be a more
complete representation of the themes and tone that are within the rest of
the series; touching on several motifs which will pop up throughout. So
this is where were starting.

This will be no means a complete discussion of all of the themes and

references within the episode. Brooker has packed so many interesting
ideas surrounding control, freedom, creativity and technology in that I
cant possibly cover them all in the time I have, but Ive tried to highlight
some of the more interesting ideas contained in the show.

The world of Fifteen Million Merits

In Fifteen Million Merits were introduced to Bing who lives simply to

pedal away on a static bike in front of a screen in order to earn credits
the currency of the world he inhabits. Hes in the fortunate position that
he has inherited 15 million of them from his brother and thus can exist
rather comfortably without having to worry too much about the
consequences of the world around him.

The world is reminiscent of the 1970s sci-fi epic Logans Run: sparse,
technological and populated only by youthful inhabitants. It shows us a
future where the developments in technology have created a more
effective and pleasant form of social control, which the society seems to
be in step with. Doing away for the need of any totalitarian structure and
forcing them to obey.

Although not ever directly referenced, it can be inferred that there is a

punishment that comes with refusing to peddle, as those in the pods
wake up every day and continue to do just that without being coerced.
Being a slave to the mindless, meaningless, mundane task of constantly
peddling brings to mind the daily nine-to-five grind experienced by most
in the western world.

Its a place forewarned by German philosopher and political theorist

Herbert Marcuse. In One Dimensional Man and Repressive Tolerance,
Marcuse warned that advanced industrial society would create false
needs, which integrate individuals into the existing system of production
and consumption via mass media, advertising and industrial management.
Read: a terrifying dystopia similar to Aldous Huxleys Brave New World or
the Compulsion Games title We Happy Few.

The populace of Fifteen Million Merits are controlled because they want
to be controlled. We all secretly crave fascism, but dont like it being
called that. The most efficient forms of managing us are ones that we
have accepted, or demanded.

Screens and simulation

The major theme within Fifteen Million Merits, and across Black Mirror, is
our addiction to screens. The title of the series itself is a reference to the
notion that once an LCD, tablet or phone screen goes dark we are left with
only a dark reflective surface to gaze at. Brooker said he found this a cold
and horrifying experience, forcing us to look upon ourselves at a time
when we are not typically expecting to. It gives us a chance at a moment
of self-reflection straight after the screen in front of us has ceased being
active.

In this episode the characters are accompanied by a screen for their

entire waking day. The bikes they grind away on have a large screen in
front of them, which placates the rider during their toil. In their
engagement with them they forget the blandness and absence of real
natural things around them. Even the pod they are allowed to rest in is
surrounded by four walls of oppressive interactive surfaces. Screens are
there, it seems, to keep the populace passive and obedient.

Seemingly the only thing that a rider is able to spend the credits they
earn from their labour besides food, is skipping the pop up adverts that
pollute their vision at random intervals. What is interesting is that the
penalty for not watching an ad is much greater than buying a single piece
of most basic sustenance. The screen becomes a master, and it must be
obeyed and looked upon at all times.

Away from day-to-day spending our characters use their hard earned
credits to customise their dopples: the tiny avatars which represents them
in the digital world.

As so much of their time is spent looking at screens these might as well

be the actual representations of their physical self, and throws up
questions surrounding Simulacra and Simulation as hypothesised by Jean
Baudrillard. Baudrillard claims that out current society has replaced all
reality and truth with symbols and signs, and that the human experience is
now only a representation of the real.

Who or what is the real Bing? Most of the interaction that he has with
others takes place in the virtual world. The physical form that our
characters have is seemingly only used to peddle (or create energy);
bringing to mind films such as The Matrix where Baudrillards questions
are once again considered on screen.

However, the version presented to us in Fifteen Million Merits is all the

more terrifying as it has tangible links back to our own society with our
obsession with the customisation of our online persona(s) across various
media and the importance we place on creating and maintaining them.
Frequently going as far as spending our own real earnings to alter them if
not directly, then indirectly.

Representation

Brooker has written at length about the representation of the working

class in the media and discussed it on his TV series Weekly Wipe. In
Fifteen Million Merits he continues this work with the depiction of a
subordinate class to the peddlers who clean up the trash dropped on the
floor behind their bikes.

In a game the peddlers play to pass the time, the yellow suited workers
are the enemies in a First Person Shooter and are the figures of ridicule in
the media that some watch on their bikes. What is interesting is that they
are all shown to be overweight. This places them as unable to access the
systems (the bikes) which will bring them out of their assumed poverty. A
striking comment on the inability for many to gain a foothold in the
processes which will allow for social mobility within society.

In the narrative this is a direct reminder that it could be worse and they
need to continue with their labour, otherwise end up in a lower tier than
they already are. What is interesting is that they are also encouraged to
abuse and degrade those on a lower strata by the media, which spills out
into both verbal and physical abuse in the real world.

This is potentially a direct reference to the sensationalist poverty porn

programming that was widely prevalent at the time of Fifteen Million
Merits release and which Brooker is on record as disagreeing with.

More next week in the second part of Beyond Black Mirror: Fifteen Million
Merits.

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Beyond Black Mirror - 'Fifteen

Million Merits' Side One
On this week's episode of Sight
Unsound: 'Fifteen Million Merits',
the second episode of the first
season of Charlie Brooker's Black
Mirror.