TV Shows That Critique Society: Black Mirror and The Twilight Zone - Essay Sample

Television is an avenue that has continuously been used by producers and writers to reflect the society. This is where the unpleasant elements of society and modern culture are highlighted through a proverbial mirror. Television can criticize society's behavior in different ways beyond verbal and textbook assessment. Black Mirror and the Twilight Zone capture this concept. These television series do this without sacrificing the storyline of the show, and they bring out the representation of the society in different ways and critic the various acts of people in the community.

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Black Mirror illustrates the state control of information, and this is highlighted in different episodes. In the first season, the second episode, "Fifteen Million Merits," demonstrates a highly capitalized society that follows the state's will. The event starts when Bingham "Bing" Madsen, a young character in the television show, starts his daily routine by waking up in a cubicle surrounded by different virtual images (Black Mirror). Like every other character in the show, Madsen is regularly shown multiple advertisements that cost him merits skipping. Merits are a form of currency used in the episode, and they are used in different ways such as entertainment, skipping ads, and dispensing soap and toothpaste. Even though it begins with Bing having have inherited various merits from his deceased brother, he goes on to peddle a stationary bike to earn more benefits than other citizens (Black Mirror).Custodians, on the other hand, are those that do not peddle, and they are marked as having excess weight and a yellow wardrobe.

This episode demonstrates that state power is omnipresent and is in the entire structure of the society where the main characters reside in. The judges in the episode are elites in the community, and they rule over the citizens by maintaining social order through technological consumption and hyper-capitalism (Singh, 132). With the rise in the cost of livings, citizens have to work on a developed schedule to earn merits. As they continually work physically, they are entertained and distracted by different digital distractions such as television, video games, adult video, and advertisements. These entertainments both cost merits to dismiss or enjoy. This brings about instant gratification where people are cheated and prevented from challenging the social structure as is. In the episode, just like in real life, socialization is mainly limited to small talk on social media, at work, and people mostly end up not interacting and has meaningful conversations (Singh, 133).

Additionally, social order has been extensively metered such that every form of individuality comes from the customization of citizens where the digital avatars and performance enable one to surpass the "Hot Shot." This is the only way that people get to escape the repetitive work of life, and the judges are the ones that decide the people that get to move up the social classes and those that remain in the low levels (Singh, 132). There is a role played by judges as they make decisions, and avatars represent the audiences. Social order is continually maintained, and those that do not fit the standards of the ideal citizen are seen as second-class citizens who perform cleaning services. They are distinguished from the rest of the citizens by their yellow jumpsuits. This illustrates social inequality where people possess several symbolic differences, which highlights the hierarchy of classes. Similar to the normal society, the class divide is clear, and the second class citizens often face ridicule. They are humiliated and berated by individuals with their weight being a target for mockery (Singh, 134). Symbolic violence is also apparent, and the game played illustrates yellow avatars being shot, which shows violence perpetrated towards these individuals.

The twilight zone also illustrates the society and presents different aspects of it. The series represents different ironic and unexpected inversions of moral lessons (The Twilight Zone). Serling used the television show to get away with social depiction and illustration, often hiding it with a harmless fantasy. The only way he could pass his message across as if he was able to be allegorical at the same time. Different thought-provoking scripts came up and were able to analyze the status quo.

The most common theme that is reflected in the Twilight Zone from the first episode, "where is everybody?" is the fear of nuclear weapons (The Twilight Zone). When the television show was, being developed, the United States was in a Cold War with Russia. Everyone exhibited high amounts of anxiety on the advancement of the Russian nuclear weapons, and people also feared the power that the bombs had. This fear encompassed every member of the society, and young children were thought to duck and cover, and the parents began building bomb shelters near their homes in awe of the consequences of the bombs (Guzman, 23).

"Time Enough At Last" is an essential episode in the Twilight Zone, which deals sufficiently with this thematic area. It highlights a clerk in the bank who wants solitude to get enough time to read his books. He goes to a vault in his bank to get the peace; this is where a nuclear attack occurs, leaving him the only survivor (The Twilight Zone). This thrills him on finding a library, and he notices that he has all the time he needs. However, his glass slips off and shatter, leaving him partially blind. This episode, while not directly linked to the bomb, provides a lot of revelation of the change in life that the weapon may cause. Sanders depicts the destructive power of the missile (The Twilight Zone). The constant bombing leaves the earth in ruins. This reflection illustrates the fear of the society and the absolute power that the bomb has and the different things that would be risked if the weapon was ever used (Guzman, 23). This reflects the fears of the society and validates them on the power possessed by the bomb and the things that would be risked if it was ever used (The Twilight Zone). This is used to remind viewers of the dangers the bomb poses, and if the users inherited the earth, little of it would be inherited because of the destruction made. In a rush to get power, there would be huge losses incurred.

The episode that follows the first "Third from the Sun" depicts two families that continuously try to flee the planet. This episode is used by the writer to illustrate that if the bomb is not used correctly, there would be massive destruction, and this is because of the apparent damage that faces the planet (Guzman, 23). However, this evokes different questions from the viewer whether the current world is different from the fictitious planet in the episode. It also questions whether the earth is peaceful enough for use as a refuge or it is as dangerous as the planets in the episode. The episode also reveals the different evil reactions people have towards the bomb (Guzman, 23). The characters in the episode are mostly affected by the near apparent war that they would harm others to get to safety. This raises the question of what people would be willing to do if they are injured in a similar manner (Guzman, 23).

The episode from Black Mirror and The Twilight Zone reveals the different aspects of society and the reactions of people. While Black Mirror highlights the different social classes and the state control, there is a similarity as to how people react in the current world. The fear in the Twilight Zone is similar to how regular people would respond. The society has been reflected clearly by the two television series, and this depicts how art can be used as a reflection of society.

Works Cited

“Black Mirror.” Channel 4, 2011.

Guzman, Kristiana. "The Underlying Messages of The Twilight Zone." American Papers (2018): 23.

Singh, Greg. "Recognition and the image of mastery as themes in Black Mirror (Channel 4, 2011–present): an eco-Jungian approach to 'always-on culture." International Journal of Jungian Studies 6.2 (2014): 120-132.

“The Twilight Zone.” CBS-TV, 1963.