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McSpanky posted:"What if <technology>, but not enough"? That's basically what Beyond the Sea was. Not enough Josh Hartnett robots.
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Jul 18, 2023 18:12
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What if you had a phone but you lost it and the ringers silenced?
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Jul 19, 2023 18:27
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What if Uber driver sucked me off too much??
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Jul 19, 2023 18:31
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I'm curious as to what the people that disliked Joan is Awful think now that you find out the SAG strike is partially literally about studios doing this (with Netflix being the main hold out). It's one of the most "on time" Black Mirror episodes.
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Jul 20, 2023 04:48
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I liked the third episode "Beyond the Sea". The idea of astronauts being able to live another life on Earth was pretty novel, and the episode offered a psychological exploration of the characters that didn't get too predictable. I didn't like the ending though. I understand that this is a horror series and sometimes the ending will make you feel bad, but this ending was just dumb. Cliff was being an rear end in a top hat, but his wife admitted that she was interested in David (or David-Cliff we'll say). If David wanted Cliff to suffer like he did, he had a way of making Cliff poo poo his pants without killing innocents: use some red paint. America Inc. fucked around with this message at 08:03 on Jul 20, 2023 |
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Jul 20, 2023 07:20
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Darko posted:I'm curious as to what the people that disliked Joan is Awful think now that you find out the SAG strike is partially literally about studios doing this (with Netflix being the main hold out). It's one of the most "on time" Black Mirror episodes. Joan is Awful is about fake Netflix spying on someone 24/7 and making an exaggerated show out of their lives, using some quantum bullshit super computer to construct fictive realities and with the intent to do that for everyone. Them saying it was written by AI is just explanation for a) how they produce it so quickly, and b) their plans to scale it up for every subscriber. It wouldn’t have made the episode any different if the Joan show was made by humans and there is absolutely zero exploration of AI generation replacing or disempowering creative professionals. “Help I was made redundant by a chat bot” would’ve been a more interesting idea for an episode though sure.
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Jul 20, 2023 15:29
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Elite posted:Joan is Awful is about fake Netflix spying on someone 24/7 and making an exaggerated show out of their lives, using some quantum bullshit super computer to construct fictive realities and with the intent to do that for everyone. Joan is pretty much the displaced extra that doesn't really get paid and is signed up for her image to be made to do whatever, and Salma Hayek is the actress mad that her digital rendition is making GBS threads in a church. It following Joan's life (but changing things) is not as big of an issue as the real life issue of your image being owned by a corporation. You literally skipped the entire Salma Hayek portion in your explanation.
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Jul 20, 2023 16:56
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I watched that episode for the first time yesterday and it was pretty natural to think about the striking writers and actors, since the episode is basically about what will happen if that strike fails.
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Jul 20, 2023 17:06
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The fine print stuff was just too stupid. Its hard for me to care what the episode was supposed to be about when the fine print was the entire premise.
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Jul 20, 2023 18:29
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I wasn't a fan of the episode, I have a stick up my rear end about the lawyer thing and personally "selma hayek being wacky!!!" got kinda old and wasn't really enough to uphold the episode for me. I think using machine learning/"AI" to displace creative endeavors is absolutely hosed up (I follow a lot of artists on twitter so that's been a big discussion for ages) but I didn't feel like the episode had much of anything to say about that kind of thing.
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Jul 20, 2023 18:38
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Yeah, the episode is mostly about Streamberry picking on everyone it sells subscriptions to, rather than being about AI displacing creatives. In Joan Is Awful the actors whose images are used are getting relatively good treatment and are major stars with lucrative contracts - it's not a problem for them until Joan starts trying to make it one. The central part of the premise is what doesn't work for me - turning your own customers into fetishistic hate figures is a really quick way to lose customers, especially if you're also broadcasting footage of yourself being like, "we decided to do this because being evil drives engagement".
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Jul 20, 2023 19:24
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I haven't read through the entire thread and I'm sure this question has been answered before, but what would have happened to Prime Joan when Anne Murphy Joan was having the plot explained to her by Michael Cera? Or was Charlie Brooker implying it was Joans all the way down?
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Jul 21, 2023 14:17
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It also has a large plot hole in that if “our” Joan is only destroying the computer because prime Joan already did it, then how does our Joan exist? That level should have blinked out the moment prime did the deed.
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Jul 21, 2023 15:08
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Kosmo Gallion posted:I haven't read through the entire thread and I'm sure this question has been answered before, but what would have happened to Prime Joan when Anne Murphy Joan was having the plot explained to her by Michael Cera? Or was Charlie Brooker implying it was Joans all the way down? Extra row of tits posted:It also has a large plot hole in that if “our” Joan is only destroying the computer because prime Joan already did it, then how does our Joan exist? That level should have blinked out the moment prime did the deed. Splicer fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Jul 21, 2023 |
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Jul 21, 2023 15:26
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Prime Michael Cera explained Netflix and Black Mirror to Prime Joan.
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Jul 21, 2023 15:33
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Also, god drat Salma seems to be an ageless immortal.
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Jul 21, 2023 15:33
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Rich people can afford lots of Botox
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Jul 21, 2023 17:06
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She deserves to be rich because she had to be part of Quintin Tarantino's fetish games.
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Jul 21, 2023 18:26
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Darko posted:Joan is pretty much the displaced extra that doesn't really get paid and is signed up for her image to be made to do whatever, and Salma Hayek is the actress mad that her digital rendition is making GBS threads in a church. It following Joan's life (but changing things) is not as big of an issue as the real life issue of your image being owned by a corporation. You literally skipped the entire Salma Hayek portion in your explanation. I can fully believe that being an extra is an exploitative job, where you barely get paid and you wield zero creative control. But people do still take those jobs, partially because the 1 in a million chance of becoming a breakout star has such a crazy high payout. But I don’t see how that relates to Joan is awful. Joan is not a creative individual displaced by technology, she’s an office manager whose life gets mined for material. She wields no creative control but that’s because she had no idea the show was being made and has no involvement in its production. The hosed up part is not that Streamberry used AI to write a show, it’s that they spied on people to make the show. If the show wasn’t made by AI it would still be hosed up, if the show was made with Joan’s ongoing consent then suddenly it would be fine (even if it was made by AI). Joan’s likeness isn’t used by Streamberry, but her life events and identity are and it just isn’t believable that a EULA granted a streaming company those rights. On the other hand there’s a very plausible argument that generative AI will reduce the bargaining power of actors but I don’t think the episode does much to explore the idea. As mentioned Selma Hayek seemed fine with the Joan is Awful show up until the point where Joan did awful humiliating things and the Selma Hayek digital likeness followed suit. But it was all so silly and exaggerated that it was hard to take seriously. And it’s just not a very relatable problem in the first place - Are you a superstar celebrity? No? Well the chances of Netflix hijacking your likeness to use in their latest projects are zero. And the focus of the episode is the ordinary person having their life mined for content, not the superstar who doesn’t have creative control over their own likeness. Also, celebrity likenesses have been wielded by corporations for quite some time already. Concerts by digital Tupacs and Micheal Jacksons go back about 10 years. Sure it’s hosed up, but it isn’t some new innovation contingent on AI advances. I do think those ideas are interesting and Black Mirrory though. You could have a episode about a down on their luck celebrity who signs away their likeness to a major company. Then they see themselves starring in dozens of adverts and movies that they had no actual involvement in, which makes it impossible for them to find future work because everything uses the digital likeness instead and they end up in a worse position than when they started. But Joan is Awful is not that episode.
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Jul 21, 2023 21:16
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Joan is Awful: A meditation on things ranging from 'can AI ever be sentient' to 'this is what reality TV will ultimately boil down to' to 'would your life be more exciting if you were played by Salma Hayek' to 'advertisers have a better sense of who or what you are than you yourself do.' Loch Henry: The most Black Mirror episode of the season. It's about you, the viewer. Oh, you enjoy true crime documentaries? Have you considered what people had to go through so that you could watch that? Do you not realize that you're literally monetizing human suffering? When the documentary is over and you turn off the tv, what is it you see in the now black screen? What kind of monster was watching so many lives being destroyed and sitting there thinking 'man, I hope there's a sequel?' It's you. Mazey Day: Continues the theme of 'media stars aren't people' and 'human tragedy is now a product.' This woman is suffering trauma, addiction, abuse, and is literally a werewolf, but who cares? All people are interested in are the salacious photos. MC drove a c-list actor to suicide for a thousand bucks; just think of the money she'll get for photographing a suicide. And you know what? In the end, she takes the pictures, without hesitation. The two 'good' characters being more attractive actors than the two 'bad' paparazzi's, and yet in the end, the two 'good' ones are just as bad, filming human wreckage for cash to feed the howling masses, who will ooh and ahh over the pictures for five minutes, then move on to the next excitement without a care in the world. Beyond the Sea: I'm honestly not sure what I think about this one; is it about pandemic lockdowns? Is it about how human support and connection is the only thing that keeps people from becoming monsters? Demon 79: Yes, I would like a Red Mirror series, thank you for asking.
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Aug 10, 2023 15:50
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TheCenturion posted:Loch Henry: The most Black Mirror episode of the season. It's about you, the viewer. Oh, you enjoy true crime documentaries? Have you considered what people had to go through so that you could watch that? Do you not realize that you're literally monetizing human suffering? When the documentary is over and you turn off the tv, what is it you see in the now black screen? What kind of monster was watching so many lives being destroyed and sitting there thinking 'man, I hope there's a sequel?' It's you. This probably doesn't work as well if this is not, in fact, you. True crime is gross.
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Aug 10, 2023 16:16
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Open Source Idiom posted:This probably doesn't work as well if this is not, in fact, you. And I think that's why it's not landing for a lot of people, the same way White Bear didn't land for a lot of people. But it can be extrapolated out to a lot of other modern media. poo poo, my fiance and I are watching Alone, and honestly, part of the enjoyment is watching people get injured, waste away, and go slightly crazy. We joke about it, but we tune in for more.
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Aug 10, 2023 17:04
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Teriyaki Hairpiece posted:And it is actually Black Mirrory! It's about screens and technology, it's just not future technology
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Aug 18, 2023 23:13
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For a moment I thought Mazey Day was literally an American Werewolf in London spinoff rather than homage. The creature design is extremely close, the transformation sequence has shots straight from it. It would have been a bit more fun if they had made that connection, perhaps included the iconic howl, since as it is it feels more like a knockoff.
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Aug 31, 2023 12:04
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Der Kyhe posted:It was a badly malformed and forced Charles Manson reference that actually made the episode worse. Had the family died in a car crash (caused by connection blacking out at the wrong moment so he blames himself and replica is destroyed in crash and fire) or boat capsizing (so he blames himself and the replica being in the bottom of the pacific ocean) the episode would have worked much better, and caused fewer question about mission security, and the cost of those replicas. "Died in car crash" has already been used in like 20% of Black Mirror episodes (just off the top of my head - Be Right Back, Crocodile, Smithereens, Bandersnatch (train crash but basically same thing)). And I get it, it's probably the most common way for someone to suddenly and tragically die in the modern world, but I'm glad that they didn't go with car crash again, plus the faux Mansons were played very well and creepily, that bit was one of the better bits of the episode.
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Sep 28, 2023 17:48
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Clocks posted:re:Joan, I do think that the lawyer plotpoint could have been avoided. The lawyers could have just said "oh we can totally take this case on... but cases can take months to go through the system" and meanwhile the show keeps airing and then Joan and the actress team up anyway to get it off the air now. I'm glad I'm not the only one who was bothered by the two incompetent lawyers. I think the lawyer plot point could work if you just did it for Joan. Her lawyer could have said "Look, yes, there is a case here but Streamberry has a loving giant army of lawyers and I'm just some local dude that you, Joan, a normal office worker, can afford." The problem is the Salma Hayek lawyer part, she's a very wealthy celebrity who could afford her own army of lawyers to match Streamberry's. Then you could pull out the "well, yes, of course we'll start working on this right away, Salma Hayek, but it's going to take months to see results" Just a small writing fix for each scene and it's not so bad but I guess they really wanted to do the "you signed the EULA without reading it!" joke
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Sep 28, 2023 18:27
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WampaLord posted:"Died in car crash" has already been used in like 20% of Black Mirror episodes (just off the top of my head - Be Right Back, Crocodile, Smithereens, Bandersnatch (train crash but basically same thing)). And I get it, it's probably the most common way for someone to suddenly and tragically die in the modern world, but I'm glad that they didn't go with car crash again, plus the faux Mansons were played very well and creepily, that bit was one of the better bits of the episode. Eh, I'm with Der Khye on this. The Manson reference introduces a lot of ideas that don't ultimately matter. You'd think some Luddite Manson cult would have further relevance for the setting, or play into how the plot resolves, but it doesn't. It just goes away. It's a creepy and upsetting moment, that just kind of takes the air out of the room for no reason. A way more mundane accident would accomplish the same thing and bring up far fewer questions. If a car crash bothers you, it could be anything else: boat capsize, maybe a house fire, whatever. WampaLord posted:Just a small writing fix for each scene and it's not so bad but I guess they really wanted to do the "you signed the EULA without reading it!" joke I agree this was stupid, though. Joan lives in basically the real world, and there are definitely consumer protections for predatory, overreaching clauses buried deep in EULA's. Your alternative of Streamberry relying on the absurd cost and forest of red tape to keep individuals quiet makes more sense. Lost in a bureaucratic legal process.
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Sep 28, 2023 21:20
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The thing that sucks about the replica episode is that it’s got some great stuff going on with it, but the script is just all over the place. Josh Hartnett and Aaron Paul both kill it. And the concept is cool even if it’s outlandish. But the Manson family thing being so disconnected from the rest of the story, the questions of why his replica wasn’t just replaced, and the dumb as hell ending just kind of ruin it.
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Sep 28, 2023 22:40
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veni veni veni posted:The thing that sucks about the replica episode is that it’s got some great stuff going on with it, but the script is just all over the place. Josh Hartnett and Aaron Paul both kill it. And the concept is cool even if it’s outlandish. The biggest problem for me with the episode is "why can't they call NASA?" or rather "why isn't NASA doing anything in response to this massive tragedy one of their astronauts suffered?" David should be pulled off the mission and given years of therapy but the episode really wants it to be 2 men in space with no help so therefore they are. It's one of those premises you just have to roll with because if you question the logic it starts to fall apart.
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Sep 28, 2023 22:52
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https://twitter.com/blackmirror/status/1768337657745023010
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Mar 14, 2024 21:30
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Yay, but also 2025? Uuuuughh.... I'm  -ing over here!
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Mar 14, 2024 22:23
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https://twitter.com/DEADLINE/status/1768356509858304452
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Mar 14, 2024 22:29
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So Netflix got the taste of Star Trek by buying out the Prodigy, and now just starts to make more bootleg Trek while waiting for the Paramount portfolio price to drop. I actually kinda respect that.
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Mar 14, 2024 22:32
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what if not star trek, but too much
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Mar 14, 2024 23:36
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Cerv posted:what if not star trek, but too much The "teaser" in the article sounds more like what if star trek, but all the rubber forehead aliens are insufferable trekkies
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Mar 15, 2024 07:52
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