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Nosedive is an excellent and beautiful episode. It and several other episodes are like perfect short films that I think film students should study. I also think some people (not anyone here) tend to have trouble with how seriously to take certain episodes or have trouble feeling out the tone. I showed Nosedive to some friends and they were like "this is kind of stupid". I asked why, and they said because its silly and too unbelievable. I was like, yes, it's intentionally silly and over the top - it's doing that to make a point.
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Jun 21, 2019 23:52
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SweetMercifulCrap! posted:Nosedive is an excellent and beautiful episode. It and several other episodes are like perfect short films that I think film students should study. Nosedive is one where I feel like the idea’s been done before better and the episode didn’t really have anything to add to the conversation. Not that it’s bad, just that my reaction was mainly “...and that’s it?” I’m pretty sure all “people get ratings” stories end with the protagonist ending up a one and finally free.
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Jun 22, 2019 01:51
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Saucy_Rodent posted:Nosedive is one where I feel like the idea’s been done before better and the episode didn’t really have anything to add to the conversation. Not that it’s bad, just that my reaction was mainly “...and that’s it?” I’m pretty sure all “people get ratings” stories end with the protagonist ending up a one and finally free. And yeah, it’s frustrating that once something’s been done, the next time it’s done it has to be better.
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Jun 22, 2019 01:52
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Sleeveless posted:A guy working the gig economy takes a risky job he wouldn't normally take out of desperation, is further compromised into performing corporate espionage for a bigger payday, and both of these together ultimately end up making him die a horrible death that is immediately covered up in the name of protecting corporate interests. Yeah, no commentary on modern life and technology there. Fair enough. I guess the themes were obscured by the stupid horror scenes that took up 90% of the episode. I still think it sucked. The ending felt more like shock value/twist factor to me rather than making a clear point about the dangers of corporate espionage. I generally dislike horror as a genre so maybe that's why I disliked it so much. denzelcurrypower fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Jun 22, 2019 |
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Jun 22, 2019 02:16
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Having only watched each episode once a lot of the titles I am struggling to even remember what the hell happened minus White Christmas and San Junipero since they stuck with me really hard.
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Jun 22, 2019 02:31
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I probably would have liked Nosedive more if the Meow Meow Beanz episode of Community hadn't come before it. I still really liked Nosedive but it was a little hard to take seriously after that.
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Jun 22, 2019 03:52
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Sleeveless posted:I love the weird xenophobic panic people have about China basically having a slightly less outdated version of a credit score. Like in America whether you can own property or even get life-saving medical care is based on a totally arbitrary point system managed by three separate companies that have zero oversight or transparency and have experienced massive public security compromises and full scales leaks of personal information and we currently require immigrants to give us the logins of all their social media accounts to even allow them in the country, we should really take care of our own poo poo before descending into yellow peril You know not everyone on SA is American right? Some of us are troubled by poo poo going on in both America and China, and xenophobia has nothing to do with it.
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Jun 22, 2019 05:26
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Sleeveless posted:A guy working the gig economy takes a risky job he wouldn't normally take out of desperation He's a guy with enough money to travel around the world who is mildly inconvenienced.
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Jun 22, 2019 07:27
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Saucy_Rodent posted:Nosedive is one where I feel like the idea’s been done before better and the episode didn’t really have anything to add to the conversation. Not that it’s bad, just that my reaction was mainly “...and that’s it?” I’m pretty sure all “people get ratings” stories end with the protagonist ending up a one and finally free. What else has done the concept before Nosedive other than Community? I'm not a huge fan of Community but I don't hate it. I just watched the MeowMeowBeenz episode for the first time. It's uh, fine and all. I'd never say it somehow did the concept better than Nosedive.
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Jun 22, 2019 19:48
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Recess of all things did it too. Somebody mentioned something else as well. Somebody had early morning Cartoon Network on once and I saw some kids show also do it. It’s... pretty common. And yeah, Community did it first down to “the higher your rating the more your rating counts” and had fun with it, so when Black Mirror tried to take it seriously without really adding anything to the conversation, it just came off as pretentious. I absolutely believe that Meowmeowbeenz is the superior TV episode.
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Jun 22, 2019 20:07
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SweetMercifulCrap! posted:What else has done the concept before Nosedive other than Community?
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Jun 22, 2019 20:24
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Xealot posted:I really disliked "Playtest," but my reason is that the 'twist' involves the technology failing. I loved Playtest, but yeah, I agree. The ending is pretty weak, and this is a good read as to why. As a huge fan of horror, though, it's a fantastically crafted horror movie for like 95% of the runtime, which is good enough for me. And despite the ending twist being a bit of an eye-roller, I do like the note that his phone only rang because he'd avoided calling his mother, and the Tales from the Crypt-esque ironic sting of "called: Mom" being jotted down in his death report.
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Jun 22, 2019 20:56
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asecondduck posted:I probably would have liked Nosedive more if the Meow Meow Beanz episode of Community hadn't come before it. MeowMeowBeanz was more better and more prescient because it focused specifically on how everyone chasing trends to try and match the popular people spiraled out into absurdity (popular user getting mustard spilled on them at lunch is magnified into people smearing themselves in yellow paint much like how kids liking Frozen and nursery rhymes eventually morphed into incomprehensible machine-made YouTube videos) while Nosedive did the opposite and tried to paint mundane things people already do like sharing pictures of their meals or giving a place a bad review because the staff was rude as if they were a boot stamping on a human face forever.
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Jun 22, 2019 21:26
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I think both episodes have the same thing to say, but MeowMeowBeenz took the concept to absurd heights for the sake of laughs. Nosedive took everything that we already do and amplified it to it's logical extreme and it made you really feel the anxiety the main character was feeling and how terrifying having to be 100% "on" at all times would really be. I find Nosedive to be one of the more unsettling episodes because it turns everyday mundane things into a source of extreme pressure and anxiety. It's also beautifully shot and cinematic.
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Jun 22, 2019 22:01
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MeowMeowBeanz also has the disadvantage that you know it's all wacky hijinks and will be back to normal by next episode, whereas Nosedive is just... how society is in that setting.
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Jun 24, 2019 16:11
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Not much discussion of Smithereens in the last few pages but I thought it had a serious suckerpunch in that by the end he dies and the situation is resolved, and then they show everyone just clicking on to the next thing on the phone. Swipe, swipe, swipe, never looking away. Something about that message "And nobody gave a gently caress" says something and to me was the real point of the episode. I mean, "facebook bad" is one message, but I see people next to me in traffic reading their phones while piloting 4000 lb missiles. People actually can't put that poo poo down in real life and actually kill people because of it. And an entire episode of someone agonizing over killing someone they love due to not being able to put their phone down has absolutely no impact on whether or not people put their phones down, both in the story and in real life. I'd say that's a masterful twist, even though it's quick and subtle.
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Jun 25, 2019 00:00
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LloydDobler posted:Not much discussion of Smithereens in the last few pages but I thought it had a serious suckerpunch in that by the end he dies and the situation is resolved, and then they show everyone just clicking on to the next thing on the phone. Swipe, swipe, swipe, never looking away. Something about that message "And nobody gave a gently caress" says something and to me was the real point of the episode. Absolutely. The in-credits scenes are crucial to the real point of the episode. The guy thought that by pulling off something this drastic and desperate that he might make an impact, but in the end it was just more noise that people scrolled past. The social media companies have the pull and information of the CIA. Billy Baur feigned just enough interest to try and save the guy, but we can't really be sure if he cared about the guy's life at all or only his own image. It is "Facebook bad" but I think a pretty great take on it.
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Jun 25, 2019 00:14
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Billy clearly did care, which sucks because Zuck and Jack most certainly would not. It's dishonest.
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Jun 25, 2019 00:20
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Smithereens only it's him holding a radio DJ hostage after he got into a car accident because he was changing radio stations. Smithereens only he's holding a worker hostage on a billboard because a billboard distracted him.while he was driving. Smithereens only he's holding a glass blower hostage because a particularly distracting neon sign caught his eye. Smithereens only he's holding an auto worker hostage because his wife couldn't have died in a car accident if cars didn't exist. Smithereens only he's holding himself hostage because he was distracted by a daydream while driving.
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Jun 25, 2019 00:43
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Smithereens really is stupid. "drat you Ben and Jerry! If I hadn't had my ice cream fall in my lap she'd still be alive!"
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Jun 25, 2019 01:58
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LloydDobler posted:Not much discussion of Smithereens in the last few pages but I thought it had a serious suckerpunch in that by the end he dies and the situation is resolved, and then they show everyone just clicking on to the next thing on the phone. Swipe, swipe, swipe, never looking away. Something about that message "And nobody gave a gently caress" says something and to me was the real point of the episode. Why would anyone give a gently caress? In-story, no one other than the Smithereen guy actually knew why he was holding the employee hostage, and even with that knowledge, the hostage taker admitted that his accident was his own fault and had barely anything to do with the app itself. He could have been distracted on the road doing literally anything, like texting a friend or drinking or looking in a glove compartment. You could tell the same exact story 30 years ago but have the guy hold an intern at the Budweiser factory hostage for causing him to get in a car accident and it would be just as good a takedown of the alcohol industry (as in, not at all). Between the twist that absolves Smithereen of responsibility and the CEO being a normal person with empathy, the episode is weirdly lenient towards social media companies.
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Jun 25, 2019 03:15
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Yeah no the guy accidentally killing his wife from looking at his phone is not the main point of the episode
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Jun 25, 2019 03:55
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SweetMercifulCrap! posted:Yeah no the guy accidentally killing his wife from looking at his phone is not the main point of the episode The entire story revolves around it and treats it like this massive twist revelation. If it wasn't the main point of the episode, why not illustrate that point with something less distractingly stupid? Or better yet, make the episode about something more cutting than "facebook bad because people look at phone too much"?
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Jun 25, 2019 04:39
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Sleeveless posted:Smithereens only it's him holding a radio DJ hostage after he got into a car accident because he was changing radio stations. Smithereens only it's his wife spending more time and energy on social media ruining their relationship and getting depressed at not being able to have the instagram lifestyle and killing herself. He keeps his moral high ground essential to being a sympathetic character whilst being an arsehole and focus' more clearly on the boogeyman you're hoping to portray. Admitedly this means it feels much more like a (increasingly) maudlin remake of Nosedive, so.... Smithereens only he's a whale for the latest game of thrones online pay to win money extractor and ruins his life this way. Of course this means it's much harder to make him sympathetic, perhaps a few scenes inside the game company with execs blithely talking about psychological manipulation and some put upon code monkey saying "this isn't fun! It's just designed to exploit the vulnerable"
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Jun 25, 2019 05:28
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Okay yeah it is the big reveal of the episode and a little disappointing but “Facebook bad because people look at their phones too much” is not the main, or at least only message. The entire rest of it is hammering home the terrifying power and efficiency the social media companies yield. The ending shows how we all know this and recognize it as a problem but nothing will ever happen because we’ll all just keep scrolling anyway. I’m also not saying it’s super deep, but it’s more than “stop looking at phone.” I enjoyed it regardless of the message because I felt the way the story unfolded was compelling and interesting (if slightly too drawn out).
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Jun 25, 2019 05:29
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SweetMercifulCrap! posted:Absolutely. The in-credits scenes are crucial to the real point of the episode. The guy thought that by pulling off something this drastic and desperate that he might make an impact, but in the end it was just more noise that people scrolled past. The social media companies have the pull and information of the CIA. Billy Baur feigned just enough interest to try and save the guy, but we can't really be sure if he cared about the guy's life at all or only his own image. Why do shows put scenes in/after the credits? I missed this and I imagine I’m not the only one. Why hide important scenes where half your audience will miss them and half the point of the episode with them?
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Jun 25, 2019 07:57
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Wafflecopper posted:Why do shows put scenes in/after the credits? I missed this and I imagine I’m not the only one. Why hide important scenes where half your audience will miss them and half the point of the episode with them? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrm2dj6bIU0
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Jun 25, 2019 08:07
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Wafflecopper posted:Why do shows put scenes in/after the credits? I missed this and I imagine I’m not the only one. Why hide important scenes where half your audience will miss them and half the point of the episode with them? Netflix never takes over the screen until there are no more scenes, so if the credits start and it doesn't go to the "Play next episode?" screen, keep watching.
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Jun 25, 2019 09:13
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That reminds me, a little over a year ago I remember watching a series, and the screen minimized in Netflix while the episode still had over a minute to go. I think it was Arrow but not 100% sure. Now that was annoying.
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Jun 25, 2019 11:49
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SweetMercifulCrap! posted:Netflix never takes over the screen until there are no more scenes, so if the credits start and it doesn't go to the "Play next episode?" screen, keep watching. It still makes little sense to me that post-credits scenes exist. Either put the scenes in the movie/show or don't. 
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Jun 25, 2019 12:20
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:It still makes little sense to me that post-credits scenes exist. Either put the scenes in the movie/show or don't. It's a way to encourage people to sit through the credits, and also a fun way to get one final joke in. The Venture Bros has always done post-credit scenes. I believe that Black Mirror does them because it serves as a reminder that the themes and ideas of the episodes extend from the fictional universe of the show into real life.
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Jun 25, 2019 12:46
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well that answers my question quite conclusively and was also really entertaining, thanks
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Jun 25, 2019 14:03
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Ok, where have I heard that theme for 'A history of corners' before? The piano + strings one. EDIT: nm, found it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E3znZoFnN8 EDIT 2: aaaand this is where I know it from -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_and_Max Rupert Buttermilk fucked around with this message at 14:27 on Jun 25, 2019 |
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Jun 25, 2019 14:15
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Smithereens should have had you more worried not because people can touch a phone too much and crash a car but because: * Social media basically knows everything about you and is trained to look at that data to make more accurate and targeted judgements than actual law enforcement * Police detective work is basically replaced by better/less law-entangled corporate surveillance as it's just like "yea we're playing his favorite songs at him to calm him down, meanwhile we're illegally listening to his mic - here we'll patch it into your phone" Should a company basically be snooping on your motivations and activities so closely? Are these good things or what if social media but too much? If your bro could look like Mantis from Guardians and you could have solid asian abs would you up up down left A?
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Jun 25, 2019 18:18
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The scenes aren't even "post-credits", they start literally 2 seconds after the first credit appears on screen.  Are y'all rushing to exit out as quickly as possible as soon as a name appears or something?
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Jun 25, 2019 19:59
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Ya generally when a show does a slow long shot followed by black screen and credits I stop watching. How is that surprising? Anyway, I realized after EP 1 and went back so it's not a big deal or anything. It's not like Marvel movies where people know it's a thing and expect it so I think a bit of confusion at first is understandable?
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Jun 27, 2019 17:48
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Ornithology posted:Ya generally when a show does a slow long shot followed by black screen and credits I stop watching. How is that surprising? Considering how soon the episode resumes after the first credit appears, you would basically have to LUNGE for the "play next" button.
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Jun 27, 2019 18:09
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Yeah, Netflix plays next after what, 8 seconds at the most or something? I don't even bother reaching for my controller unless I want to stop the next play due to wanting to hear the ending music or something.
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Jun 27, 2019 23:04
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Fair enough I guess. First episode was pretty crappy. I was tired and turned off the TV as soon as it went to black. Not a big deal
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Jun 28, 2019 06:33
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Episode 7 (Better Wold) of Bobcat Goldthwait’s Misfits & Monsters is a better BM episode than all of Season 5 
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