The Psychology of Black Mirror: What “Joan is Awful” Says About Us All
Season Six of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror kicks off in style, ticking all the boxes that we’ve come to expect from the franchise, and then some. If you’ve not yet seen it, turn away now and come back later. Meanwhile the rest of us are likely suffering from that uniquely Black Mirror experience of being thrown into an uncanny world so close to our own that we can’t help but shudder with the thought, “that could be me.” In Joan is Awful there are at least three levels in which the uncanny is captured — technologically, philosophically, and psychologically. We’ll touch on all three here, but concentrate on the last.
Three Levels of Uncanny
On the technological level Black Mirror has despatched a whole volley of our contemporary tech fears in one go, allowing them to align synergistically in order to pack the strongest punch to undermine our sense of security in our rapidly changing world. In this single episode we are confronted with quantum computing, artificial intelligence, deep fakes, and ubiquitous surveillance to create “entertainment” based on our personal and private lives that is then streamed widely, almost in real time, to anyone who wants to consume it. Furthermore, it withdraws any possibility of defending ourselves as we’ve already agreed the terms and conditions…
