The “Waldo Moment” that was used in the black mirror episode
was eerily familiar to many Americans. The Waldo moment consisted of a bear on
a TV screen that started out as a comical relief to politics. As the popularity
of the show and the bear named Waldo grew, the people behind Waldo got more
serious. Slowly Waldo’s team thinks of actually running for parliament. Waldo
started out as a gag to get tv ratings and actually ended up coming in second
place in the race for parliament.
One may see
an interesting similarity between Waldo and now President-elect Donald Trump.
When Donald Trump announced he would run for president in the 2016 election no
one seemed to take him seriously. Especially after outlandish claims he made
regarding building a wall on America’s southern border in order to prevent
illegal immigration. Trump started out as a man who just called out all of the
political muck going on in the government and its representatives. Like Waldo,
Trump came out in an unorthodox fashion in order to stir the pot of this years
election and he is quoted saying, “if it were not for me, we would not even be
talking about immigration or and of the serious issues going on in this
country.” Trump exclaims that without him the candidates would not even be
dealing with serious issues. No one took Donald Trump serious when he announced
his running but his unorthodox, muckraking style caught wind and the attention
of millions of voters, which is what eventually happened with Waldo.
What the
people behind Black Mirrors where trying to play into was the way Donald Trump
came up into the election. They showed Waldo inciting violence at one of his
“rallies” as Trump was accused of, they had Waldo use Trump’s vulgar and
mocking rhetoric, and how Trump was anti-government in a way by calling out the
corruption of Liam Monroe.
To me, Black mirrors had one very
interesting note, the end of show. At the end of the show, Waldo was seemingly
everywhere as a political figurehead. The interesting part of the ending is the
possibility that people moving forward will try to duplicate Trump’s method of
getting popularity and votes in the future. So instead of one “Waldo” reigning
supreme, there will be a new generation of politicians who do not dance around
the problems but call them out. A Spade a Spade.
3 comments:
"The Waldo Effect" episode came out almost 4 years ago. Do you think that instead of the Black Mirror team using Trump as a model for a character, the people behind the Trump team modeled their candidate after Waldo? Isn't it interesting how television is 'predicting' our future.
John,
This blog shows a great comparison between the build up of Waldo along side the President-Elect Trump. I like how you point out the rallies during Waldo's appearances along with Trump's rallies and how they both included things like basically bringing up the things no one wants to talk about and violence happening at both as well. You're conclusion is also great with showing that this new generation of political outlook that we now have is calling the shots like they are and how this trend has all come from one man who wanted to not just do a "campaign" but start a movement.
John I absolutely think your title for this passage is very fitting. When you started to break down the exact similarities of Trump is this years presidential election and Waldo in the film, it showed really showed how the old tv show actually highlighted the prediction of someone coming into place to call out the problems of the current political system. I believe that this election and Waldo truly show the more common outlook of Americans for someone who is truly against the standard political guidelines.
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