This week we had a film screening from Black Mirror titled
“White Bear”. In the beginning, we are
presented with Victoria, a woman who wakes up in an apartment alone with no
recollection of what she is doing there. Based on the bandages on her wrist and
the pills on the floor we can conclude that she is recovering from an attempted
suicide. She wakes up to a society who has been brainwashed into filming
everything as bystanders, where only a few are immune. She and two others are
being hunted by individuals who find pleasure in torture while others watch. Her
companion plans to destroy “White Bear”, the facility that holds the unwanted
transmitted signal. We are asked to sympathize with someone who is just like a
lost child in need of saving. But then the story changes, turns out Victoria
was the accomplice for the murder of a child. The child she assumed was hers
was murdered by her husband while she filmed it. The country was outraged,
Victoria’s husband committed suicide, and she is tortured every day in “White
Bear” (a “justice” park). This is a scenario where the crime committed equals
the punishment. Just like the child, Victoria is being recorded by strangers
while she is being terrorized.
This all
concludes to a film that poses more questions than answers. Is this truly
justice and can she really learn her lesson? Victoria cannot repent for what she
did when every night her memory is being erased. Her mind has been erased so
many times that the crime is barely a memory, if that. Because her memory has
been fried, is she even the same person that she once was? I would argue that
she is. While she may have no memory, her body and soul are still the same.
Throughout the film, she shows tendency that are still self-centered, like when
she left the guy behind in the store without looking back. Most important, is
this form of punishment ethical and an intentional injustice? What happens to
those who watch her torture? They are
told to “enjoy yourself” as if it were a theme park. The audience (adults and
children) is paying to be there, and they seem to be indifference to her
torture. By witnessing, and taking
pleasure form her suffering, they are no better than Victoria. While it is
profitable for the park owners they cannot continue this forever. Eventually
her body will not be able to keep up with the physical and mental abuse. “White Bear” = a punishment worse than death
Inspired by the Moors murders in the 1960s
Link: The Moors Murders
4 comments:
I agree that her mind can only take so much mind erasing, but I think that she isn't the same person once her mind is erased. She only showed selfish tendencies because she thought it was a survival situation. Other than that, she was a completely new person.
I agree with the fact that its wrong for these people to have pleasure from her torture. That park is so bad! regardless if its a punishment, i think its wrong for other to have pleasure from that.
I agree that "White Bear" Park is a bad environment for the children. They are basically encouraging pleasure in torture. I don't think this punishment is ethical at all. I believe that she was a different person from the moment they erased her memory but you are right that her body will probably not be able to take it any longer.
yes you are right in many aspects but after this situation, she is not the same person. Even if she change a little, is a change and with this much trauma she certainty did. also jasmine is right, when she does the selfish did , it was done out of survival. People do that all the time and is being proven" the good Samaritan" experiment is the prove to that. people are prone to help according to circumstances and risking your life is not one of them.
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