An Eye for an Eye

The punishment in White Bear is reminiscent of the old saying, “An eye for an eye.” While the punishments possible in the era this saying came about were limited, like a hand for a loaf of bread, technology has advanced greatly. Even more so in the Black Mirror series. This gives society more options in how to treat criminals, allowing the punishment to actually mirror the crime in certain situations. This saying, however, has always struck me as dangerous. While it was, and is, supposed to stand for law and justice, it is often used for revenge instead. I think this is what happened in White Bear. What was originally a punishment for a horrendous crime became a means of society getting revenge.

For it to go on for so long is unneeded and has little practical value. It is not teaching her the error of her ways, due to the mind wiping after each day, nor is it doing anything about the loss of the little girl. The only good the entire process could possibly be doing is giving an example to other would-be criminals. Similar to gladiatorial arenas, where prisoners of war and criminals would fight for the entertainment of others, this does nothing to fix the behavior of the individual forced to participate in the ‘punishment’.

I think this punishment would be a viable method of punishment if used correctly. Psychologically speaking, punishments are made effective through several qualifications. Firstly, one must know what they are being punished for. This is done in the movie when they explain why she just went through what she did. Secondly, the punishment has to be consistent. For this method to work on a societal level, there would have to be strict rules for when and where to employ this specific type of punishment that are equally enforced. The level of severity should also be kept constant for similar crimes. This means emotion cannot be involved in the decision for punishment. That is where Victoria’s sentence went wrong. She was punished to a level far beyond what her crime warranted due to the publicity of her crime. The “eye for an eye” argument was stretched to include society, instead of just the little girl it directly involved. Everyone wanted an eye as payment for the wrong that had been committed, and this blew the punishment way out of proportion.