Teddy Bear Justice

            The term “an eye for an eye” holds new meaning in the second episode of season 2 of Black Mirror, entitled “White Bear”. The episode starts with a woman waking up in a chair, seeming to be heavily drugged, with spilled pills in front of her. On the television screen in front of her, a geometric symbol appears. She stares at her reflection momentarily, realizing she doesn’t know any major details of her life, like her name, family or friends. She sees a framed picture of a girl, and goes into momentary shock, since the photo slightly jarred her memory. She then notices the same geometric logo on the TV downstairs, and proceeds to leave the house. She eventually notices several people recording her on their phones, but none of them answer her when she asks for help finding out who she is. After a few moments, a masked man armed with a shotgun arrives, and starts firing at her. As she frantically runs away, a mob of bystanders recording her forms. She eventually finds a few allies, but only one survives the initial chase from the man with the shotgun. As the woman and her new ally, Jem, find temporary shelter in a ransacked house, Jem explains how this situation came to be so dire. Apparently, the geometric signal appeared on every electronic device, including phones, televisions, and practically anything else with internet access. The people who seem to be brainwashed, and record any torment administered by the murderers, have all seen this symbol in one way or another. Jem hatches a plan to destroy the transmitter at a town called “White Bear” to stop the signal from getting out, hopefully reversing the effects of the brainwashing. As their attackers finally find them, they are rescued by a man in a truck, and while driving, Jem reveals their plan. When the protagonist hears the term “White Bear”, her memory is once again jarred, this time more vividly. She remembers a scene with the little girl who had been in the framed picture when she first woke up, with the girl playing with a white bear. The woman regards this memory as a bad omen. Also, she states that she somehow recognizes the man who drove her. He drives the two to a forest, where he double crosses the two, forcing them to bend to his will at gunpoint. He leads them to a part of the forest where people have seemingly been killed in many different sadistic ways, such as crucifixion. As the man is about to kill the woman, Jem rescues her, and kills the man with his own gun. The two then depart for the transmitter, while the woman is bombarded with memories flooding back into her mind. When the two reach the tower, they realize it has cameras, and therefore their attackers will arrive soon. The two manage to find the control room, only to be found by their attackers. The woman manages to take the shotgun away from one of attackers, only to realize it shoots confetti. This is where the story gets interesting.

            One of the walls of the control room opens to reveal an auditorium, where an audience is already applauding. The woman is then strapped to a chair, and then Jem, their two attackers, and the man who Jem “killed” are all present. The four then explain to the woman that her name is Victoria, and the girl in the photo was kidnapped by her and her fiancée, who tortured and burned the child, while Victoria watches and recorded. It is revealed that her fiancée committed suicide to escape punishment. Victoria is forcefully taken back to the house she woke up in, and attached to a decide that very painfully erases her memories, only leaving the fragments she had at the beginning of the episode.

            My take on this episode is that it makes us ask questions about what the purpose of justice is. To me personally, if any portion of its purpose is rehabilitation, then this system is completely ineffective, since they erase her memory at the end of the day. Therefore, the only time she’d ever feel any remorse would be after it’s revealed who she is. If the purpose of justice is merely “an eye for an eye” punishment, then this system could be considered more effective, since all the people videotaping her torture mirrored her videotaping the child’s torture. Honestly, our justice system is a mix of the two. The rehabilitation portion of a prison sentence, for example, would be however long it takes for a person to truly feel remorse for their crime and change their ways, and any additional time would be for punishment’s sake.