In this episode of Black Mirror, a couple named Ash and Mar are living a typical life until a terrible accident occur that cause Mar to lose her significant other. As the show continues, she suffers a great loss but attempts to deal with her grief by replacing or copying a digital software of Ash or Robo-Ash as you may say. It starts off merely as a way to communicate with Ash to reduce the amount of pain she receives because of his death.
As matter of fact, I found the software very intriguing because of its capabilities to develop a more realistic form, as more information is fed to it. It first starts off gathering information from online sources such as social media but soon was open to other information as Mar gave it access to emails and private information. One aspect I find quite similar to Robo- Ash is the comparison of Mar being pregnant and Robo-Ash development. We all know and understand that a baby develops as you teach it or in Robo-Ash case, give it access to more information.
The first time Mar spoke on the phone with Robo-Ash it triggered a sense of attachment. Eventually, she took it to the next level creating a living android of him. She soon realizes this was a huge mistake because he only knew the information he was presented. He would act more like an Android then a human that was programmed to be more realistic. It seems quite confusing that she wants him to be more like Ash instead of Robo-Ash when he is essentially a software program. Robo-Ash would follow commands just like a robot or dog would do instead of acting on its own.
Also, the way she dealt with grieve throughout the episode was quite similar to where she lives. It seems as if she lives in a very isolated location far away from any source of society. The irony of her isolation and her way of dealing with grieve are very similar to each other. Instead of having her friends and family support her in her pain and sorrow, Robo-Ash was supposed to help her go through the pain. Sadly, Robo-Ash had some kinks in him that reduce the amount of realisticness.
Overall, the episode was quite interesting seeing Mar deal with the pain of her dead partner in a different form. The concept of Robo-Ash was interesting to see it fail but I believe the idea is truly a success but the task it was given in this episode was not quite the right task for this concept. Grieve should be dealt with family and friends that can provide moral support instead of looking for a replacement that causes more damage than good.
2 comments:
i agree with your last statement. I think she handled grief the wrong way. If anything, a very unhealthy way. It was clear she had a person to talk to if she ever needed. I think having Ash2 was a bad idea.
I never saw the connection between the way she dealt with her grief and where she lived. When I think about it, she was isolated from family and friends who are typically the people who are there to help you cope with their loss. That was a very insightful concept you brought up because I never would have thought about that!
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