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Sunday, April 8, 2018

Was it Worth it?

In the episode, White Bear, of the Black Mirror series, a woman named Victoria is essentially being punished for her participation in the kidnapping and murder of a little girl. Her punishment entails her being chased by people with weapons and also being followed around by people who are constantly recording her every move. In the film, she meets two people, Jem and Damien, at a gas station where they try to help her escape from a "hunter" who is out to kill her. When Jem and Victoria finally escape, they decide to hide in a house to make sure that no one is following them; There, they have a conversations where Jem mentions the word "white bear" which triggers Victoria's memory of the little girl who she believes is her daughter at the time as well as her fiancĂ©. Jem and Victoria find themselves in another jam when they catch a ride from Baxter who portrays to be a friend, but turns out to be a hunter and tries to kill them. In turn, Jem and Victoria escape, and they steals Baxter's van to go to the White Bear Transmitter; This is where Victoria ends up strapped to a chair and is presented to an audience; She is still confused about what's going on, so the person in charge of the show decides to inform her of her true identity. Victoria finds out that she recorded and watched her fiancĂ© tortured and burned a little girl. After finding out about her sinister doings, she is taken back home,  her memory is wiped, and  they make her watch the videos she took of the little girl, Jemima. This happens every single day! During the credits, it is revealed that she is being held in a place called White Bear Justice Park where people pay to be apart of her punishment by making sure that they follow her around throughout the day. In essence, her punishment entails doing to her what she did to Jemima. Was this punishment rehabilitative? I believe that it this punishment was not rehabilitative simply because her memory was wiped every night, so that when she woke up, the next morning, she wasn't aware of who she was or anything that she did. How can a punishment be rehabilitative when a person doesn't truly remember doing anything bad? In her mind, she did not know anything nor did she think she did anything wrong. Was this punishment just? I feel as though the punishment was good for a certain amount of time, but after a while, it kind of became a little too much. YES, the crime she committed was horrid and possibly one of the worst ever, however, I still believe that doing it repeatedly on a daily basis, was going a little to far. I mean, for the actors who played the roles of Jem, Damien, and Baxter, when will one of them eventually speak up and say that what they were possibly going a little too far? When will one of them get tired of torturing someone every single day possibly for the rest of their lives? Would torturing her eventually take a toll on the tortures?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i believe that the punishment will take a toll on the torturers eventually because i noticed near the end when Victoria and Jem were in front of the crowd, Jem seemed a bit uneasy with the cheering and laughing crowd. Jem may have had some remorse to a certain point.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with you! This punishment was not just. It was okay for a while, but eventually, it grew into something more.

Unknown said...

I don't believe the "torturers" will speak up against what is happening to Victoria because they believe she is getting what she deserves. Crimes against children are always seen as more heinous because children are considered innocent. I also believe the only reason she got this harsh of a punishment is that her boyfriend killed himself.