Figure 1: Black Mirror – Bandersnatch (Source: La Reclame, 2018)
Life: are we really in control of our actions?
Bandersnatch (2018) directed by David Slade and written by Charlie Brooker is an episode from the series Black Mirror by Netflix, and it is an interactive choose-your-own action style show in which the audience makes the decisions for the character.
The story is set in 1984 and is about Stefan, a disturbed young game programmer, that starts to question his free will when developing his computer game based on the book Bandersnatch. The player would control its choices within the game, and each choice leads into a different direction that determines how the story progresses.
Stefan takes his game to a software company to release it. However, the more he develops the game, the more his life emulates the game. Because the audience watching the episode makes Stefan’s choices, he feels losing control over his life, and as the episode goes on, he becomes increasingly insane.
He realises someone is controlling him, and eventually, snaps. When he accepts it, he looks up as speaking to the audience because he knows someone else is deciding his future decisions. Despite our decisions on Colin’s action, we can only end with one of the twelve possible endings known so far.
The film touches in a particularly intriguing topic which is destiny. Do we have our lives predestined? If yes, should we wait and conform with it? If not, do we have any power within our actions for our future and therefore our destiny?
Two characters are crucial to represent each side of the argument. Colin (Will Poulter) embodies the determinism theory, and Dr Haynes (Alice Haynes), Stefan’s therapist symbolises the free will.
The determinism theory stands that all behaviour has a cause with internal or external forces in which we have no control over and is thus predictable.
Colin has a monologue while tripping on drugs with Stefan that explains the plot of the story.
He is continuously questioning his power over his choices. Colin is a firm believer that free will is an illusion, and just like PACMAN, the game, we are trap in a system that controls us, and thereby we cannot escape.
On the other hand, there is Dr Haynes that believes Stefan has the free will to decide his faith. Free will theory stands for the idea that we are free to choose our behaviour and that we are self-determined. Psychologists who take this perspective suggest that the determinism theory retracts the dignity and uniqueness of human beings by taking them control over their lives.
Some people were disappointed with the episode because they could not reach a happy ending (either Stefan dies, go to prison or scores poorly with his game which is dead for Stefan’s spirit).
“The closest we get is the train ending, which is bittersweet and sort of melancholy”. In this case, Stefan still dies, but the audience at least has the choice to kill him together with his mother on the train. There were even people who were upset they could not fix Stefan’s life. These reactions denote how well the Production and the story are to absorb and engage the audience with it.
Throughout the episode, we choose Stefan’s actions, but we are not in control of anything as it ends in one of the already predicted endings. If we reach a dead-end in the story, we have to go back and change our choice. As a matter of fact, we do not have real control over the options and all is just a game.
The episode teaches the audience that our actions have consequences, but unlike Netflix, in real life, we cannot go back to change our decisions so we must choose wisely.
Reference List:
Internet Movie Database (2018) Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9495224/ [Accessed: 25 November 2019].
Sjef van Leeuwen (2019) Black Mirror – Bandersnatch (Colin’s speech about the PAC-man metaphor). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3qxWbQ8qek [Accessed: 25 November 2019].
Strause, J. (2019) ‘Black Mirror’ Duo on the Challenges of Netflix’s First Interactive Movie — and Why They Would Do It Again. The Hollywood Reporter. Available at: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/black-mirror-team-complexity-bandersnatch-netflix-data-1213270 [Accessed at: 25 November 2019]
McLeod, S. (2019). Freewill vs determinism. Simply Psychology. Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/freewill-determinism.html [Accessed at: 25 November 2019]
LaReclame (2018) Bandersnatch. [Online image] Available at: https://lareclame.fr/netflix-bandersnatch-tuckersoft-211844 [Accessed at: 12 December 2019]
Bustle (2019). 17 Creepy ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’ Moments That’ll Make You Regret Pressing Play. [Online image]. Available at: https://www.bustle.com/p/17-creepy-black-mirror-bandersnatch-moments-thatll-make-you-regret-pressing-play-15722294 [Accessed: 12 December 2019].
Mxdwn.com (2018). ‘Black Mirror Bandersnatch’ Trailer Dropped & Details Revealed. [Online image]. Available at: https://movies.mxdwn.com/news/black-mirror-bandersnatch-trailer-dropped-details-revealed/ [Accessed: 12 December 2019].
RITA LIMÃO 