To say the futuristic and dystopian episodes ofBlack Mirrorare far-fetched is to ignore the crux of what the show is trying to achieve. Sure, our society is not obtusely built on social media ratings like in “Nosedive,” nor do we have to churn out merits on bikes to make something of ourselves like in “Fifteen Million Merits,” but the underlying principles of these episodes expose different aspects of societal values and hypocrisies.
Now, when itcomes to an episode like “Men Against Fire,“where soldiers are literally blindly obedient to a government that is participating in genocide, we despair at the thought of any truth in that sentiment. Unfortunately, propaganda isn’t the only thing that links this episode to real life, asCharlie Brookerwrote the first draft of “Men Against Fire” after being directly inspired by a brutal war documentary, making the episode’s real-life associations all the more eerie.
“Men Against Fire” Was the First ‘Black Mirror’ Script Brooker Wrote
While “Men Against Fire” aired in the slot of Season 3, Episode 5 ofBlack Mirror, it was actually the first episode Brooker had ever written, where the first draft was called “Inbound,” which he explained inhis 2018 book,Inside Black Mirror. In the novel, he describes watching a 2010 documentary about the Iraq War calledThe War You Don’t SeebyJohn Pilger. “There was a lengthy sequence following a grieving mother around her house, in which she was subtitled throughout, describing how members of her family had been killed.” He recalls, “Usually you’d just glimpse a weeping relative for a two-second shot in a news report.This suddenly became more urgent and human.”
He was inspired by how real human loss and grief were presented in the documentary, unlike the sanitized version communicated through media outlets, where abstract terms made the news more palatable.This documentary never shied awayfrom the personal cost of death and war. As such, Brooker’s first draft was inspired by this bleak, uncompromising portrayal.“In this story, you thought an alien force was attacking Britain, but it turned out they were Norwegian,“Brooker describes. But, upon editing, the story was deemed “a bit heavy-handed and overly earnest, as well as quite humorless, given the subject matter.” So, the idea was tabled until Brooker revisited it and the narrative was turned into “Men Against Fire.”
What Is ‘Black Mirror’s “Men Against Fire” About?
When “Men Against Fire” arose, you can see where the parallels between Brooker’s experience watching this documentary and the episode lie.TheBlack Mirrorepisode revolves around a neural implant called MASS, used in soldiers, that distorts their perception, soinstead of seeing the civiliansthey were relentlessly killing, they see “roaches.” It also rewards the soldiers by giving them sweet dreams of women and an idyllic life, motivating them further. In the episode, the central character, Stripe (Malachi Kirby), has his implant fail during a mission, and slowly, he sees the real, human people they are killing and is horrified by it. Upon speaking to a therapist, Arquette (Michael Kelly), he is forced to choose between wiping his memory and getting his MASS fixed,or reliving the psychological traumaof the truth in an augmented reality loop.
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Brooker was inspired by the idea of digital desensitization, where the real-life counterpart to this would be how media outlets relay the news about warfare and how propaganda distorts perceptions of those involved (the public and young soldiers who don’t quite know what they signed up for) to allow for atrocities. This connection to reality is disturbing enough, but it’s made worse when you realize the term “roaches” was also inspired by real life.Brooker had read a news articlethat dubbed Middle-Eastern immigrants “cockroaches.” He was appalled by this, but also said, “I was definitely looking for a word that could be used as a racist or dehumanizing term to describe a whole group of people.” Even the most far-fetched, “alien” element to the episode had roots in real life.
“Men Against Fire” Goes Against ‘Black Mirror’s Usual Commentary
The fact that “Men Against Fire” has so many direct associations with real life is chilling enough, but what makes it worse is how the episode goes againstBlack Mirror’stypical commentary on the human condition. ManyBlack Mirrorepisodes unfold to reveal a foundation of evil or sadism at the core of humans, like in “White Bear,” where technology propagates an innate human desire for such a sadistic kind of criminal punishment. But here,technology is used to snuff out an innate human compassion that stops someone from killing another human.This is what Arquette uses as a justification for implementing MASS.
In turn, this calls into question the culpability of the government officials that approve of this kind of technology. Even though Stripe consented to the surgery, his reaction to finding out the truth certainly indicates that the younger, naive version of him didn’t really know what he was getting into.This once again relates back to propaganda, where authorities are able to get away with these kinds of decisions due to people not realizing the true, personal devastation of warwithout having experienced it themselves.
This back-and-forth relationship between technology and humans, where digital desensitization and the dehumanization of an entire group of people feed into each other, create a horrifying cycle that isn’t necessarily restricted to the military (before Stripe signed up, he was just a regular civilian after all). So,while thisBlack Mirrorepisodemay argue that we aren’t wholly evil,its links to reality are brutal enoughto still have a demoralizing impact.
Black Mirroris available to stream on Netflix.
Black Mirror
An anthology series exploring a twisted, high-tech multiverse where humanity’s greatest innovations and darkest instincts collide.
