Jocelyn Castillo

Gina Srmabekian
English 114B
Public vs. Private in Black Mirror
Black Mirror, is a drama/ thriller show that implicates the relationship
technology/power and public/private have through a series of episodes that are different each
time. In Black Mirror, the episodes that integrate these concepts most, would be Fifteen
Million Merits and Entire History of You, through the use of visual rhetoric. Two articles that
further explain the concepts of public/private would be The Communist Manifesto by Marxist
and Engles, and Discipline and Punish, Panopticsim by Michel Foucault. The Marxist point of
view and the panoptical theory applies to our society through the use of technology, therefore
people should subvert the power technology has over ones privacy, by disconnecting themselves
from the media every once in a while, in order to produce a sense of control over their own life.
Fifteen Million Merits and The Communist Manifesto both have a dichotomous society,
in which technology plays an important role in the separation of classes. To start with, both
Fifteen Million Merits and The Communist Manifesto show the separation of classes with one
having everything, and the other having nothing. As Marxist likes to call them, the bourgeoisie
and the proletariats. Fifteen Million Merits shows the lower class riding electric bicycles, in
order to produce merits for a living. Dramatic irony is used in order for the audience to know that
the upper class in this episode are not shown but the audience is to assume that they are the
people who own the large building where the lower class works and lives. From a Marxist
perspective, one may argue that the working class in this episode, are shown as working slaves in

which they are not working to achieve any personal goal. In other words, the upper class, know
they can control the lower classes, by creating this idea, that if they work for something, they
will continue to work harder to achieve better. This thing they are working for, in Fifteen
Million Merits would be merits. The use of technology creates merits, and these merits are
inorganic sources that the upper class use as tools to control this society. According to the
Marxist lens, technology, in The Communist Manifesto is shown to be as important as the merits
in this episode. Marxist and Engles state:
the bourgeoisie has at last, since the establishment of modern industry and of
the world market, conquered for itself, in the modern representative state, exclusive
political sway has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked
self-interest, than callous cash payment It has resolved personal worth into exchange
value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that
single, unconscionable freedom Free Trade. (pg 37)
In other words, the means of production and the product, money, are far greater and more
important than people, in a capitalist society. Similar to society today, the means of production
would be people purchasing technology, in order to fit in with the rest of society. To be specific,
the idea that phones are a product individuals cannot live without because they have all these
cool updates that help people save time and energy. People following this simple trend, tend to
spend money on devices that are most likely distracting them from doing their work. As
technology is advancing people are becoming less productive and they are also depending on
these devices to improve their lives.
In the Marxist lens, Fifteen Million Merits brings out the importance of self-worth and
self-control through revolution. In Fifteen Million Merits, Bing states, The peak of our

dreams is a new hat for our doppel, a hat that doesnt exist. Its not even there, we buy shit thats
not even there. Show us something real and free and beautiful, you couldnt. Going back to the
idea that people are working for something, in order to improve their lives. This quote further
breaks down this something, by stating that this something is just an idea. Physically this
something is nothing, but ideally it is everything some people live for. Some people take them
in as morals and values. The idea that there is something worth working for, is just an illusion
people place in their minds in order to free themselves from the imprisonment of reality. People
know their lack of power in society, therefore they hide it by not standing up for themselves.
Bing standing up for himself on stage, in front of live cameras, shows ethos and pathos. This
visual rhetoric shows ethos by referring back to the doppel, or the avatars, that the capital has
created in order for people to be distracted into thinking that they are treating themselves from
their hard work, by purchasing a hat for their characters. This method makes the lower class
believe that they have power over themselves by having the ability to express themselves. This
method also isolates individuals from the rest of the world. This is important to consider, because
in todays technology, there are such things as avatars. There are games and social media sites
where you can create your own character and personal profile, and feel like you have personal
power. People have the ability to not use devices, and instead better themselves personally.
Disconnecting oneself from these devices truly gives people their own self-control. This act in
the episode, also shows pathos. The viewer is alerted by the words, and may feel the will of
representing oneself in a society. Words are much stronger than electronic messages. Electronic
messages such as Siri cannot reproduce emotions like humans, therefore people should not allow
technology to isolate one. While watching the show, the viewer is in the main characters shoes,
and feels the motivation and emotion into Bings words. These devices used, give the show a

greater perspective to the viewer about technology and the roles it takes on todays era. With so
much attention given to technology, people tend to forget that there are people watching
everything they are doing online. Privacy is a powerful tool one must preserve, in order to
consider having power over themselves.
Fifteen Million Merits, also follows the Foucault lens described in Discipline and
Punish, Panoptisim. The theory states, The inmate must never know whether he is being
looked at at any one moment; but he must be sure that he may always be so to put beggars and
idlers to work. This theory is applied to the specific shape described in the article, the
panopticon structure that is used in prisons, schools, hospitals in order for the people in power to
watch over the inmates. Although not all buildings are in this specific shape, one can argue that
the world is simply its own panopticon. In other words, technology implies this theory perfectly
by not allowing one to freely enjoy their devices without someone watching what they are doing.
Someone may not post a comment online, because this post will never be deleted. In a similar
fashion, Fifteen Million Merits, follows this theory in multiple different factors. For example
in Fifteen Million Merits, the working class has to deal with waking up in a room full of
screens, with inorganic images such as a fake cry from a rooster, the image of a bright yellow sun
and green grass. This lack of nature creates the sense of imprisonment. Even with the bright
lights the screens produce, inorganic cannot reproduce organic. The show uses visual rhetoric to
portray lack of privacy, and its symbol of power over the people. The room lacks privacy
because the moment the individual is awake the screens ask if they would like to watch or not to
watch television, if they do not want to want to watch something they get merits taken away
from this. This is a sign of lack of privacy because technology is watching them at every
moment. This is also a sign of power because the individuals do not get to choose what they want

to do without a consequences at stake. The consequence in this show is the subtraction of merits,
therefore these people would have to work harder in order to gain merits.
Relative to the discourse, technology creators would be the bourgeoisie and the people
who use technology constantly would be the working class. In other words, technology sucks up
most of an individuals time, and it prevents the individual from proceeding with their life and
enjoying it. To be specific, many people spend most of their time sharing and liking stuff on
social media. This source of distraction takes away time, and it also empowers the individuals
mind to think that they are involved with the real world. Sharing and liking stuff on social media,
causes people to lack privacy because they are exposing everything they are doing online. Also,
when someone goes online, there are companies watching everything that they are doing, in
order to share ads with them in order to get the consumers to purchase products online. The
voluntary act of using technology creates a cycle that will never end and it will not allow
someone to free themselves from the technology world. This is why technology was created. In
order for people to believe that technology is being advanced in order to make the lives of the
working class easier, but it was also made for the upper class to control these people and keep
them from being productive in their lives. The only solution people have, would be to disconnect
themselves from technology every once in a while and go out and enjoy their time. Not using
technology for a while will allow people to relax their mind and simply subvert technology from
overpowering the lives of people. Privacy will not be guaranteed, but the person knowing that
they are not allowing other sources to know exactly what the person is doing, will give the
person a sense of empowerment and keep control of their life.
Another episode from Black Mirror that portrays technology as a method of power and
lack of privacy would be Entire History of You. In this episode, everyone has a memory

implant in their brain that removes them from the rest of the society when replaying their
memories. This episode is different from Fifteen Million Merits because it involves future
technology. Technology, in this episode plays the role of the theory of panopticsm. For example,
in Entire History of You, Liam sees the way his wife looks at her ex-boyfriend while they are
at a friends dinner. Later on in the show, he replays this scene and he creates conclusions based
on her actions. This is an example of the theory of panopticsim being portrayed through
technology. He is watching everyones actions during dinner, but focuses on hers, and because he
has the power to go see his memory, he has evidence to support his claim. Technology also plays
a role in lack of privacy because later on in the episode Liam forces his wife to replay the last
intercourse she had with her ex-boyfriend, in order to assure his claims. The emotional stress that
technology has caused Ffion, when being forced to show someone their past, comes to show the
amount of power technology has over someone. This lack of power she has demonstrates how
technology can ruin someones life. There is no such thing as having privacy with a technology
based society. On the same note, in Discipline and Punish, Panopticsim, Foucault states,
Whenever one is dealing with a multiplicity of individuals on whom a task or a particular form
of behaviour must be imposed, the panoptic schema may be used. In the real world, technology
performs this action, by allowing the government, hackers, and other companies, to watch over
what one is doing online. People may think that nobody is watching what they are doing, which
is the universal goal of the creation of technology. It is important to consider how technology can
have an impact on someones behavior. Some people are too afraid of being seen, therefore they
act like robots and follow the rules of society. This is relevant to Fifteen Million Merits,
because the people riding the bicycles are obeying to their rules. They do the same thing each
day, and are too afraid of standing up for their freedom. On the other hand, there are those people

who dont care if people are watching. People should fear less about people watching, because it
is something that cannot be changed. People should do what they want to do. This quote uses
power within itself. It uses ethos by giving the people with authority instructions on what to do in
order to have authority. This quote is contradictory, because the people in power are
overpowered by someone elses idea. This is important to the discourse because people who do
not want to feel this lack of privacy need to disconnect themselves from technology in order to
have less sources looking over them. The solution that helped Liam separate himself from the
rest of the discourse, was to remove the memory implant. By doing so, he had the ability to free
his mind from the past, but also to free his mind from having other sources of authority view his
past.
In Entire History of You, technology takes a strong toll over the peoples lives, by not
allowing them to enjoy their life, without looking to the past. For example, when people look
back to their memories, their eyes are shown a light gray color, as if they are blinded. This is an
example of visual rhetoric. People are too busy using technology, and worrying about what other
people are doing, than looking to what is in front of them. For example, Ffion saves the videos to
when she was with her ex- boyfriend. Aside from Ffion having her own type of privacy, she also
had the ability to look back to the good times she had with someone else, that she did not see
Liam and his loyalty to her. Technology may save memories, but it may also stop someone from
moving on with their lives. The past should stay in the past.
Although technology is becoming a large impact in todays way of living, it does not
have to have so much power over someone. People have the ability to control, how much power
technology has over them. Both of these episodes and articles share the concepts of
technology/power and privacy/public. In order for the discourse to reduce this dominance, one

must limit technology to a certain extent in order for them to continue progressing in life and not
have to look back to what used to be. Privacy is not guaranteed, but people do not need to be
paranoid over not having privacy, because this is life in general. People should not always act
upon the rules given to them, because then they will be living up to someone elses standards.
Yes, people should know the importance of whats okay to put online and what is not okay. In
simple words, technology has an impact in society, yet people should enjoy what is in front of
them presently, and leave the past in the past. This will allow people to have their own personal
power.