Author: jeony

We all know how “Black Mirror” is well known for its commentary on technology and depictions of dystopian futures. Being an episodic show, “Black Mirror” tells a complete story every episode, each with a beginning and end.

But whether you may have realized it or not, since its launch in 2011, the show has been building a complicated universe. By analyzing the easter eggs Charlie Brooker includes throughout the episodes, it’s clear how “Black Mirror” isn’t just a collection of standalone narratives. “Black Mirror” utilizes a mix of characteristics from serial television and more narratively complex shows to appeal to a large audience.

In season 6 alone, Charlie Brooker includes numerous easter eggs that indicate shared universes across episodes, making “Black Mirror” a narratively complex television show. For example, in episode one, “Joan is Awful,” Joan’s coworker Sandy receives a notification from an app called Smithereens, a social media app featured in Season 5, Episode 2, “Smithereens.” In another scene in the same episode, Joan is reading a newspaper with a sidebar titled “Grains Going Out of Style,” referencing the memory grain technology from Season 1, Episode 3, “The Entire History of You,” a device that records people’s memories to rewatch later.  

In episode 2, “Loch Henry,” a documentary called “Euthanasia: Inside Project Junipero” is mentioned by one of the characters. This is a reference to Season 3’s episode “San Junipero,” in which there is a project where people can choose to live in a simulated world after death. 

Through easter eggs, “Black Mirror” adds narrative depth to its episodic nature by allowing relationships between characters and episodes to develop, the more you watch the show. Piecing together the pieces and completing the puzzle to the universe in “Black Mirror” becomes part of the experience for fans, as they make connections between characters and technologies, birthing theories and predictions and creating a rich viewing experience for long time fans. “Black Mirror” not only appeals to audiences with episodes that give a satisfying beginning and end to each story, but also by creating room for audiences to analyze the complicated plot and connections made throughout the series. 

In my opinion, few television series have been able to achieve such massive success and popularity like Squid Game. Following Gi-Hun, a divorced middle-aged man who is addicted to sports gambling and struggles with debt, Squid Game centers around everyday characters like us, people who have problems and challenges and are sometimes just too tired of life. At its core, Squid Game is about ordinary people playing ordinary games, participating in a game of death to escape their mundane lives. 

Whether you may have realized it or not, this is actually the most central appeal of Squid Game. Exploring themes surrounding socio-economic status and intersectionality, Squid Game portrays the identities of the people of our society today that are each grappling with their own problems in life. Whether it is Gi-Hun and his debt, Sea-byeok and her attempts to find a new life outside of North Korea, or Abdul Ali grappling with his struggles as an impoverished immigrant worker, the players of Squid Game each come from different walks of life, yet all share one common thing: they don’t want to live like this anymore. There’s nothing special to it, just a relatable desire for a better life. 

Personally, I feel like Squid Game was such an important show to have been produced, especially given the context of Korean society. Being an extremely collectivist society with strong Confucius values and also being one of the most homogenous countries in the world, conversations about marginalized people and struggles are simply not talked about enough. In essence, I think Squid Game was so popular because it depicts ordinary people dealing with ordinary problems. 

By Yeseo Jeon

Love Island USA Season 3 is a reality TV show premiered on CBS on July 7, 2021. The show captures single men and women spending time together in a luxury villa in Hawaii as they try to find love. During their time, the islanders are presented with challenges and games to test their compatibilities with one another. The overall winning couple win a grand total of $100,000 and leave the island together.

Stuart Hall notes three hypothetical positions from which decodings of television can occur: dominant, negotiated, and oppositional narratives. Analyzing the three narratives for Love Island USA Season 3 can allow us to understand how the show functions and interacts with its audience.

First, a dominant position of decoding would encompass the decode of formal and ideological concepts with the encoder’s intent. In the case of Love Island, a viewer may understand that the show is about single men and women trying to find true love as they overcome challenges and games together. The viewer would also understand the entertainment that lies in the psychological and social dynamics on the island and relate to the reflections of real life scenarios in a more intensified setting. For example, the audience would recognize the show’s exploration of intimacy, cheating, compatibility, communication issues, alliances, and relationships. When Cashay is heartbroken over Cinco’s inability to choose between Trina and her throughout the show, the viewer feels empathy for her, upset about Cinco’s lack of commitment.

For an oppositional narrative, viewers may interpret the show in a way that challenges or opposes these dominant readings. The audience may understand the connotations of the show, but decode the message in a contrary way. For instance, many viewers criticize Love Island’s heteronormative focus and lack of inclusivity as well as its way of perpetuating sexual double standards. Audience members with a lack of similar perspectives and life experiences as the show producers may respond in an oppositional manner to the show, finding it disturbing and not relatable.

Finally, a negotiated position would be a way of decoding somewhere in the middle of these two ways of reading. While Love Island is a popular show loved by many, it has also understandably been received with much backlash. Many viewers may find it entertaining to watch due to the show’s psychological and suspenseful catches, but may also find some points disturbing and problematic.