Discover a new season of Black Mirror... medieval style!
by Monk Walter of Litchfield
Produced by the folks at Collegehumor.com, the short video titled Ye Olde Black Mirror, satirizes Black Mirror, the popular Netflix science fiction anthology, which explores our relationship with technology. This spoof addresses the same idea through a series of medieval tales of dispaire and woe about the fears over “technolo-ghee,” such as books, plows, and the yokes used by medieval peasants to carry water.
This timely satire consists of several short episodes, each of which are performed on stage in front of a banner that reads: ”Ye Mirror Blacke.” The onstage action is commented on by two peasants in the audience, whose reactions are both hilarious and as important to the experience as recappers and Reddit thread commentaries have become to modern television viewers (albeit the audience members apparently prefer the Christ Mass plays by John the Hamm: "such a handsome man, with all five teeth still left." LOL)
As long ago as the fourth century BC, the Greek philosopher Socrates, as quoted by Plato in The Phaedrus, expressed concerns that new technology of writing would lead men to become forgetful. Likewise, in the 1400s, it was feared that the printing press would be the downfall of religious belief. This spoof continues in the same vein by making an important point: although our technology is changing at an ever increasing rate, our fear of it has been a serious concern for centuries.
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