You’re Going to Want to Watch ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’ a Bunch of Times
Credit to Author: Noel Ransome| Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2018 18:40:20 +0000
So you’re still knee deep in that holiday vacation with your good thoughts of family get-togethers, gifts, and Ho Ho Ho’s. And in comes Charlie Brooker, welcoming you back to the machine that Charlie Brooker built. You know the one, the Black Mirror series that half broke your brain and reminded you that with each passing day, the iPhone tucked under your pillow was ready to kill you while you sleep.
This time around, Brooker hasn’t given us an entire season, but rather a single episode called “Bandersnatch”. This one allows viewers to choose the pathway of the story at certain points like a video game, where you’re given a choice between two singular options in typical “Choose your own adventure” book fashion.
Plot wise, it features a young programmer (Fionn Whitehead) slowly going insane at the idea of not having control, and you’re free to choose the worst options at every point, or the safest ones; the choice being mostly yours, the viewer. After a first watch this morning, I took the opportunity to round up some quick thoughts that entered my mind with this one, such as, who the hell would choose Sugar Puffs over Frosted Flakes?
Minor spoilers, for my episode anyway, ahead.
Frosted Flakes vs. Sugar Puffs
Let’s be honest. This was the first and most important decision, and the idea of choice was ruined at this point. I mean, we all chose Frosted Flakes right? We’re not monsters there. It’s also funny how several little decisions like these are sprinkled throughout this story, leaving you wondering if you were destined to get a terrible Black Mirror-ish ending thanks to some sick filmmaker’s love of sugar puffs.
The lack of a run-time feels weird but effective
The strangest thing about “Bandersnatch” is the lack of a middle and end. We’ve been pretty damn spoiled with on-demand foresight. We know our place in any story (press, timeline, repeat). And we know when to break-away or sit tight for a conclusion. “Bandersnatch”, removes that option. Forget the pause for that numbered timeline that put your ADD’d mind at ease. At a certain point, you won’t know if you’ve watched this for 40 minutes, which probably turned into 60, and perhaps two hours. With films that already have enough issues with maintaining viewer engagement, an interactive story stealing time in this way is as beautifully meta as the “time” theme it’s rocking with.
Bandersnatch is pretty damn rewatchable
Speaking to the point above, I’d like to guess that I spent about 80 minutes with “Bandersnatch”, and I’ve come across three different endings that could have resulted from a half a dozen different decisions. And that’s the biggest strength in any interactive story. That it’s almost maddening in the sense that you don’t have the blueprint, so you keep trying to figure it out. Sure, the decision themselves feel binary, but the ride is never strictly from point A to B, more like ABC and D. Half the fun is figuring out all the notes you missed, and even writing this now, I wanna go back. How many films, regardless of how dull, can have the benefit of saying that?
This experience is ripe for social media
Think about the discussion around that “The Red Wedding” episode from Game of Thrones. The pure shock of it rocked social media, and catapulted the series to a viral stratosphere. Now imagine if “The Red Wedding” episode didn’t happen for some. Imagine heading to Twitter to describe your experience, only to have it be re-mixed as something completely different from another. I spent a brief 10 minutes checking out my TL around “Bandersnatch “and found out about endings that were far crazier than I’d imagined (our guy from 1984 discovers “Netflix”). This isn’t regulated to some niche gaming forum. This is a mainstream TV show being adopted by folks who may never pick up a modern video game. There’s something special about that.
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