Critical Analysis Essay

NOSEDIVE BLACK MIRROR (EP.1 SEASON 3)

21 October 2016. The episode was directed by Joe Wright and written by Michael Schur and Rashida

Jones. The show Black Mirror can be described as a kind of science fiction show that demonstrates the

relationship between humans and technology. Nosedive portraits a world in which everything is based

upon social media and rating. It demonstrates the anxiety that every social media user is facing from day

to day, trying hard to improve the number of likes and followers (Gilbert 2016). It may seem that such

a world is not too far away from the world in which we are living in now. However, in Nosedive, not

only food, cabs and accommodations are being rated, but people too. Nosedive aims to create a satire

about the society in which we are currently living and successfully meets its purpose by creating a

seemingly perfect Instagram-pastel ambient with characters that are relatable for the audience and

exposing the reality that is hidden behind the appearance of such a world.

Lacie Pound, starred by Bryce Dallas Horward, is the main character in this episode. Lacy lives

in a world where people constantly rate each other on a scale from 1 to 5 stars. With the help of modern

technology, more precisely smart contact lenses, people are able to see the ratings of others. These

ratings influence social position, employment and rent costs. When Lacie is introduced to the audience,

she is rated with 4.2 stars. From the beginning on, it is clearly emphasized how much Lacie is under the

pressure of this rating system and how she is wearing a mask, thus never being her real self, to achieve

a higher rating (Bacle 2016). Lacie spends a lot of her time in front of a mirror, smiling and practicing

happy faces for pictures. It seems like Lacie is so into her social media life that she has forgotten who

she really is (idem). She does things just to make her life seem better on social media. For example, she

orders a coffee and a cookie and rather than enjoying her breakfast, she just uses it for a cute picture and

makes a disgusted face when actually trying it. At home, Lacie is struggling to cook a fancy dinner that

will look good in pictures and describe the good life that she is pretending to have. This makes Lacie

very emphatic, since we all can think of people or even ourselves, spending most of our time posting

our food and drinks on Instagram and hoping for a lot of likes and reposts.

Lacie lives with her brother Ryan who is bothered that his sister is constantly seeking to improve

her rating and pretending to be someone that she is not. He tries to convince her to accept the fact that

a bigger rating will not ensure happiness and wants her to stop pretending. It can be noticed that Lacie
is delighted every time she is rated with 5 stars. However, this happiness seems to be temporary, since

Lacie is constantly trying to improve her rating and her lifestyle and does not seem as happy as she

pretends to be. This can be understood when Lacie goes to see a new apartment and the agent shows her

an imagined scenario where she is standing in the kitchen next to a good-looking man. Lacie is very

much pleased by this idea and we can understand that she feels lonely and is looking for a partner in

life. To afford this apartment, Lacie needs a rating of 4.5.

One day Lacy is contacted by her old childhood friend Naomi, who offers her to be her

bridesmaid. Naomi, a social media star, has a rating of 4.8 and a lot of upper-class friends. Lacy aims to

deliver a great and emotional bridesmaid- speech to be rated 5 stars by the wedding guests and in that

way, improve her rating to a 4.5. Naomis life is shown to be perfect in every way which highlight is a

dream wedding on a private island. The colours are, like in the rest of the episode, all pastel like an

Instagram filter, making everything look flawless and people happy and satisfied. Moreover, the guests

all seem to be good looking with blonde hair and bright smiles, showing off their white teeth and being

all over the top with their behaviour.

On her way to the wedding, at the airport Lacie learns that her flight has been cancelled. To

book another flight she needs a rating that is higher of 4,2. Lacy causes a scene at the airport where, for

the very first time, she says what is on her mind and loses control over her perfect behaviour. Since

every single human interaction is being rated, everyone is trying to be as friendly as possible. In this

world, people who care about their rating will never be honest as they always try to please each other

and there is no place for individualism. Again, these facts are really relatable for everyone that has

experienced an Uber driver that was too friendly to be real or has graded a restaurant or hotel badly after

not being satisfied with it.

Lacies only option to make it to the wedding is to hitchhike and luckily she meets Susan, who

offers Lacie a ride in her truck. Lacie learns that Susan, that is now a 1.4, used to be a 4.6. After the

loss of her husband, who died because of cancer, she realized that her rating could not ensure her

happiness and despite her high score she could not safe her husband. Consequently, she decided to live

a free and honest life. In the meantime, Naomi finds out that Lacies rating has dropped to a 2.6 and no
longer wants her at the wedding. Lacie is shocked, since she believed that she was invited because she

is one of Naomis oldest friends and she genuinely cared about her. Nevertheless, Naomi had only

invited her to higher her own rating and appear as a generous person. At this point, Nosedive makes it

understandable that in such world nothing really matters. There are no real bonds between people or

emotions, since nothing is above the rating system which determines everyones life. After Lacie showed

up at the wedding anyways and drunkenly performed a messed-up speech, she is arrested for

misbehaviour. In prison, she cannot be rated anymore and has no smart lenses. She meets a man and

they begin exchanging insults with their anger transforming into delight since they realize that now they

can do and say whatever they want. Even if the prison is a dark and cold place, Lacie is finally free.

To sum up, in Nosedive we see a satire about the society in which we are living. Even though

the episode is combined with fiction and is overacted, we still can relate to specific behaviour of the

characters. People are constantly under the pressure of social media and the want to be highly rated.

Therefore, they do everything to please other people and make their life seem perfect. Since every social

interaction is rated immediately, there is no place for individualism and honesty. Instead, the whole

society is fake and nothing else, besides ratings matters. Nosedive makes it possible for the audience

to relate to the happenings in the episode and realize that our society is not far away from such a world.

Again, the series Black Mirror has successfully made us critically think about our relationship to

technology and with Nosedive, especially social media.

Bacle, A. (2016) Black Mirror Premiere Recap: Nosedive, October 24, Entertainment Weekly

[Internet], available at: http://ew.com/recap/black-mirror-season-3-episode-1-nosedive/

[viewed 05/01/2017]

Gilbert, S. (2016) Black Mirrors Nosedive Skewers Social Media, October 21, The Atlantic

[Internet], available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/10/black-mirror-

nosedive-review-season-three-netflix/504668/ [viewed 05/01/2017]

Lacie Pound, Black Mirror Nosedive [photograph], available on: http://www.groundpunch.com/wp-

content/uploads/2016/10/Black-Mirror-Nosedive.jpg [viewed 06/01/2017]