MovieChat Forums > Black Mirror (2011) Discussion > Episode 4.1 - totally ridiculous? Why di...

Episode 4.1 - totally ridiculous? Why did Nanette not just...

posted 6 years ago by Mikester (121)
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They called the real Nanette - and threatened to show her naked pictures if she does not do a break in (!!) in her bosses house, while he is there.

This is absolutely ridiculous. Why did not just the computer-Nanette talk to Nanette and say 'Hey, your boss took dna from you, put it in a modded version of infinity at his home and tortures it!'.

Or am i missing something greatly.

This way would also stop the real Daly for good -> his real life would be reported to police and stuff.
Instead their original plan was just 'let's destroy the dna and kill ourselves'. What would the result be? Next day Daly goes coffee-cup collecting, a week later new digital versions of them go through the same endless tragedy..

Another mistake:
Taking DNA does not mean take their memory also..

ps other than that good exploration of the theme 'digital beings and the unthinkable cruelty it can bring cause you can be prevented from dieing'
Older episode already touched on that, when they left the virtual guy in his room for 1000 years or something, that is like the most cruel thing i ever saw.

[–] aavfreak (2864) 6 years ago

Although I enjoyed the episode, I do feel the same way. If I had to contact myself in this situation, I wouldn't be trying to blackmail myself into an action with no explanation. I would explain simply, just as you said.

The biggest issue for me was the memory/personality part of it. Just because he has a copy of the DNA that makes up their physical being, how do they have the same memories and personalities of their real world counterparts? Makes no sense.

Instead of stealing their DNA, it would make more sense if he had some sort of brain scanner (sounds ridiculous to type that out and read it) that captured their consciousness, rather than going with DNA.

In the other episode, the virtual guy was in his room for 1000 years per minute. So: 60,000 years per hour. She said to leave him in "for Christmas." That would be the equivalent of 1.44 Million years in 24 hours. Basically, the idea of Hell or eternal damnation. And you're right, it's a good exploration of that particular theme.

[–] Moonglum9 (10713) 3 years ago

Kind of reminds me of the Stephen King short story The Jaunt.

[–] Batty67 (358) 5 years ago

Yes. And Shut Up and Dance did a much better/convincing job with the digital blackmail, and with a soul-punching twist at the end...

[–] mudsharkbytes (165) 3 years ago

Except it's not possible for a webcam to capture Kenny masturbating AND what he's masturbating to in the same frame, so the blackmail was impossible.

[–] JohnRyder (47) 3 years ago

""This is absolutely ridiculous. Why did not just the computer-Nanette talk to Nanette and say 'Hey, your boss took dna from you, put it in a modded version of infinity at his home and tortures it!'.""

They showed with the first message earlier that Real-Nanette wouldn't buy in the whole sentient character/virtual world scenario. She thought it was a joke (she was convinced by her boss it was spam messaging). Would you believe this? I don't think anyone would. So they had to just --force her--- with something.

""Instead their original plan was just 'let's destroy the dna and kill ourselves'. What would the result be? Next day Daly goes coffee-cup collecting, a week later new digital versions of them go through the same endless tragedy..""

That is a good point. At least it is not explained if they really anticipated Real-Daly would die. If he didn't he might as well go at it all over again.

""Another mistake:
Taking DNA does not mean take their memory also..""

Yes, I don't know why they went with DNA-scanning instead of mind-uploading. Maybe because they've already explored this in previous episodes and they wanted to try something different? They didn't explain how memories got "scanned" and "uploaded" through DNA.

[–] FootOfDavros (6733) 3 years ago

Maybe