Bollywood: Black Mirror’s “Shut Up And Dance” Is Actually The Most Disturbing Episode

Content warning: This feature discusses sexual abuse and pedophilia.

Black Mirror wears its disturbing and unsettling content like a badge of honor, but no episode compares to season 3, episode 3, "Shut Up And Dance." Charlie Brooker's dystopian Black Mirror seasonal premiered in 2011 through the BBC's Channel 4 before being acquired by Netflix after season 2 due to the series' continually high rating. Brooker's long-running anthology series traditionally commentates on social and political issues that draw distinct parallels with the harrowing news coverage he observed during his journalism career in the UK, setting many of them in a parallel dystopian vision.

"Shut Up And Dance" stars Alex Lawther as Kenny, a teenager blackmailed by a group of hackers who reveal they have footage of Kenny in a very compromising position. As the hackers' demands escalate, Kenny is forced to commit increasingly risky acts to stave off the release of this overtly sexual video. While Kenny protests in innocence throughout the course of the episode, "Shut Up And Dance" ultimately crescendos into a sickening twist that lingers in the mind long after viewing.

Black Mirror’s “Shut Up And Dance” is easily the most disturbing episode of the dystopian anthology series, amounting to an emotional endurance test for both the fraying Kenny and the viewer, respectively. The best elements of “Shut Up And Dance” ultimately derive from its unflinching look at societal ills while also playing on the concept of an omniscient "Big Brother." “Shut Up And Dance” also succeeds by subverting audience expectations, forcing its audience to empathize with the protagonist before pulling the pin on an explosively horrifying finale.

One of the most disturbing aspects of "Shut Up And Dance" is how often Kenny's predatory behaviors are covertly present throughout the episode before its coda reveals his pedophilia. Kenny's everyday interactions fall into two distinct categories, as delineated by the technologically lacking episode 3 Black Mirror script: natural and unnatural, with director James Watkins leaning into this concept stylistically. Kenny's interactions with his peers seem mundane, engorged by slow dialogue, whereas his conversations with children at work are framed differently. Watkins displays these scenes from strange camera angles and shows Kenny visibly stimulated by these moments, alluding to his sickness from the offset of the episode. While "Shut Up And Dance" itself contains a plethora of disturbing content, Brooker forcing the viewer to confront Kenny's hidden sexual preferences head-on is by far the most harrowing portion of the episode.

Brooker's refusal to back down from complex material, as well as essentially berating the viewer for siding with Kenny before his deviancy is revealed, forces the audience to recognize the oft-concealed nature of his evil. In this way, Brooker uses the episode to subvert Black Mirror's own scary technological tropes, initially presenting Kenny's hackers as evil before revealing their vigilantism. The episode is also firmly rooted in reality, with the vigilantes obtaining Kenny's sordid information through his webcam and email account. This immersion within a wholly ordinary, contemporary setting alone makes "Shut Up And Dance" the most disturbing episode to date despite Black Mirror's extensive offering of macabre, futuristic scenarios.

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October 03, 2021 at 02:34AM

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