The main thing that I like about ‘Black Mirror’ creator Charlie Brooker – besides the fact that he can write and direct well, making his episodes worth watching in the first place – is that his style is generally similar to Rod Serling’s, host of another show that Brooker’s has been compared to.
And it’s this: He doesn’t tell you what to think, he *makes* you think.
He writes (at least some) very powerful scenes, in episodes that CLEARLY *could* make a definite statement, that could say “This is right, that is wrong, and here’s why…”
Instead he makes them as “real” as possible, as impressive as possible, as emotional as possible, as POWERFUL as possible…and then, when he could take all of that and very cleanly and tidily (and simply, easily, commonly) put his opinion on it with an end that says “THIS is the point”…he doesn’t. He just lets it go, as it was, and you watch and wait for the comforting, easy-to-understand and easy-to-agree-with ending, and it never comes. It just…ends.
Because of this, you *have to* think; you have to wonder about the different points, the different emotions, the different viewpoints, the different meanings.
Is yours, eventually, what his is? Or what he thinks it should be? Or what he wants it to be?
Maybe, maybe not. But because he doesn’t TRY to force an opinion on you, you are forced to come up with one. And that provokes thought. And sometimes, that provokes some serious thinking and emotion, and opinion. But that’s the point: it’s YOUR opinion. It’s your emotional/intellectual analysis of what has happened and how you view it, from your perspective.
And thinking is a good thing. Thinking, feeling, considering. All of these are good, and often one or more are missing in many shows/movies…because it’s easier (and more commercial) to write something with a definite and obvious opinion behind it; to make it clear *THIS* is the right and *THAT* is the wrong, and here’s why.
By not clearly defining an opinion, by leaving that fairly ambiguous, it provokes YOUR opinion. It makes you think. And that is a very good thing, I think.
Message to Brooker: PLEASE, PLEASE write a movie.
I want to add something to my A List. I want to be blown away, inspired. You certainly are *capable* of doing it, as you’ve proven three times already.
Do me, and the the world, a favor: MAKE A MOVIE.
Spend a little more time, flesh out what would make a great episode, and make a great movie.