LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Joan is not awful. But the world we live in or will eventually live in can make her seem so. Season 6 of ‘Black Mirror’ makes a smashing comeback to our screens after a hiatus of four years and the first episode will have you shivering as you contemplate the impending doom stalking the virtual world. Joan’s (Annie Murphy) life is turned upside down when she sees her life as the subject of a show on a streaming service named ‘Streamberry’— a parody version of Netflix on which 'Black Mirror' happens to be airing its episodes. So the story is pretty meta and hits quite close to home. The name of the show in the story is ‘Joan is Awful’ and Salma Hayek is portraying the character of Joan.
Joan is scared out of her mind as she sees every single detail of her life — her relationship issues with her fiance, her apparent fling with an ex, and a poor decision at work, all appearing in the episodes of ‘Joan is Awful’ in real-time. In a state of utter confusion, she rushes to the offices of ‘Streamberry’ only to find that she had once agreed to the terms and conditions of the application which can use her life to build a show if they want. And it’s not the real Salma Hayek playing her but a simulated version or a digital avatar of the actress who had licensed her face and body to be used by the steaming platform for any show. The show reaffirms that your every move is watched in the 21st century. But as Joan (Annie Murphy) goes down the rabbit hole to reclaim her life and fight Streamberry, she unravels a truth that shakes her sanity.
Source Joan is the real Joan
Joan (Annie Murphy) defecates at a wedding, hoping that Salma Hayek will stop playing her after she commits this disgusting act. But unfortunately, Hayek too is tied to the app with an airtight agreement with Strawberry which she can’t get out of. Hayek reaches out to Joan and the duo decide to break into the server of Streamberry to destroy a ‘Quamputer,’ a quantum computer that takes the lives of normal people and produces the most relatable content imaginable.
Hayek and Joan reach the headquarters of Streamberry and manage to sneak into the control room where a controller played by Michael Cera informs them that Joan (Annie Murphy) is not the real Joan. She is playing a variant of the ‘Source Joan’ who is the real Joan, who exists in the real world. The show is based on Source Joan and the variant Joan is played by Annie Murphy, the actress from ‘Veep’ who had licensed her face to ‘Streamberry’ to use it in a show. Joan (Annie Murphy) is in the first level of digital simulation and Salma Hayek is in the second level of digital simulation. Everything that Source Joan has been doing in real life is depicted by variant Joan (Annie Murphy) in the show ‘Joan is Awful’ and similarly Hayek is replicating everything that variant Joan is doing in continuation. The variant Joan (Annie Murphy) finds an axe and destroys the ‘Quamputer’ and the real Source Joan comes on screen.
Privacy is still key for 'Black Mirror'
Joan is fighting with her lawyer when Streamberry uses her life story to build a show around it. She believes that the platform never had any permission from her until she is reminded by the lawyer about the terms and conditions that she agreed to without reading, a mistake that we all make. We tend to give access to our most private moments and in turn, corporations have now found ways to exhibit the tiniest details of our lives with a voyeuristic gaze and monetize it for profit. ‘Joan is Awful’ is clear in its approach that your status in society won’t matter, as in the end, you’re mere puppets for the conglomerates who are gearing up to use the strings of artificial intelligence and quantum computers to make you dance as they will it.
‘Black Mirror’ Season Six is currently streaming on Netflix.
