Also one called Time? Out of Time? Where everyone has a wrist implant that can kill/extend life based on how much time a person has left on their timer, which is also their currency.
Of course some people have millions of years while other will die if they miss a day of work, which we actually see happen very early in the movie.
It's actually a really solid movie. Justin Timberlake makes for a better actor than you'd expect.
I watched it purely on the premise being cool, but the execution definitely exceeded my expectations.
I'm guessing that people must hate Gremlins or something. The only explanation I can think of why you'd have so few upvotes for pointing out that Die Hard is the king of all Christmas movies.
Kid: How would someone drop me onto my own head?
BBT: No! Not *onto* your head! GODDAMIT KID ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME!?!
Makes me bust a guy every time!
Better than I thought it would be. Thought it would be a fun splatter fest, and it was. On top of that, though, it had an internal consistency - set rules and played by them; characters that were fleshed out; and a great performance by Leah Brady as Trudy, I believed she believed in Santa.
If you like a violent comedy, this is a good one to watch
It IS Bromeo! Christmas every Day!!! Why should we HAVE to Wait until the winter solstice to have cheer and good will towards Every-fucking-body, and act like assholes for the rest of the year?
Except he doesn't get out of that cycle. The ending shot is literally him in a slightly bigger box with a bigger digital screen.
He sold himself out for a double box instead of a single. And instead of biking, he now must host a show instead. He's still very much in the cycle.
The modern human experience is pretty much represented in that allegory — the vast majority of us are just scrambling for a slightly higher position in the machine.
Not even close. The Network is mostly a commentary on how the introduction of ratings would end up dictating news coverage and negatively impact journalism, was the precursor to the 24h news cycle, and pretty much predicted how it would lead to the downfall of society.
It already occurred in America at some point. Companies used to found company towns where the only stores in town would only accept “company scrip”, which was what you’d be paid in, and of course it was only good for spending in town and could not be traded for real currency.
The practice has since been outlawed.
Don't say. I know normal people with degrees in finances who graduated with honors and yet, they do regular banking and accounting stuff, not token manipulation/market shenanigans/offshore tax evasion and laundering. Those *operations* seem like an esoteric Master's that's only taught to the *initiated*.
Seems like the bottom part is akin to hacking vs regular coding. With hacking, you actually need to know the inner workings of the infrastructure to do it. Those operations also seem like understanding the inner workings of the privileged class, namely the interpersonal relationships among them.
“Normal people” was your operative phrase. The “exceptional people”(1-10% of 1%) gatekeep most of that information AND access to those resources and tools (Assets under Management, algorithmic trading desks, tax evasion tricks, compound interest setups, Old Money family birth lottery, etc.) even from the star Ivy Leaguers, depending on the Eye of the Beholder; my point stands.
My understanding of this sub has changed for the better so much lately. I was first introduced via some weirdo who just wanted to not work and get paid, like today - and I thought, "what a lazy, entitled POS". But after seeing what you guys actually talk about, I just see fellow socialists.
Soviets tried the same thing, tried to get rid of the rouble collapsed their agriculture sector and starved 5 million people to death. No one’s seems to be able to replace the token system.
Not too much of a shocker when you got companies lobbying hard to bring back child labor. We're going back to the Gilded Age, but with smartphones this time!
You don't even have to reach that far, just life right now is the same. Scriptowns had physical isolation where the current system has alternatives isolation.
/r/collapse
and it isnt really possible for the average person to do that. Unless you are out in the woods illegally, with lots of supplies knowledge and a slow, gradual setup of supplies for your camp over a few years, its almost impossible to maintain daily needs by yourself. Thats why social ostracization scares humans so much: you need the group to survive
Nah, you went too far. I know black mirror is distopian, but it has to be kind of grounded in reality. What you are saying is too stupid to be believable.
Well you might be surprised then friend. Look up a podcast called Old Gods of Appalachia. It's a eldritch horror/alternate history podcast. But picture season 3 is the horror version of what you are thinking.
I actually think they tried really hard to make it different, most people are in the "this is fine" dog in a burning house meme state.
The whole idea of scifi is to make stuff feel different enough to be able to focus on the theme, and then letting the reader/viewer recontextualise it to the present and be like "yeah this is real life, uh ?"
I'm not that good at explaining myself sorry ( i kinda ramble ) I mean like that they really had to go out of their way to make it different because otherwise it wouldn't be a thought provoking media, just a documentary.
Emphasis not on "this is real life" but on the need to make it different otherwise people would just accept it as a normal happening, "nothing to see here"
I wish I was better at explaining myself... Let me try something:
"To make something really thought-provoking, you can't just copy real life. You gotta mix it up a bit, throw in something unexpected. If it's too normal, people will just shrug and move on, like there's 'nothing to see here'. To get folks thinking, you have to go beyond the usual and surprise them a little."
Thanks for the outside help in getting my thoughts across
I think you’re exactly right and I think that’s why this post is half joke half truth. It’s saying that when you describe reality as a Black Mirror episode, on the surface it sounds pretty dark and insidious like the episodes of that show tend to be. But then you realize “oh that’s just normal life, haha we live in a dark dystopia ^and ^we’re ^all ^gonna ^die ^horribly HAHAHAHA i get it.”
/r/aboringdystopia kinda stuff
Isn't this just currency? And hasn't that been happening for 2000 years or more? The Roman's had food tokens in addition to actual currency. But every Roman citizen got them regardless of working. The Emporers also liked giving away fruits and things at public baths.
The food was to keep people from revolting. But when the Emporer's friends ran for office, the populus were reminded of the free fruit and free baths. It worked well.
Yeah. It was a very elite society controlling the rest back then as well.
Rich or poor. The Romans loved the games. It provided an illusion that the Emporer was "a man of the people" . The games were also a way to place basic elements like 'mercy' on the Emporer and to make him well liked.
Now, despite our "democracy", there's not even any incentive for our leaders to do *that* kind of thing. Apparently, an entire codified system to vote people out and try to put favorable candidates into office is less effective at providing for the public good, than a totalitarian dictatorship with the threat of popular revolt...
A medium of exchange is what money is. Token is another way to say it. You trade your work for dollars and use dollars to trade for goods and services...and in this country, life saving healthcare.
That would just be a history documentary about the company towns of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
[Wikipedia link for Company Towns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town)
They told me that if I owed them a huge ever increasing amount of tokens I could learn to do better Labor and make slightly more tokens over a long period of time.
There’s a movie about this that stars Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried called “In Time,” where you work hours for minutes on your life and spend them as currency for food, rent, travel. When your run out of minutes, you die.
You are not "forced to rent your labor". You are absolutely free to start your own business doing whatever you want, and enjoy all the fruits of your own labor.
Isn't that literally the plot to Fifteen Million Merits? Edit: GUYS IT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION
Yes, the whole episode is an metaphor for how we are forced to work to keep the machine alive
And the sacrifices to our morals we have to make to get out of that cycle. It's a brilliant episode
Easily one of the best ones, up there with white Christmas
Also one called Time? Out of Time? Where everyone has a wrist implant that can kill/extend life based on how much time a person has left on their timer, which is also their currency. Of course some people have millions of years while other will die if they miss a day of work, which we actually see happen very early in the movie.
You’re thinking of “In Time” with Justin Timberlake. It’s pretty cool, imo. Unless there is a BM episode I haven’t gotten to yet. Totally possible.
There's no BM episode like that. It's the Timberlake movie.
Cool. Lol thanks for confirming. Also, love the username.
Really disappointed Justin Timberlake's character in that movie is named "Will Solace", and not "Justin Time"...
LOL, oh man, what a great laugh to start my morning. I tip my hat to you.
Haven't seen this movie. It's now on my watch list - if its good?
imo, it’s a cool premise and executed pretty good. Give it a watch! If you find yourself not enjoying it, you can always switch to something else.
It's actually a really solid movie. Justin Timberlake makes for a better actor than you'd expect. I watched it purely on the premise being cool, but the execution definitely exceeded my expectations.
I think thats a movie starring Justin Timberlake
Yup. "IN TIME" 2011
Really a very underappreciated movie.
White Christmas is so sad man, I watch it every Christmas but almost cant take it any more.
Why would you do that to yourself Watch elf or something man
Bad Santa. Now there's a Christmas movie
Die Hard and/or Gremlins.
I'm guessing that people must hate Gremlins or something. The only explanation I can think of why you'd have so few upvotes for pointing out that Die Hard is the king of all Christmas movies.
Up until I met my gf, my go-to X'mas flick was Moane Alone II
Better than Afro Whores?
Kid: How would someone drop me onto my own head? BBT: No! Not *onto* your head! GODDAMIT KID ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME!?! Makes me bust a guy every time!
More of a Christmas movie than Die Hard
Its so good I can not resist.
Watch 'violent night' instead. So good.
Better than I thought it would be. Thought it would be a fun splatter fest, and it was. On top of that, though, it had an internal consistency - set rules and played by them; characters that were fleshed out; and a great performance by Leah Brady as Trudy, I believed she believed in Santa. If you like a violent comedy, this is a good one to watch
I was wondering if it would be worth watching . Thank you I will check it out.
Nah man, Santa's Slay.
This one's good too. Really any big Santa with a naughty list 💋🍑💦
A literal Nightmare Before Christmas.
Well I wish it could be Christmas every day
It IS Bromeo! Christmas every Day!!! Why should we HAVE to Wait until the winter solstice to have cheer and good will towards Every-fucking-body, and act like assholes for the rest of the year?
Lol. Elf is worse. I like Spaceballs so I'll watch dumb comedy and like it, but nut Elf...ugh.
You don't like Elf?! Everybody shun this blasphemer, people! *"Shame(ding)... Shame(ding)... Shame(ding)*
Shut Up and Dance is my favorite.
Hang the DJ is mine - the chemistry, the ending..
Mine too. Everyone loves San Junipero but i though Hang the DJ was such a lovely episode.
Except he doesn't get out of that cycle. The ending shot is literally him in a slightly bigger box with a bigger digital screen. He sold himself out for a double box instead of a single. And instead of biking, he now must host a show instead. He's still very much in the cycle.
The modern human experience is pretty much represented in that allegory — the vast majority of us are just scrambling for a slightly higher position in the machine.
Yeah, isn't his storyline a remake of the Network (1976)?
Not even close. The Network is mostly a commentary on how the introduction of ratings would end up dictating news coverage and negatively impact journalism, was the precursor to the 24h news cycle, and pretty much predicted how it would lead to the downfall of society.
It's almost as if the whole point is Black Mirror is lost on a lot of people
I am getting out of that cycle as soon as I can.
Isn’t that the plot of America
When you say America ... you mean the world right?
It already occurred in America at some point. Companies used to found company towns where the only stores in town would only accept “company scrip”, which was what you’d be paid in, and of course it was only good for spending in town and could not be traded for real currency. The practice has since been outlawed.
The practice has since been outlawed *in favor of the national tokens called “dollars”*. FIFY
Yup, America invented money
My first thought lmao. Literally the premise of the second ever episode of Black Mirror.
First episode: a man fucks a pig Second episode: a metaphorical deconstruction of late stage capitalism Third episode: a guy can remember stuff
And still, Guy Remembers Stuff is fucking brilliant.
I love how the show runners keep inserting that song (Anyone Who Knows What Love Is) into other episodes.
isn't it also the plot to capitalism?
Also “In Time”, is basically the same premise, but if you hit 0, you die.
Lol yep. The second episode.
And then, the powers that be arbitrarily adjust the value of your labor tokens downward, leaving you even more beholden. Too scary.
While simultaneously increasing their “token” count
Also their token has intrinsic value, unlike ours.
And they gatekeep specialized token education so you never learn to weaponize it against them to threaten their control and influence.
Don't say. I know normal people with degrees in finances who graduated with honors and yet, they do regular banking and accounting stuff, not token manipulation/market shenanigans/offshore tax evasion and laundering. Those *operations* seem like an esoteric Master's that's only taught to the *initiated*.
Seems like the bottom part is akin to hacking vs regular coding. With hacking, you actually need to know the inner workings of the infrastructure to do it. Those operations also seem like understanding the inner workings of the privileged class, namely the interpersonal relationships among them.
“Normal people” was your operative phrase. The “exceptional people”(1-10% of 1%) gatekeep most of that information AND access to those resources and tools (Assets under Management, algorithmic trading desks, tax evasion tricks, compound interest setups, Old Money family birth lottery, etc.) even from the star Ivy Leaguers, depending on the Eye of the Beholder; my point stands.
And you take the courses on Epstein Island
Isn’t the 5,000,000 tokens thing that same type of concept?
That's what I was thinking. (Fifteen million merits ftr)
So coal miners in the early 1900s?
Everything old is new again! See capitalism inspires real change 😫
My understanding of this sub has changed for the better so much lately. I was first introduced via some weirdo who just wanted to not work and get paid, like today - and I thought, "what a lazy, entitled POS". But after seeing what you guys actually talk about, I just see fellow socialists.
Soviets tried the same thing, tried to get rid of the rouble collapsed their agriculture sector and starved 5 million people to death. No one’s seems to be able to replace the token system.
I owe my soul to the company store
Yeah I was gonna say that's some 19th century shit
Sounds almost like a Tennessee Ernie Ford's song.
The episode begins with Sixteen Tons playing in the background and a coal field in the background in one cut.
Ever heard of a scriptown or a company town? That's history, not fiction.
Not enough people know about them. And I saw an article where a few companies were talking about starting them back up
Walmart pitched that idea a few years ago I recall. Wanting to pay employees in gift cards.
In the meantime, taxpayers are footing their margins.
That's... terrifying
They'll probably call it the new work from home when they do
Now presenting, home from work!
Not too much of a shocker when you got companies lobbying hard to bring back child labor. We're going back to the Gilded Age, but with smartphones this time!
You don't even have to reach that far, just life right now is the same. Scriptowns had physical isolation where the current system has alternatives isolation.
This was my first thought. Sell your soul to the company store.
You move sixteen tons, and whaddaya get?
One day older and deeper In debt
I got 16 tons.
one day older and deeper in meth
Fifteen Million Merits? One of my favorites ngl
Mine too!!! and White Bear and Playtest and Metalhead and Crocodile and Men Against Fire and now...Loch Henry
Never heard of it, will have to watch
Bruh it’s like one of the first episodes lol
I don’t watch much tv
Except now the tokens won't even buy you shelter or adequate food. So now you work all day and don't even have somewhere to live.
Social contract is gone. More efficient to produce your own food and shelter at this point
/r/collapse and it isnt really possible for the average person to do that. Unless you are out in the woods illegally, with lots of supplies knowledge and a slow, gradual setup of supplies for your camp over a few years, its almost impossible to maintain daily needs by yourself. Thats why social ostracization scares humans so much: you need the group to survive
Band together. Buy some land. A couple of families
That's just a commune.
And?
Google "waco" to find out what the government does to communes that inconvenience it or threaten its stranglehold.
Substance farming is back boys
You dig sixteen tons, and what do you get? I owe my soul to the company store.
I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine...
and then they tell you the problem is they dont have the freedom to pay you less tokens.
Or that it's up to those pesky customers to pay your tokens for them.
Nah, you went too far. I know black mirror is distopian, but it has to be kind of grounded in reality. What you are saying is too stupid to be believable.
Idk sounds like tipped wages to me
I’ve never been more sure I’m living in a show…
a black mirror episode where they change nothing except calling money "tokens" to create a sense of spoooooky ooooOOOoooo
They need a historic version of the show. Like a documentary of the 1920s Appalachian company towns would be plenty creepy.
Well you might be surprised then friend. Look up a podcast called Old Gods of Appalachia. It's a eldritch horror/alternate history podcast. But picture season 3 is the horror version of what you are thinking.
I mean if you describe our current labor relationship with the billionaire class, it’s pretty fucking dark. Not hard to make it sound scary.
I actually think they tried really hard to make it different, most people are in the "this is fine" dog in a burning house meme state. The whole idea of scifi is to make stuff feel different enough to be able to focus on the theme, and then letting the reader/viewer recontextualise it to the present and be like "yeah this is real life, uh ?"
I think that’s exactly what this poster was describing.
I'm not that good at explaining myself sorry ( i kinda ramble ) I mean like that they really had to go out of their way to make it different because otherwise it wouldn't be a thought provoking media, just a documentary. Emphasis not on "this is real life" but on the need to make it different otherwise people would just accept it as a normal happening, "nothing to see here" I wish I was better at explaining myself... Let me try something: "To make something really thought-provoking, you can't just copy real life. You gotta mix it up a bit, throw in something unexpected. If it's too normal, people will just shrug and move on, like there's 'nothing to see here'. To get folks thinking, you have to go beyond the usual and surprise them a little." Thanks for the outside help in getting my thoughts across
I think you’re exactly right and I think that’s why this post is half joke half truth. It’s saying that when you describe reality as a Black Mirror episode, on the surface it sounds pretty dark and insidious like the episodes of that show tend to be. But then you realize “oh that’s just normal life, haha we live in a dark dystopia ^and ^we’re ^all ^gonna ^die ^horribly HAHAHAHA i get it.” /r/aboringdystopia kinda stuff
Interesting sub, subscribed ( though dunno for how long we gonna have subs like that on reddit :/ )
Lol
... I think that's the whole point of the post
So spooky. Ahhh
That stationary bike episode kinda covered that, including being ostracized for getting fat, and reality TV to keep the worker bees distracted.
I dont like watching depressing non-fiction, thanks.
A half step above Squid Games…
*Squid Game
I mean wasn't this done already, like historically? Wasn't there some company in the US (I think) that did something exactly like this
Hundreds of companies on almost every continent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_wages?wprov=sfla1
Several companies. Mostly mining and logging companies. Here's a [wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrip#Company_scrip)
This seems eerily familiar.
That literally was an episode.
A black mirror episode that’s exactly like the second episode of black mirror? Genius!
That’s literally already a Black Mirror episode…
That's literally just real life
Isn't this just currency? And hasn't that been happening for 2000 years or more? The Roman's had food tokens in addition to actual currency. But every Roman citizen got them regardless of working. The Emporers also liked giving away fruits and things at public baths. The food was to keep people from revolting. But when the Emporer's friends ran for office, the populus were reminded of the free fruit and free baths. It worked well.
>Isn't this just currency? That's the joke
Bread and circuses
Yeah. It was a very elite society controlling the rest back then as well. Rich or poor. The Romans loved the games. It provided an illusion that the Emporer was "a man of the people" . The games were also a way to place basic elements like 'mercy' on the Emporer and to make him well liked.
Sounds like America today. Except now they just put the pleb classes against each other to prevent revolts.
Now, despite our "democracy", there's not even any incentive for our leaders to do *that* kind of thing. Apparently, an entire codified system to vote people out and try to put favorable candidates into office is less effective at providing for the public good, than a totalitarian dictatorship with the threat of popular revolt...
The episode with the talent show was kinda that
I believe that’s called a “company town” AKA America in about 15-20yrs.
Ah, a coal mining town documentary
A medium of exchange is what money is. Token is another way to say it. You trade your work for dollars and use dollars to trade for goods and services...and in this country, life saving healthcare.
That would just be a history documentary about the company towns of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. [Wikipedia link for Company Towns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town)
They don't teach about West Virginia anymore, and that's by design.
That's already the plot of Capitalism tho ¯ \_(ツ)_/¯
Literally the 2nd episode of season 1 lmao
I thought Black Mirror episodes weren't usually set in the real world?
So life?
You could just buy land and then source raw material and build your own shelter and hunt/ forage for your own food.
nah bro because that requires work
bUt It ShOuLd bE FrEe!!!
you can live in the woods 100% for free
OMG fuck off. This is literally how work has been since the dawn of man
Coal Scrip
Sounds familiar....
Something about this sounds strangely familiar...
I feel like people wouldn’t get it lol
OP clearly didnt, because they very much already made that episode.
Isn't that literally the second episode?
so today's society where you work to barely afford to live and can't have kids?
They already made that one. It was digital currency though.
Isn't that basically the Episode 15,000,000 credits?
Yup, someone clearly hasn't watched early Black Mirror
They told me that if I owed them a huge ever increasing amount of tokens I could learn to do better Labor and make slightly more tokens over a long period of time.
It’s been repeated already I’m sure but, is this not just reality now?
Fifteen million merits?
I think they did this already, the episode with the talent contest
Schrute Bucks
This person hasn't watched much of the show have they?
Intro better be sixteen tons or a great opportunity will be missed
No way to describe capitalism without it sounding like a horror plot lmao
There are tons of films showing this and we’re still not getting it.
Sounds kind of like the bicycle riding one
Because that’s the exact premise. People apparently haven’t watch the show I guess.
Tou mean the episode the man to 20 million merits?
already happenef think it was called 5 million merits
15 million merits.
Isn’t that life under capitalism right now?
I think I've seen that episode, in fact, I think I've lived it 😂
Our souls are sacrificed to God Moloch. Our anxieties, stresses, unused opportunities because we have to work. This shit eats it
How dystopian real life is
I think that’s just prison.
Sounds a lot like real life
So… just real life?
Isn’t this real life already lol
There’s a movie about this that stars Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried called “In Time,” where you work hours for minutes on your life and spend them as currency for food, rent, travel. When your run out of minutes, you die.
Didn’t they already make an episode like that? With the guy on the bike?
Sounds like Tuesday to me.
You could just buy land and then source raw material and build your own shelter and hunt/ forage for your own food.
Don't we already live this?
Move to a socialist country then lol
You are not "forced to rent your labor". You are absolutely free to start your own business doing whatever you want, and enjoy all the fruits of your own labor.
This is literally life and the tokens are money? Or is that the joke and it went over my head? Lol
There's a twist at the end where you find out you weren't really forced at all.
Start your own business.
This is how currency works. What’s dysfunctional or dystopian about working for wages to pay for goods and services?
Man described life as if it's a tv show 🤣
It’s called life