5 pieces of pop culture to help you endure the election

Last updated on: October 14, 2016 at 6:26 am by Chris Williams

5 pieces of pop culture to help you endure the election 2016-10-14T06:26:30-05:00 Chris Williams

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Black Mirror

Charlie Booker’s British sci-fi anthology series is one of the best — and most disturbing — television series currently airing. A “Twilight Zone” for the modern age, each hour-long episode addresses the way technology is changing and, in many cases, corrupting our world. It’s tackled social media obsession, technology’s possibilities to turn us immortal, and the way our past lies and misdeeds can continue to haunt and destroy us. It’s impeccably acted and directed and nearly always ends with a twist or revelation that punches you in the gut. If you’re a fan of smart science fiction, I highly recommend it. (If you’re a fan of warm fuzzies and comfort viewing, maybe not).

Certainly, technology has contributed to our heated diatribes and hot takes this election, so much so that I’d probably recommend “Black Mirror” even if it had no political connections. But two episodes in particular address our current bleak climate: the premiere, “The National Anthem” (which I do NOT recommend to people sensitive of really icky things), and “The Waldo Moment.” I won’t say anything more about the plots of those two episodes, except to say that they are terrifying in how the predict the tone and tenor of our world right now. And if you want to stay away from politics, the great thing about “Black Mirror” is its anthology format; you can watch any episode you please in any order you want. Every one I’ve seen is fantastic, but if I had to single out two, they would be the emotionally devastating “The Entire History of You” and the haunting existential nightmare of “White Christmas” (starring Jon Hamm).

It’s easy to catch up with “Black Mirror,” as it’s only comprised of two three episode seasons and a Christmas special (should you want your Christmas to be terrifying). You can catch up in about 7 hours. Which is a good thing…because season 3 (made up of 6 episodes) comes only to Netflix on Oct. 21!

“Black Mirror” is available in its entirety on Netflix.

Chris Williams

Previous Post

October 11, 2016

Elections, conscience and the will of God

Next Post

October 26, 2016 "Hell House" and shock-and-awe evangelism

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category christmas Culture humor interviews Lists long reads movies we need news Podcasts Reviews story of God Uncategorized Weekend Read

Select a Month October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What qualification does Paul give for elders, saying they must be the husband of how many wives?

Select your answer to see how you score.

One wife No more than three wives As many as he can support Two wives