Black Mirror - Nosedive

I have to admit, Nosedive just really wasn't for me. Probably my least favorite next to the first episode of the first season. I get the point. In the era of social media where appealing for "up this and up that", the popularity grab, many folks want to achieve some level of appeal to a vast majority. To be of the "upper echelon" you try to hide who you really are (and want to be) in favor of appealing to some ridiculous societal standard. It is loud and clear, its message. So loud I had ringing in my ears. It took a lot just to get through it. It isn't that Bryce Dallas Howard isn't good or not worth following the whole way. She's this company gal with the big smile and pearly whites, reaching for as many "up votes" as she can get. Everyone where she lives and walks and works has a phone in their hand, constantly encountering each other, voting through a five star system on whoever they come across based on how much they like them. This is continuous, with lots of pulling up faces and swiping across the stars according to what kind of impression each person leaves. Sometimes just a smile and a warm hello can get you a fiver. Key to achieving the upper tier is to get enough of the higher hierarchy to vote you high. That is what Bryce wants to do so she can get into a community where only the haves live. Have-nots are turned away if they can't get their votes up to at least 4.5. Much like other episodes in the series, the eyes can see amazing things. In this episode a chip inserted in folks allows them to see what each person is currently rated. Some lower rated folks desperately vie for votes, with Bryce avoiding one poor guy who can't catch a break. Yes, despite gobbling up plenty of votes and seemingly popular as all get out, under the veneer of all this is a hideous vanity. So many sacrifice who they really are just to secure the attention and recognition of others. Vanity masquerades as Happy-go-lucky. Bryce learns this the hard way when no matter how hard she tries, ultimately she can't please everybody, unable to hold that Power of Positive Personality, as her vote status crash and burns. Almost able to achieve a high mark, negative encounters breed her downfall. She's able to get in good with Alice Eve, included in her wedding, only to wind up a spewing mess with mascara draining down her face. Ultimately put in jail, she exhales, seeing a man across from her in another clear-windowed cell, the two of them just gleefully berating each other with foul insults. For the first time in her life perhaps, she can just be herself and fuck all those phonies wearing their fake personas. Good looking production, for sure, and Bryce's star power will bring viewers to the episode and show, but the message (and Bryce's future not surprising) immediately gets its point across. The rest is essentially the sledgehammer blunt force pummeling of this message. I get it, social media brings out the worst in us and our need for gratification and to feel important can be tickled thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. I get it.