2021
Fordyce, Robbie; Apperley, Thomas H.
Exhausting Choices: Bandersnatch and the Future of Our Entertainment Platforms Book Section
In: Duarte, German A.; Battin, Justin Michael (Ed.): Reading "Black Mirror": Insights into Technology and the Post-Media Condition, pp. 87-102, Transcript Verlag, 2021, ISBN: 978-3-8376-5232-1.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Black Mirror, Hypertext games, Streaming, Video games
@incollection{Fordyce2021,
title = {Exhausting Choices: Bandersnatch and the Future of Our Entertainment Platforms},
author = {Robbie Fordyce and Thomas H. Apperley },
editor = {German A. Duarte and Justin Michael Battin},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202105245372},
doi = {10.14361/9783839452325-005},
isbn = {978-3-8376-5232-1},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-01-19},
urldate = {2021-01-19},
booktitle = {Reading "Black Mirror": Insights into Technology and the Post-Media Condition},
pages = {87-102},
publisher = {Transcript Verlag},
abstract = {This chapter interrogates the Netflix ‘film’ Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018), written by Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade, using a close reading approach informed by metaphorical and allegorical analysis of videogames (Begy, 2013; Bogost, 2006; Murray, 1997; Wark, 2007), and seeks to draw out how the film explores the gamified choice-driven systems of the purchase screens of entertainment platforms. We argue that Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (Bandersnatch, hereafter) engages in a well-crafted reference to its conditions of distribution by finding similarities between the branching nature of selection-based play in hypertext games and the selection-based mechanisms of contemporary streaming video services, such as Netflix. In order to engage in this analysis, this study will examine both formalist ludological and visual themes within Bandersnatch and explore how these elements draw out themes of entertainment, exhaustion, and boredom in a manner that approximates entertainment platforms.},
keywords = {Black Mirror, Hypertext games, Streaming, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
This chapter interrogates the Netflix ‘film’ Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018), written by Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade, using a close reading approach informed by metaphorical and allegorical analysis of videogames (Begy, 2013; Bogost, 2006; Murray, 1997; Wark, 2007), and seeks to draw out how the film explores the gamified choice-driven systems of the purchase screens of entertainment platforms. We argue that Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (Bandersnatch, hereafter) engages in a well-crafted reference to its conditions of distribution by finding similarities between the branching nature of selection-based play in hypertext games and the selection-based mechanisms of contemporary streaming video services, such as Netflix. In order to engage in this analysis, this study will examine both formalist ludological and visual themes within Bandersnatch and explore how these elements draw out themes of entertainment, exhaustion, and boredom in a manner that approximates entertainment platforms.