So the first thing I did this morning when I woke up was go straight to Netflix to watch this new Black Mirror choose-your-own-adventure movie. I loved it so I will skip whether you should watch it or not because…well duh. You should. I’m going to try and explain the premise for this revolutionary movie. Thanks Black Mirror creators!
This experience surrounds game programmer Stefan (Fionn Whitehead) who also has some childhood trauma that has led to some mental issues. He has a therapist, takes medicine and still lives at home (this will make sense while you play the game/watch the movie). Stefan has created a game called “Bandersnatch” which is based off a book of the same name. The author of the book has a sorted past. He apparently went crazy, beheaded his wife and wrote symbols on his walls in her blood. This will also make more sense as you go through the adventure (I am struggling with what to call this experience so just go with it. I’m trying!).
In the beginning, we get to pick mundane things like what kind of cereal Stefan should eat and what cassette tape he should listen to on the bus (I hope they call a bus a bus in England). Later on in the madness, the choices are much more sinister than cereal and cassette tapes. One spoiler is there will come a choice between Stefan jumping off a balcony or his new friend Colin (Will Poulter). I picked Colin because…why would I want Stefan to jump. There is A LOT that will happen in this movie that you get to be in control of; however, you only have 10 seconds to pick between two options.
Now, here’s of a couple of observations I made while playing this movie? (Is this even working?) At some point in the movie, there is a break in that famed fourth wall and Stefan starts to understand that his decisions are not his own. Although on a sidenote, I told Stefan to destroy his computer and he DID NOT! He start asking questions and talking to himself. Not what I told you to do Stefan, not what I told you to do. But back to what I was talking about. Think about it. Are these decisions that you are making Stefan do even yours? I realized that once you reached an end (If you can call it that), it would start you over from the last major event you chose. Are they trying to nudge you to a specific end or are they just trying to give you the opportunity to explore all the possible options? I got to what I thought was an end. Credits rolled and everything but then…it wasn’t.
At another juncture in this adventure, we got to see, what is supposed to be, behind the scenes crew filming the scene, but Stefan doesn’t realized he’s an actor. He really believes he’s Stefan.
As with all Black Mirror episodes, this adventure was trippy and I enjoy the fact that you can’t really spoil it for someone because…it’s a choose-your-own-adventure…so there’s that. Anyone who hasn’t experienced this adventure, should not near when you have conversations about this. They will be confused, and if they’re a fan of the show, they’ll be mad.
I love the innovation the creators took with this. I only saw that this COULD be a thing about a week ago. It was a rumor that turned out to be true and I love it. I think this could keep us entertained for a couple of months AT LEAST. You could have “Bandersnatch” watch parties where everyone agrees on a choice (I plan on doing that this weekend) or you could just keep rewatching yourself and see all the outcomes. I wonder how many times the crew watched this adventure? Wonder if they had as many issues at Stefan did with his own “Bandersnatch”. Go watch and just keep watching. The possibilities are probably endless!
BLACK WATCH 