Rating: 3/10 (boo)
1. The idea was excellent, but was poorly developed.
2. The plot had way too many loopholes and blanks making it unable to support a decent debate.
3. Camerawork and graphics were great.
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In this episode of Black Mirror, director Jodie Foster tried his best to depict the potential dangers we face from the advent of new technology and parents' over-protection, but failed to make a valid point.
All the tragedy in this story is entirely the mother's fault; it was her stupidity, not her protectiveness that triggered it. Marie, the mother, was perfectly aware of the fact that the Arkangel is irremovable; yet she decided to plant it in her daughter's body anyway, thereby imprisoning her in the surveillance of others and depriving her of her liberty for the rest of her life. This is key; no parent would think of controlling their children into adulthood, yet with the Arkangel in the body, it is inevitable for that to happen. It was a tremendously irrational decision to make even for the most protective parents. As Sara grows and develops curiosity for the things censored from her, Marie decides to turn the system off (which was too late, considering the mentions in the dialogue that Europe had already banned the Arkangel and further development was cancelled); she is obviously mistaken to think that stashing the tablet in the attic will do the trick, since she predictably returns to the device when Sara worried her. Destroying the tablet wouldn't have been suffice, since the implant remains hackable; if Marie sincerely intended to become independent of the Arkangel, hiding the tablet wouldn't have been her move.
As such, there are critical flaws in the setting of the story. This is what I thought messed up the film most; the ludicrous background made it hard to take the dilemma seriously. Clearly, the writer didn't think this through and focused on the debate, but had he given the Arkangel a better function, it would have earned better ratings from me.
Despite the drawbacks above, the audience still had some things to chew on. Assuming the Arkangel is reasonable and doesn't have the ridiculous features like censoring and being unable to extract, is a parenting device that delivers the location and health status information of the child reasonable? Is the Arkangel helpful for proper parenting, or is it just another form of privacy breaching? Did the Arkangel cause Sara's rebellious behavior, or was Sara herself to blame? Again, forgetting that Marie made highly unrealistic decisions, I think that it is understandable for a parent to want to use this device. However, the child should be informed of this, and the device should be removed whenever the child wants. Not only is it a serious breach of privacy, but it will also negatively influence the child's education. Obviously, the censoring of violent and inappropriate content is absurd, since everyone has to be exposed to such content at some point in their life.
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Other than a few minor errors (Jodie Foster is a female - famous actress - google her; and dogs not "dongs" - don't google those) this is a very mature and balanced review even if I do think it is a bit harsh. You write like an EDS kid, which is a compliment. Great stuff.
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