MovieChat Forums > Black Mirror (2011) Discussion > Shut Up and Dance... just... wow (spoile...

Shut Up and Dance... just... wow (spoilers)

posted 8 years ago by Meven_Stoffat
21 replies | jump to latest

I know this sounds blasphemous but this might be right up there with 15 Million Merits as my favourite episode. You have a handsome and initially charming protagonist who seems like your typical working class young man. Even jerks off to some porn. Gets rcored doing it and is thrust headfirst into a tense and anxiety ridden heist.

And then at the very end, the hackers win. We all think his jerkoff video has been posted but they took it a step further in the best and most disturbing possible way: he's a pedophile and was wanking to child porn!!! Jesus, I can't remember the last time I was that floored by a twist.

So in one aspect it works as a commentary on the whole Anonymous/Wikileaks thing, and in another it works as a deconstruction of the "expendable hero" type. My only gripe is that the police showing up at the end seemed a bit far fetched as it would take at least a day for the urine sample to match, but it also works if you consider the possibility his mother called the police for the child porn possession.

Great episode!

[–] apollo_on_earth 8 years ago

This new season has been stellar in my opinion, I've enjoyed them all! But Shut Up and Dance has a tremendous non step energy about it and wonderful closed resolution with showing all the characters have flaws - you seemingly begin to care for their plight - until the end when it wraps up and shows they are all actually scum bags!

[–] PeterMarkoff 8 years ago

yes, because nobody ever cheated their spouse, it's as uncommon as pedophilia

also writing racist PRIVATE email makes everyone scumbag

/s

[–] Adrenik13 8 years ago

The police showing up: Why hackers most likely told the police of his location..

[–] HereItIsYourMomentOfZen 8 years ago

Police showing up was realistic. Geo location on phone, assuming hacker(s) released everything, plus he just committed armed robbery & murder.

I blame the media-blamers

[–] rpn313 8 years ago

Watch the episode again and you clearly see the pedophile foreshadowing in the beginning which quite frankly made the ending not that surprising. Although I must admit I kept asking myself throughout the episode "who cares if they released video of you jerking off". How in the world did he manage to kill that guy who's at least a foot and half taller than him?

[–] trigun_78 8 years ago

What was the pedophile foreshadowing exactly?

Also, he looks at child porn (not sure how btw, its not like its readily available and the kid didn't seem super tech savvy), lives in a house with a sibling who steals his laptop constantly, and he doesn't have a password on his laptop? How stupid could he be??

[–] redeemys24 8 years ago

The way he looks at the little girl in the beginning, getting down on one knee to return her toy and paying her special attention. Also, how paranoid he was about his sister using his computer in the beginning, putting the lock on his bedroom door. His willingness to do horrible things to avoid this info getting out, I knew he wasn't just jerking off to normal porn. Lastly, his standing there staring weirdly at the little kids drawing at work. Obviously none of these things would be a red flag in real life but I knew there was something more going on and it seemed they were pointing to that from the start.

[–] trigun_78 8 years ago

Very good points. At least the kid watching stuff. Like you said, in real life its not always a red flag. The toy return in particular was just a nice gesture I thought. But in the shows context those are indeed foreshadowing I suppose.

Though I can relate to the paranoia of others using your computer. Not because I have anything illegal on there, but because people do stupid stuff like, um I don't know, download malicious software onto your laptop, as his sister in fact did! Though it did seem extreme to install multiple locks onto his door, when he could just put a password on his laptop...

[–] exatera 8 years ago

Lastly, his standing there staring weirdly at the little kids drawing at work.

Yeah, I still don't understand this one - did it turn him on somehow? 
I can't imagine a regular man looking at a drawing made by a woman and getting aroused by it. Unless it's an erotic drawing or something. 

[–] zharth 8 years ago

Yeah, but on the other hand, a guy will spontaneously develop interest when the girl he's crushing on shows him her poetry or whatever, no matter how bad it is. So there's that.

[–] PeterMarkoff 8 years ago

you don't need to be technically skilled to find pictures of naked children online, advertising looking at them and jerking at home ain't no crime

for all we know he could be looking at pictures from nudist beach where are no victims involved

[–] cherry_d0ll 8 years ago

How in the world did he manage to kill that guy who's at least a foot and half taller than him?

i sort of figured he got lucky and got his hands on a rock at just the right time. i really liked the fact that they didn't show it, lets us use our imagination...and beating someone to death is not easy or quick (i don't think. i've never tried it).

[–] trigun_78 8 years ago

Urine sample? Wait, what? You thought the cops showed up cause they found a pee puddle in the bank??? Thats not how that works at all. The hacker people just told the cops where he was... most likely reported a murder. And/or reported the location of the armed bank robber.

Also it just dawned on me how ridiculous it was that it just showed him open up google search engine and start searching for child porn. Thats not how that works at all lol.

[–] bydo1492 8 years ago

@ Trigun:

How comes you're so clued up on the ins and outs of internet child-porn searches? Is that something you look up often?

There's nothing unusual about one sibling going nuts when another sibling borrows their stuff. My older sister is 6 years older than me and she used to go nuts when I borrowed her stuff, things like console games, tapes and LPs. I would go nuts when my younger sister took my stuff. It's the not asking first that annoys us. Anyone who doesn't understand this must be an only child.

[–] trigun_78 8 years ago

How comes you're so clued up on the ins and outs of internet child-porn searches? Is that something you look up often?

I knew someone would jump to the suspicious accusations. Cant even have a civil conversation these days it seems. Ignorance is bliss I suppose.

I just wanted to know how it works. Its incredibly easy to access legal porn, but there ARE people who look at illegal things involving animals and kids, but as it IS illegal I wondered how people got ahold of it. And I found out that just simply using google, you CANT find any of that stuff. At least I couldnt. Which is good, that it isnt just readily available for anyone to look up on a whim. Wouldnt you agree?

There's nothing unusual about one sibling going nuts when another sibling borrows their stuff

Thats exactly what I said. He went nuts because she took it without asking. As it seems she does this often, or has before, he would have a password on it. Guaranteed. I have 4 brothers, and every single one of them has a password on their phones and computers. In fact I cant recall the last time I saw a person with an unlocked phone or computer, even single people or only children. At the very least its a good idea in case your item is stolen, then the thief cant access your information.

But none of that matters, as he has ILLEGAL kid porn on his laptop (or at least internet searches for it), that ALONE warrants many, many layers of security to hide his dirty secret.

[–] kimmie1192 8 years ago

Actually a lot of the... erm... seedier and more unsavory things you can find on the internet -- like child pornography -- are pretty difficult to come by unless you're really looking for it or are part of those online communities. I suppose it's partially a self-preservation thing. But a lot of it is definitely under lock and key.

This is an article I came across about it a while back, and it popped into my head reading your comment: http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1760-5-things-i-learned-infiltrating-deep-web-child-molesters.html

Not that Cracked is known for its hard-hitting, Pulitzer journalism, but they do a lot of interesting pieces like this, and they typically can link out to other sources as well.

So in short, you don't have to "look up [child porn] often" or even try to look it up at all, honestly, to know that it's typically not easily accessible. 

[–] skelk 8 years ago

He (the hacker) recorded the whole thing on the drone. When he messaged the other contacts he will have sent the video of the fight to the police along with the predetermined location he'd selected. He also had the phone GPS. It was win win for the hacker, he had two pedo's, one would die, the other would rot in jail for the others murder.

[–] Meldove 8 years ago

The way they framed episode was very intriguing, because his initial interactions with children, would seem like a conscientious and helpful employee. Seeming like a young man that was sweet with children. However, after the revelation that brought the image into a much a different more sinister light.

Same with the computer (granted it was his computer). However, he went to such great lengths to keep it away from his sister. Initially I just thought it was typical sibling rivalry. He paid for his computer and doesn't want his sis using it, seems pretty strait forward. The truth regarding the pedophilia images on his computer and the great lengths he went to hide the truth. Again, the revelation at the ending demonstrating the sinister reality. However, it's interesting it also showed he wasn't very computer literate at all, why didn't he just password protect his computer like most people would? I don't even have any secrets to protect and I password protect my computer - it seems like common sense.

[–] anabel_dom 8 years ago

i am still under the impact, the story is just wow