The episode “Nosedive” from the “Black Mirror” series is a futuristic adaptation of people’s obsession with social media that influences the artificial, pretentious presence of personal-branding within our lives. When we want to better ourselves, we strive for materialistic objects and images of ourselves, by improving our profiles and posts on social media rather than working on our physical or mental aspects. 

The characters in “Nosedive” rate each other in order to fit into society. Rating an individual impacts their ability to work, travel, live and their relationships. The story follows the character Lacie whose goal is to increase her rating so she can live in a nicer home and community. This aspiration completely consumes her genuine-self and personality. The term “perfect”, an unattainable attribute for humans, is used often when describing and comparing others in the episode. When striving for perfection, people lose their humanity and drive themselves away from their true and real selves. For example, Lacie’s best friend is getting married, but after Lacie’s rating dropped below a 3.0, she had to disinvite her from the wedding to prevent herself from losing her high rating and image. Rather than asking Lacie how she is, the structure of society forces her to drive out those seen as “lesser”. 

A subtle part of this episode is the racial aspect of how the social system affects people of color. The color palette of the entire episode largely consisted of pastels, light tones and was overall very white. In addition to the aesthetic of the setting, the majority of the service roles, such as airport security and baristas, which were also associated with lower rankings, were played by people of color. In one of the scenes, the one person downvoted out of a job was a black character who was desperately trying to make himself more likable by buying smoothies for his coworkers. Peer-rating is the foundation of society in “Nosedive” as much as it is at times in real life with and without social media. If someone is badly rated in the past, people become suspicious and rate the person low as well.

At the end of the episode Lacie gets put in prison, but she is truly set free. In order to break free from the system, she had to lose everything else; that is the cost of freedom. Although this episode seems extremist, it is truly not far off from what we see in the media today. The more likes and followers, the more popular a person is considered, leading to brand deals and economic gain from just posing with a product. These are not realistic images and most often dishonest to themselves and the brands they actually support. We lose our own personality and individuality when we try to become like others. What can we really call success? Conforming to dynamic “trends” to fit into shoes that aren’t ours?