Has Black Mirror predicted the future once again?
Fans of dystopian sci-fi series Black Mirror have known for a while now that series creator Charlie Brooker has a bit of a knack for predicting parts of the future.
While the new sixth season has continued to shock and surprise viewers, the series is also home to one of the most overtly comedic episodes of the series as a whole – Joan Is Awful.
The Annie Murphy-led episode also stars Salma Hayek and Michael Cera in what is essentially a parody of streaming service Netflix.
Renamed as Streamberry for the episode, we see in Joan Is Awful that it’s the main streamer that people settle down with in the evening. It also makes another appearance in Loch Henry as the platform on which the chilling true crime documentary is released.
!["Annie]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2023/05/Joan-Is-Awful-fcb8de6.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"Joan")
Now, it looks as though Netflix and Black Mirror have had an epic crossover of sorts as Netflix has re-branded as Streamberry… Well, kind of.
The streamer’s US Twitter account has re-branded to Streamberry US with a bio that now reads: “Are thou still watching?” and matching display icons and banners to tie in with the Streamberry branding.
So, has Netflix changed to Streamberry? It hasn’t – but it is part of a clever campaign to promote the latest season of Black Mirror.
We’re sure the US profile will change back to Netflix branding some time soon as the UK Twitter profile did a similar thing just yesterday (Tuesday 20th June), writing: “Welcome to Streamberry.”
Welcome to Streamberry. #NewProfilePic
— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) June 20, 2023
As part of the clever marketing for season 6, Netflix have also created two platforms where it really does feel as though you’re flicking through a Black Mirror version of Netflix. You can visit Streamberry.tv to flick through past Black Mirror episodes, wittingly re-named for Streamberry.
Fans can also visit YouAreAwful.com where you can create your own Streamberry poster for your own series by uploading a picture of yourself.
The decision to frame an episode around the very streaming platform that he was releasing it on was one that Brooker thought he would get a little more pushback on, he has explained.
Read more:
- Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker explains ‘Red Mirror’ label
- Black Mirror creator on Beyond the Sea’s connection to real-life crime
When Brooker initially asked whether he could make it look like Netflix, he said the platform came back with an answer “weirdly quickly” and said yes. Speaking to Empire magazine, he said: “There wasn’t any resistance to it, that I could tell. Which is a bit disappointing, because it would be good to be able to say, ‘I just did it anyway, because I’m an anarchist!’ But no.”
Speaking to Radio Times magazine, Brooker also stated that season 6 is “probably our most brutal season yet”, but one, he stresses, that is still trying to poke nests.
“One of the great virtues of Black Mirror is the ability to be free and original in a world overloaded with media,” said Salma Hayek. “A lot of the time in this industry, there is a formula to storytelling, and people don’t always take chances. Black Mirror always takes chances.”
As for the Joan Is Awful episode, Brooker said: “Put it this way, if we weren’t showing the series on Netflix, we would be being sued by Netflix for how it looks in terms of corporate identity.”
Black Mirror season 6 is streaming now on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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