Warning spoilers!
So - Bandersnatch is a sequel to White Bear, and we are the punchline
I was expecting this to feature as one of the endings of Bandersnatch but it never did, and the more I think about it, it's an interesting way to view the episode.
As you know, the white bear symbol features heavily in Bandersnatch. This is the key link connecting the two episodes.
White Bear turned punishment and torture into entertainment for the masses through a theme park designed specifically for optimised torture to fit the crime committed by Victoria Skillane. Having filmed the torture of her victim, she herself was chased down and filmed whilst being tortured.
In Bandersnatch, the interactive "choose your own adventure" is a designed torture device for Stefan as punishment for a crime he previously committed (presumably the murder of his father).
Users log on, make cruel choices and force him relive his crimes over and over again. Trapped, Stefan is aware of the choices happening against his free will, struggling to fight against them, which adds to his torture as he loses his mind, again, and again, and again.
There are clues foreshadowing his crimes throughout the episode, just like in White Bear.
Stefan is trapped in a video game designed to torture him. Think about when the film rewinds at the start if you choose to accept the offer to work at Chabuddys videogame mansion. The film resets and things have changed; characters who Stefan hadn't met before suddenly recognise him, Stefan knows details he learned during the first path. So uless Stefan exists outside of space and time, we have to assume what we are seeing is taking place in some sort of game.
Drawing on technology from the other episodes of Black Mirror, this torture chamber could have been created by creating a 'cookie' of Stefan and implementing it in the interactive game. We've seen this before in Black Mirror, but partner the technology with the white bear logo and I think the true meaning of the episode is clear.
Stefan is being tortured for his crimes, being driven to insanity over and over for the enjoyment and entertainment of the masses.
Why does an explicit reveal never happen then like in other Black Mirror episodes?
Because we, the viewers, are the masses, the active participants who are eagerly taking part in the torture. Revelling in decisions to kill fathers and chop up bodies in some very hard to watch and hard to stomach scenes.
There is no final reveal in this episode of black mirror highlighting the dangers and perils of technology, because we are the dangers. We are the faces hiding behind the phones. The interactive story was the best way to get that across. Free will is an illusion and we've just been forced to participate in the torture of a psychologically damaged protagonist - Which I'm sure Charlie Brooker finds hilarious!
What do you think? Who knows, if there is a secret code for a secret ending - maybe it lies in white bear?
Submitted December 29, 2018 at 11:51AM by bakelywood http://bit.ly/2LFMpvp
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