White Bear is incredibly written, suspenseful, and of course, in typical Black Mirror fashion, an intense look at society. This particular episode comments on a couple of issues- our obsession with crime, perpetuating narratives through social media, and dehumanizing criminals.
One of my favorite things about the Black Mirror Netflix series is that they always seem to know what episodes require an in-depth explanation and what episodes are better left up for interpretation. In White Bear, the viewer is supposed to be confused and full of questions for the majority of the episode. But it all comes to make sense in one of the last scenes: Victoria, played by Lenora Crichlow, is a convicted felon and unwillingly apart of a “justice theme park.” Her memory is wiped, and she is chased and tortured for amusement as part of punishment for her crimes. That’s when the first theme pops up. There is such a hatred and fascination with Victoria that hundreds of people pay to see her run around desperately and aimlessly.
I think that it is implied that it could have been any convicted felon running around in the Justice Park- Victoria just happened to be the very unlucky one. Charlie Brooker is the writer of the White Bear episode, and I think he was trying to make us take a look at our obsession with crime, especially those prosecuted. We love to portray them as evil, less than human beings- perhaps as a way to make sense in our minds the heinous crimes they might have committed. That’s definitely what happened in White Bear- people were so horrified by Victoria and her boyfriend’s crimes against an innocent little girl, that they preferred to view her no longer as a person. She became a human voodoo doll, where she was poked and prodded in disgust.
Victoria’s dehumanization is perpetuated through social media in the episode. In Justice Park, phone cameras are held up to her face constantly, everyone hoping to catch her on film. They want to show her as the hopeless, pathetic villain. No one films her tortured screams as her memory is wiped every night. That doesn't fit the narrative.
What’s so alarming about White Bear is that it’s really not so much of a stretch. The technology is available in today’s world, and the obsession with crime is definitely prevalent here as well. One of Victoria’s scenes in particular reminded me of Ted Bundy, a notorious American serial killer. People were screaming at Victoria, throwing things and holding signs. At Ted Bundy’s execution at a state prison in Florida, crowds gathered to witness. T-shirts were sold, people were chanting and tailgating as if at a sporting event. People love justice. But like anything else, when taken to an extreme, things get a little iffy.