Bandersnatch: Confronting Reality

- Haadi Husain

** Spoilers Ahead**

I would recommend watching the movie before reading this post.

Black Mirror is definitely one of the greatest shows that is still available on Netflix. If you haven’t seen it, I would recommend watching it though skip the first episode because that one is kind of dumb, though it does kind of have a point to it as well – the power of the bluff. Regardless, Black Mirror released a movie a couple days ago called Bandersnatch, which is basically about a programmer questioning his own reality in the movie itself. If you’ve seen the movie, you already know that there are choices throughout the movie which influence whatever ending you will get. So, our choices define his actions in the movie, which he eventually catches onto thanks to his programmer friend, Colin. Fortunately, since I am such a great guy, I got the happy ending in which he travels back in time and dies with his mom on the train. It’s either that or you kill your dad, which I definitely wasn’t going to pick because Stefan’s dad seemed pretty cool (or is he?). In this post, I’m going to lay out how this movie relates to my own perception of reality.

Firstly, I want to define solipsism, which is basically the idea that the only thing you can confirm in this reality is your own consciousness. Now, obviously if you are a solipsist, which you probably aren’t because you probably assume other people are breathing, thinking humans like yourself, then that would mean that everyone else in the world could be an NPC (non-playable character). Essentially meaning that the people you speak to on a daily basis, the cashier at the grocery store, your best friend, your college professor aren’t conscious living beings but instead are simply beings with predetermined impulses that respond to your actions and thoughts which you do have control over. Solipsism is a terrifying thought (or reality) because if true, that would mean you are truly alone, which you kind of are because your own consciousness is the only thing that you can truly confirm. You can’t even confirm that I am living breathing human, how would you know? I could be like any character in GTA, programmed to walk, talk, and act a certain way. Anyways, in the movie, Stefan, the protagonist, realizes that even his minute actions are being controlled by us, the person watching the movie. In the very first decision we make, Frosties or Sugar Puffs, (or Pops), whatever, we decide what our man eats for breakfast. As tiny of a decision that is, it cements our control over Stefan’s “life”. Later in the movie, he realizes that his actions, which he thinks he controls (eating the Sugar Puffs), are actually just decisions we are making on his behalf, for our own entertainment. Stefan reacts accordingly, with a panic attack, and when his dad tries to calm him down, we are given the option of “back off” or “kill dad”. Such a huge and impactful decision for Stefan is simply a button on our TV screen.

In terms of free will, Stefan appears to realize that his actions are not being controlled by him. He begins to question his reality in the same way many of us do. In the movie, there are several different endings:

1. Government Conspiracy – the government and his father have set up his whole life story using elaborate schemes to Program And Control him. Life is a lie, his mother was an actor.

2. People from the future are controlling him – The classic Netflix scene when we, the Netflix user, are telling him that we’re watching him on a TV screen and choosing his actions for him

3. Time Traveler – Stefan opens up his own reality and travels back in time to travel with his mother on the train, dying in that timeline, and thus dying in the present day

4. The Actor gone delusional – Stefan wakes up and realizes he is actually “Mike” acting as Stefan in a movie. Evidently, the role of Stefan has gone too far into his head.

5. Stefan is psycho – Stefan kills his father and the game is released. Pretty straightforward.

There are multiple endings to the movie but those are the ones I wanted to highlight. Stefan’s questioning of his reality, and the decisions we make for him decide the type of world Stefan is actually living in. All the possibilities of Stefan’s “life” are simultaneously true and false because there are multiple outcomes that can occur based on our decisions – Schrodinger’s Movie. If we want his life to be a government conspiracy, then all we need to do is click the correct buttons. If we want him to be a psycho person who kills his father, just a button away. In some aspect, we don’t know if our lives are like Stefan’s. Is the food you eat for breakfast really your choice? Is the type of music you like really up to you? Do the decisions we make also impact the conclusion of our life being an elaborate scheme as well (1), or us going crazy (5), or us waking up out of a dream (4)? Is our free will really free will?

Unfortunately, I don’t know the answers to these questions. If we were Stefan, trapped in a Netflix movie, then how would our train of thought be any different than his? When questioning our reality, we also question our free will, we also believe our free will is in our hands, but like Stefan, we aren’t seeing the bigger picture, if there even is one. And if we did see the bigger picture, how would that impact our decisions, if they are our decisions at all?

Regardless, as I type this post, I can’t help but wonder if it is me typing this blog post, or if it someone clicking a button on a screen making me type this, while making me think I have free will and am typing this out of my own interest.

I enjoyed watching this move, like any other Black Mirror production, it makes you think and question your preconceived notions, while adding a dark and satirical theme throughout.