Hang the DJ (''Black Mirror'')

"Hang the DJ"
Black Mirror episode
Promotional poster
Episode no. Series 4
Episode 4
Directed by Tim Van Patten
Written by Charlie Brooker
Featured music Original Score by
Alex Somers
Sigur Rós
Original air date 29 December 2017 (2017-12-29)
Running time 51 minutes
Guest appearance(s)

"Hang the DJ" is the fourth episode of the fourth series of the British anthology series Black Mirror. It was written by Charlie Brooker and directed by Tim Van Patten. The episode first aired on Netflix, along with the rest of series four, on 29 December 2017.

Amy (Georgina Campbell) and Frank (Joe Cole) live in a walled-off society where people are required to be matched into romantic relationships; all the relationships come with expiration dates that can be revealed if both partners choose. A digital "coach" (voiced by Gina Bramhill) collects the data from the failed relationship and helps them find their "ultimate compatible other". Amy and Frank meet for just 12 hours before being paired off with others. After a few brief encounters, they realise they are in love, and try to rebel against Coach and the System.

The episode received critical acclaim for its simple, satisfying storyline and Campbell and Cole's performances.[1] Critics praised the Tinder and Siri-like technologies explored throughout the episode and its ending. Some compared the episode to the uplifting tone of "San Junipero".[2][3]

Plot

Frank (Joe Cole) is instructed by "Coach", an artificial intelligence system installed on a small, circular tablet, to go to "the Hub", a large, mall-like building. There he enters a restaurant where he is joined by Amy (Georgina Campbell), who is also following Coach's instructions. The two discover that it is the first time each of them has met someone through "the System", which dictates which romantic relationships its users will have and for how long. Amy and Frank check their tablets and find that they have 12 hours together.

Amy and Frank are taken to a numbered house, passing an encircling wall on the way. They talk, then sleep next to each other, parting the next morning after their tablets count down their relationship time to zero. In their separate conversations with Coach, it is revealed that the System enters users into numerous relationships and collects data on them in order to match the user with their "ultimate compatible other" on the user's "pairing day", which it claims to do with a 99.8% success rate.

Amy is assigned a nine-month long relationship with Lenny (George Blagden), an attractive "old hand" at the system. Frank is assigned a one-year relationship with the humourless and dour Nicola (Gwyneth Keyworth).

Amy and Frank reconnect at a pairing day celebration, which they attend with their respective partners. After this encounter, Amy begins to distance herself from Lenny. When her relationship with Lenny expires, Amy is assigned to a string of short relationships that become increasingly meaningless. When Frank's relationship with Nicola expires, Amy and Frank are once again matched and agree not to check their relationship length.

As Amy and Frank's relationship continues, Frank becomes distracted by the fact that their relationship has a set end date. He breaks his promise to Amy and checks his tablet to see how long they have left. It initially says five years, but then "recalibrates" to ever-shorter periods. Coach informs Frank that his "one-sided observation" of the expiration date has shortened his and Amy's relationship. The tablet eventually settles on 20 hours. The next day, Amy confronts Frank about his distracted behaviour. Frank admits that he checked their expiry date and tells Amy they only have an hour left. The two argue, with Frank suggesting that they climb the encircling wall and escape the System. Amy leaves Frank, angry at him for breaking their promise and "breaking" their relationship.

After another string of indistinguishable short relationships, Coach informs Amy that her ultimate match has been found, and that her pairing day will be the following day. Coach tells Amy that her ultimate match is someone Amy has never met before, and gives Amy the chance to say farewell to one person of her choosing. Amy quickly chooses to say farewell to Frank, then throws her tablet into a pool. The two meet at the restaurant in the Hub and discover their farewell period is just 90 seconds. Amy confirms with Frank that neither of them remembers what their life was like before they entered the System. She tells Frank that they must be undergoing a test, and that rebelling against the System is part of passing it. They agree to rebel by climbing the encircling wall, and start to leave the restaurant. A guard tries to stop them with a stun gun. Amy defies the guard by putting her hand on the stun gun, which freezes him and everyone else in the restaurant. The two make it to the wall. As they climb it, the lights below them go out and pixelated blackness engulfs everything, revealing that they were part of a simulation. They reappear on a virtual plaza with the number 998 above their heads, surrounded by hundreds of other similarly numbered duplicates of themselves. They look up and fade out of existence in awe, as a digital counter announces that out of 1000 simulations run, 998 rebellions have occurred.

The camera then flips into the real world, where the System and its simulations are all part of an online dating app's matchmaking algorithm, with the app on their phones scanning everybody around them and identifying Amy and Frank as a 99.8% match. Amy and Frank smile at each other, as the lyrics "Hang the DJ" from the chorus of "Panic" by The Smiths plays in the background, and Amy begins to approach Frank.

Production

Some exterior filming took place at Painshill, including the Pairing Day ceremony at the ruins of an abbey on the site.

Whilst series one and two of Black Mirror were shown on Channel 4 in the UK, in September 2015 Netflix commissioned the series for 12 episodes,[4] and in March 2016 it outbid Channel 4 for the rights to distribute the third series, with a bid of $40 million.[5] The 12-episode order was divided into two series of six episodes each.

According to Annabel Jones, the series' co-creator, "Hang the DJ" was intended to reflect on the state of dating in the present day and the "general sense of loneliness".[6] Charlie Brooker came up with the idea of the dating app by analogy with Spotify: it determines one's perfect mate by running through a "playlist" of prospective partners and evaluating one's responses to each partner until the algorithm finds the best match.[7] One challenge with the episode was to keep the twist—that most of the events took place within a computer simulation—unclear until the very end while still providing enough detail to make the viewer aware that something was off with the setting.[6] Another aspect Brooker and his writers discussed was how long to have the semi-permanent relationship between Amy and Frank last. They ultimately settled on five years. Brooker said that when Frank discovers this time period "it's not devastating news, but it's not forever", and he thinks, "'Okay that's a reasonable amount of time for a serious relationship, a serious bond.'"[8]

Some exterior filming took place at Painshill, a centuries-old landscape park in Surrey. One of the original remaining structures, an abbey, served as the backdrop for the Pairing Day ceremony scene.[9] The instrumental soundtrack for "Hang the DJ" was created by Alex Somers, with two pieces contributed by Sigur Rós.[10]

Marketing

In May 2017, a Reddit post unofficially announced the names and directors of the six episodes in series 4 of Black Mirror.[11] The first trailer for the series was released by Netflix on 25 August 2017, and contained the six episode titles.[12][13]

Beginning on 24 November 2017, Netflix published a series of posters and trailers for the fourth series of the show, referred to as the "13 Days of Black Mirror".[14] On 6 December, Netflix published a trailer featuring an amalgamation of scenes from the fourth series, which announced that the series would be released on 29 December.[15]

Accolades

Year Award Category Recipients Result Ref.
2018 BAFTA Awards Best Single Drama "Hang the DJ" Nominated [16]
Best Actor Joe Cole (Episode: "Hang the DJ") Nominated
BAFTA Craft Awards Writer: Drama Charlie Brooker (Episode: "Hang the DJ") Nominated [17]
Black Reel Awards Outstanding Actress, TV Movie or Limited Series Georgina Campbell (Episode: "Hang the DJ") Nominated [18]

References

  1. ↑ Gilbert, Sophie. "'Black Mirror': 'Hang the DJ' Explores Dystopian Dating". The Atlantic. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  2. ↑ "Review: Black Mirror season 4 episode 'Hang The DJ' takes Tinder to the extreme in unexpected ways". The Independent. 28 December 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  3. ↑ "In Black Mirror's bittersweet "Hang the DJ," it's technology versus loneliness". Vox. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  4. ↑ Birnbaum, Debra. "'Black Mirror' Lands at Netflix". Variety.
  5. ↑ Plunkett, John (29 March 2016). "Netflix deals Channel 4 knockout blow over Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror". The Guardian.
  6. 1 2 Turchiano, Danielle (29 December 2017). "'Black Mirror' Co-Creator Breaks Down Season 4: 'We Want to Be Surprising and Unpredictable'". Variety. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  7. ↑ Strause, Jackie (15 January 2018). "'Black Mirror': Charlie Brooker Reveals Inspiration for "Hang the DJ"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  8. ↑ Hibbard, James (2 January 2018). "Black Mirror season 4, your burning questions answered". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  9. ↑ Gamp, Joe (30 December 2017). "Where was Black Mirror Hang the DJ filmed? Charlie Brooker's dystopian dating episode is based just outside London". Metro. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  10. ↑ Reed, Ryan (10 January 2018). "Hear Sigur Ros' Two New Ambient Songs From 'Black Mirror'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  11. ↑ Stolworthy, Jacob (27 May 2017). "Black Mirror season 4 episode titles and directors revealed". The Independent. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  12. ↑ Donnelly, Matt (25 August 2017). "'Black Mirror' Season 4: Teaser Trailer, Episode Titles, Directors and Stars Revealed (Video)". TheWrap. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  13. ↑ Hooton, Christopher (25 August 2017). "Black Mirror season 4 Netflix trailer teases all six episodes and their titles". The Independent. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  14. ↑ Strause, Jackie (27 November 2017). "'Black Mirror': All the Season 4 Details". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  15. ↑ White, Peter (6 December 2017). "Netflix Reveals 'Black Mirror' Season 4 Release Date in New Trailer". Decider. New York Post. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  16. ↑ "Bafta TV Awards 2018". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  17. ↑ Allen, Ben (23 April 2018). "Three Girls and Game of Thrones lead Bafta TV Craft Awards 2018". Radio Times. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  18. ↑ For the award nominations, see "Voters Are "Sweet" On Queen Sugar". Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
    For the award winners, see "Black Reel Awards | Past Winners". Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
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