Red Mirror - Demon 79 Analysis
After binging the wicked new season of Netflix’s Black Mirror, I’m dying to talk about one of my favorite episodes: Red Mirror — Demon 79. At a preview for the Season 6 premier, the show’s creator Charlie Brooker said: “Demon 79 opens with a ‘Red Mirror presents’ title sequence, marking it out as ‘different-from-yet-adjacent-to’ Black Mirror. This is because, typically, Black Mirror has focused on tech dystopias or media satire, whereas this story has a stronger supernatural element, harking back to 1970s horror. The episode is almost unclassifiable.”
To be completely honest, I’m hooked up to the Red Mirror IV and I need some more episodes, stat. I will be spoiling this episode from start to finish, so if you have not watched it yet, you’ve been warned. Now, let’s talk about the final episode of Black (Red) Mirror’s newest season.
But Before That…the Origin Story
Originally airing in 2011, Black Mirror was an instant hit amongst audiences because of how it drew you in with this uncanny, familiar, dystopian society of a potential parallel universe of our own. Because the episodes did not feature any particular continuity, the anthology approach to the series was incredibly captivating, with each episode ending in such a way that left you thinking ‘what the f*ck did I just watch?’.
Of course, a commonality between each episode was more often than not, technology. However, the intention of the writer Charlie Brooker was not to create a sense of dread at the existence of advancing technology, but rather force audiences to reflect on what bad people can do with that technology (at the very least what most people would define as bad). Brooker recently spoke about how he was initially frustrated at early audience reactions, explaining that “There was a slight danger that people were bracketing [the series] as the ‘tech is bad’ show — and I found that a bit frustrating partly because I always felt like, ‘Well the show isn’t saying tech is bad, the show is saying people are fucked up’. So, you know, ‘Get it right!’”. This frustration is a key component for the tonal and content shift that occurred in Season 6 Episode 5’s Demon 79. With that in mind, let’s talk about episode 5.
Symbolism — Themes, Colors, and Current Events
Right off the bat, a distinct difference between the standard technologically-heavy Black Mirror universe and this episode came right out the gate with blaring 70’s horror-esque music tones and bright red font taking up the entire screen. Normally, Black Mirror would quietly load on your screen, taking on a humming noise that slowly screeched into a high frequency that shattered the black screen (or the black mirror), leaving behind the broken words of its TV show world. In the case of Demon 79, the Red Mirror universe title is stylistically hidden in the upper corner of the screen, mimicking treasured horror flicks from your parent's childhoods as the background noise suddenly jostles you with a solid wall of brass instrumentals to welcome you into this new universe of stories.
The color RED
Everyone likes to joke about their time in English class. You remember, when your teachers would ask your class what the blue curtains symbolized to the author or the character, inciting a collective groan from all your peers. We all have that same memory, right? Well…your teacher was right; symbolism is everywhere. Sorry not sorry.
Let’s start with the easiest symbolic translation: red equals blood which equals life. Blood runs through all our veins, it connects us from our birth to our deaths. It seems fitting that it would be a prominently featured color in this episode given its…apocalyptical messaging (pun intended). At the start of the episode, after our MC Nida Huq has been introduced in 1979 UK where racism and xenophobia follow her from home to her workplace in the form of subtle (and not so subtle) jabs at her skin color, culture, and food choices.
After being banished to the basement to eat her lunches, Nida discovers a strange set of newspaper clippings at an old desk. The first headlines ‘Publican Dies in Blaze’, the second reads ‘Workman Crushed by Collapsing Wall’ and finally, ‘Woman’s Disappearance Confounds Police’ followed by a more positive clipping celebrating a ‘Grand Success’ for a May Day Celebration several years prior. While the clippings may only seem plain and simply ominous at first glance, they serve as a fantastic foreshadowing for the situation Nida ends up finding herself in. She continues to rummage around the old desk, slicing her finger on an old metal drawer handle which causes her to smear her blood on a finger-sized talisman resembling (at the time) a blank domino.
Blood, and subsequently the color red, is a key component throughout this episode that holds substantial meaning each time it’s featured. By first smearing her blood on the talisman, Nida unknowingly binds herself to a demon called Gaap. According to her ‘demon in training’, Nida must complete three ritual sacrifices over the course of three days in order to prevent the End of the World from happening (It’s simple…really). Additionally, the talisman’s markings are red, which symbolizes the anger Nida has experienced due to the xenophobia of others, the danger the world is in if she does not complete her sacrifices, and the overall violence that this episode explores (i.e violence to prevent further violence). Nida even dons a red leather jacket during her final killing spree, embracing and loving the ‘demonic’ side of her in order to save the world.
Gaap: The Great Prince
Of course, we can’t talk about this episode without discussing the most iconic demon in television history, Gaap, AKA the love woven in this piece. In folklore, Gaap is a lesser known demon who was said to often take human form and had the ability to incite love from others. It makes perfect sense why he was chosen as the show’s demon. In the end, he chooses love over violence, offering Nida a place by his side while they spend eternity alone together. I also find Gaap a pertinent choice for the demon in Demon 79 as the themes of violence and love are explored via the dynamics between Gaap and Nida as they go on a sacrificial killing spree. For example, the first man Gaap pressures Nida into killing is the father of a young girl that he assaults during the midnight hours. This knowledge of the father’s cruel acts towards his own daughter allow Nida to access her dep-set rage towards others, leading to her bludgeoning the man in the river. Because of the violence committed by Nida, the daughter will now be spared a life of further assault and live on to have children and grandchildren of her own.
However, Gaap is not a demon that seems to revel in the violence of the killing acts, unlike his apparent counterparts in Hell that root for murderers since ‘they’re on the same side’. Gaap provides the episode with an incredible amount of brevity and comedy as Nida is committing unspeakable (understandable but unspeakable nonetheless) acts. The balance between brutality and comedy in this episode allows for a philosophical debate on human morality. Would you kill someone if it meant the entire planet would survive Armageddon? Would you kill someone who would commit evil in the future but has yet to commit that evil in the present? Would you want your demon partner to take the form of a sexy, vibrant personality you saw on TV once?
As an aside, one thing I found interesting in my research, in the Lesser Key of Solomon, the demon Gaap is listed as number 33, which is the same age Jesus was when he was crucified. It could be a simple coincidence, but given how Gaap is sentenced to an eternity in The Void (some may say that’s equivalent to human crucifixion for a demon) for not completing his killing spree task, I think it’s a funny little happenstance.
It Was Never Tech — it Was Always People
As I wrap up, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the person in the show I found myself hoping Nida would kill before the end (yikes on that self report). But the character is non other than the secret fascist, Michael Smart. While on paper Michael only seems to be running on simple conservatives and family values, he openly admits he harbors racist and fascist ideals to voters on the down low, much like politicians have done in our world for decades. In this universe, he does seem to get his comeuppance in the form of nuclear weapons obliterating the planet, but Michael Smart is a featured name throughout many other Black Mirror episodes if you know where to look, which may hint that this is indeed an alternate universe to the one we’ve seen all these years.
Michael Smart seems, to me, to be the representative of what bad people would do with good technology. In a previous episode, a news headline mentioned Michael Smart had debuted machine military dogs for the police. And if you remember anything about the black and white Metalhead episode, you know that those did not make safer neighborhoods, but rather wiped them clean from the world. Michael Smart is you, he’s me, he’s our leaders and our youth. He is a man who can and did become corrupted, much like many of us teeter on the edge with the technology we’ve been gifted in this day and age. He’s Charlie Brooker’s warning: pay attention.
