What Black Mirror and Jesus Remind Us About the Imagination

I’m a fan of The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) tv series, and I have been for many years. I find many of the episodes thought-provoking and the best ones cautionary tales.

Black Mirror (2011-) is a British television show that reminds me of The Twilight Zone with a few differences. First, Black Mirror is for the modern era with an emphasis on what happens when tech goes awry. Also, secondly The Twilight Zone is family friendly, Black Mirror is not. There is plenty of language and mature content, and there are some episodes I skip completely.

The USS Callister

With that said, I want to talk about two episodes that are thought-provoking and insightful in a Twilight Zone kind of way. The first is “USS Callister” (Ep. 4 Season 1) and its sequel “USS Callister: Into Infinity” (Ep. 6 Season 7).

Now, if you haven’t seen the first episode, I will spoil some of the plot. I have warned you!

The first episode opens on the USS Callister, a spaceship inside a universe reminiscent of Star Trek. Leading the ship is Captain Robert Daly (Jesse Plemmons), a kind and generous leader. A grateful crew surrounds him, one that would, and does, follow him to the unknown.

But things are not as they seem. Captain Daly is actually Robert Daly, a nerdy Chief Technology Offer at Infinity, a computer company that makes a massively popular multiplayer video game. While on board the USS Callister, Daly is confident, charismatic, and revered, but in his office, he is shy, overlooked, and dismissed, especially in the shadow of the energetic CEO, Walton (Jimmi Simpson). 

We also learn that life on the USS Callister is a product of VR technology. Robert Daly, a programmer by trade, has created the universe based on his favorite tv series Space Fleet. Except in his universe, he gets to be captain. The crew of the USS Callister are none other than employees from Infinity. 

It doesn’t take long to recognize that the ship’s crew is putting on an act; it seems like they respect Captain Daly, but they are just scared of him. And while it seems like Daly is a good leader, he is but a dictator. The USS Callister is his sandbox, a place where he can subjugate those who have mistreated him in the real world, and play with them like action figures. On this ship, Daly is god, and the universe is but a means for him to live out his dreams. And this is where the metaphorical power of the episodes flow. 

In Our Private Cosmos

It’s easy to remember that how we treat people in our everyday life matters, for there are laws and accountability. But what about in the private cosmos of our mind, heart, imagination? Black Mirror says, “yes!” it does matter. 

And when this occurred to me, I realized there was some profound teaching taking place here. No one may police my thoughts, desires, or imaginative actions, but that does not mean they don’t carry moral weight. 

Jesus could not have made this clearer. You can commit adultery, even if you don’t physically do the act (Matt. 5:21-26). You can commit murder, even if you don’t plunge the knife into the man’s chest (Matt. 5:27-30). Jesus not only reinterprets the Law but expands our moral universe, showing that he cares what we think, do, and desire, even in our imaginations, and that he will hold us accountable for all of it. 

The imagination is a tremendous faculty and Black Mirror emphasizes that, warning us about its capacity for evil (i.e., Robert Daly). Sure, Black Mirror highlights VR technology, but it’s a metaphor for the advanced technology image bearers have: the imagination. Human beings are sub-creators, as Tolkien said. 

To return to the episodes, the story arc really begins when Nanette Cole enters the story. She is a young programmer enamored with Robert Daly. And she is finally someone he connects with at work. But when Walton, the CEO, starts flirting with her and the other co-workers, dismiss Daly as a “nothing,” the tides shift, and the well is poisoned. Hurt and angry, Daly brings a copy of Nanette onto the USS Callister. And unlike the other characters paralyzed by fear, when Nanette wakes up on the spaceship and realizes the hell Daly has placed them in, she plots a plan to escape. Nanette becomes the moral compass for the show, as she calls out Daly’s gross violations of human rights. 

The first episode closes its arc in a satisfying way, and the second picks up where it leaves off. What amazed me was that the sequel was even more insightful than the first, and while the sequel is still dark, Into Infinity draws out the comedic talents of the cast, especially those of Jimmi Simpson and Billy Magnussen. 

In conclusion, the USS Callister episodes don’t hide its moral perspective. They speak loudly about how men in power treat women, especially in the first episode, but in the second, the writers expand their prophetic voice. The writers of Black Mirror are not Christians, but their preaching in these episodes point us to Christian truths, reminding us shockingly that our imaginations are not only an incredible gift but a faculty with nuclear-like potential.

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Dane Bundy is President of Stage & Story and Director of Fine Arts at Regents School of Austin.