USS CALLISTER | Welcome to The Sunken Place
USS Callister shows the viewer another glimpse of the technologies in place to defile this world. Earth is YAH's creation, each part perfectly made, but satan wants to defile this by turning this world into an entirely new place using technology. Unlike The Most High, satan has no power unless it is given to him through the inhabitants of the earth. USS Callister gives a visual to what some of this process will look like.
Black Mirror season 4 begins with the USS Callister dark parody and starts off the season by showing us parallels in time - giving the viewer a picture of the past, present and future simultaneously. Mixing the technologies we currently see, with seemingly future technologies.
Hi and welcome to chroma film tv. In this video, i'll be taking a deeper look at Black mirrors USS Callister and explore the multiple messages hidden in the episode. And without further ado, let's get into it.
OVERVIEW
Daily is a gamer and developer for a gaming company he runs with his friend Walton.
As a developer, Daly is the brains of the operation, but he's stereotypically awkward - having an inability to express himself with confidence. His friend Walton is the communicator of the two - he's not as tech savvy as Daily, but without his communication skills, the company wouldn't be as successful as it is.
As a gamer, within the game, Daily has fashioned himself as a leader, showing the opposite qualities of who he is in their real world.
we also meet the team members - Walton seems to get along with everyone pretty well and they seem to have a genuine respect for him. Daly on the other hand, with his lack of communication skills ,only shares awkward exchanges with the team. In spite of this, the team is never disrespectful to him, but he makes them feel uneasy.
Daly has serious boundary issues, snoops around and eavesdrops on private conversations. What he hears or at least his perception of it, determines if he'll add this person to his gaming crew.
THE COSTUME (Costume Metaphors)
The costumes are based on Space Fleet, a show in the universe of the episode, but if you've ever watched star trek, you'll notice the costumes are like a merge between the crews of Tiberious and Jean Luke, this merging is also shown in the locations, the creatures and the cabin - like a sort of hiccup in the space-time continuum -
There's an as above so below effect between the costumes of the crew vs the team. The character as a team member has a certain personality, but their crew member counterparts are the complete opposites. The uniforms they wear carries the properties of their real world and game world personalities but are negative and positive representations of the color
Unlike the other members of the crew, Daily's uniform reflects his personality as a staff member and a crew member. As a staff member, his heart is dark, seeking revenge on anyone that slights him in the smallest sense. As the captain, he acts as a malevolent being - punishing his crew at will.
too much red - loss of temper, agitation, anger, and overbearing, demanding, and oppressive behaviors. Too little red causes lethargic, cautious, whiny, and manipulative feelings
DIGITAL COPIES
During the episode, we discovered that Daily would execute revenge by secretly collecting the DNA of his staff.
With this DNA, he made digital copies and uploaded them into the game for his sadistic pleasure. Having an ability to maim or destroy his crew members with the wave of a hand.
GAMING Metaphor / Singularity
A good amount of the episode takes place within the game. This was explored in season 3's "Playtest" but USS Callister adds more detail about the use of DNA
From the screen looking in - we have an idea of how the crew interacted with one another, but what's less conveyed is that their copies are all uploaded into one place - the game - meaning anyone with access to the game, could also read or have access to the minds of their team mates. This was also shown in the crocodile episode later in the season. - where Mia was forced by law to share her memories of an event she witnessed.
In my opinion, gaming is a metaphor for the singularity. The goal is one consciousness shared by all - all knowledge memories and thoughts are in a central location, accessible to anyone connected to the digital system.
SPIRITUAL DEATH - THE SUNKEN PLACE
By the end of the episode, the crew is able to over power their diabolical captain by leaving him in space during the system update. As a result, he was stuck in this realm for eternity or at least until his brain stopped working.
It's my belief that this is a representation of spiritual hell. We know about the fire and brimstone, but there's also mental torment that takes place. If you've seen a black cube, or even superman for that matter, these are representations of places that are full of darkness, hopelessness and fear. Imagine sitting in a room of complete darkness without even the smallest sliver of light. Now imagine being there for years with no one to talk to, no one to answer your call and during it all, being attacked in the darkness without being able to see who or what it is doing something to you and no power to stop it.
Revelation 14:11
And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”
USS Callister continued the scrying mirror legacy. Giving us bits and pieces of the technocratic dystopian puzzle.
Along with technology, the episode started to touch on things of the spiritual realm in a metaphorical sense. The captain was like a representation of a false god, the gnostic god, an antichrist or satan. using his powers to oppress and punish his team, while wearing colors that expressed the same sentiment.
Revelation 9:6
“And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.”
In my opinion Daily's partial demise at the end of the episode was a good representation of this. Technically, Daily was alive, but in another dimension of sorts, his mind was incapacities and with an inability to do anything but sit there in a sea of darkness and hopelessness. In this situation, if he wished for death - he wouldn't find it - at least not for some time - not until is natural body shut down.
This episode starts the season off by continuing to put what appears to be future technologies in a present tense - using entertainment to blur the line between science fiction and science faction (I made that up) while adding a spiritual or ethical connotation to them.. Bringing us to a realm that initially seemed far off into the future, but has been proven to be right here at our doorsteps.
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and, on that note - peace
Bible verses - KJV
Bourn Creative - Color definitions
Black Cube/Saturn Worship - Nicholson1968.com
Microsoft YouTube channel
USS Callister Clips - Netflix
Superman II - Columbia-EMI-Warner Distribution/Warner Bros