On December 28th, Netflix released a special one-off episode of their original series Black Mirror. The series, which only became a Netflix Original in its third season, is an anthology of standalone episodes, each of which explores a different aspect of the human condition through a science fiction or technological lens. However, this installment, a movie named Bandersnatch, is a different beast altogether. It is the series’ first attempt at interactive storytelling.
The user-controlled system, recently integrated into Netflix’s platform, is a new and intriguing form of entertainment. Of course, media in which the audience chooses their own path is nothing new in and of itself. Bandersnatch even discusses choose-your-own-adventure novels within the film and the near-defunct game studio Telltale Games has been bringing this concept to video games for years now. But until now, there hasn’t been such a high-budget and well-produced piece of live-action content that has implemented this idea.
If one is to discuss Bandersnatch viewing it only as a linear story, there is still a lot of good to be said about it. The performances, especially by its lead, Fionn Whitehead, and supporting actor Will Poulter, are wonderful, and the writing is clever and thoroughly engaging. It delves pretty deeply into the theme of free will and remains focused on this idea throughout. But despite all these good things, it’s clear you can’t analyze Bandersnatch simply linearly. Its story is living and breathing, and most aren’t going to experience it in the same way as one another. For this reason, you can’t critique its plot exactly or compare it to other TV episodes or features in a straightforward way.
Despite this, I still think that as an overall experience Bandersnatch is one of the best Black Mirror episodes that has ever been released. The mutability of its plot feeds directly into its thematic content and provides for a viewing experience that’s not only unique but fascinatingly rich and complex. Having control over the plot is not just novel it’s very enjoyable and, at least in my experience, makes you more empathetic to the main character. For instance, early on I made decisions simply because I wanted to see what would happen. But, as the story progressed I found myself wanting to keep the protagonist, Stefan Butler, safe and made choices that would keep him out of harm’s way. Of course, this isn’t always possible, but at the very least I found that Bandersnatch let me connect to the characters of Black Mirror far more significantly than I ever have before.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that everything we watch going forward needs to be interactive. This kind of storytelling is a very fun experience but it certainly wouldn’t suit any story like it does Bandersnatch. In a lot of cases, giving the audience agency might actually make the narrative a lot less compelling. However, while this form of entertainment may not be the future, I do hope that more efforts are made to incorporate this concept into projects going forward. If they are, Bandersnatch will surely be the standard by which all endeavors into this art form are measured up against.
Score: You Choose!/5