Black Mirror: The Entire History of You
“The Entire History of You” is episode 1x03 of the anthology series Black Mirror, which focuses on possible dystopia futures, often with just a few minor differences from our modern world..
In this episode, most of the population has “grains” implanted, small memory devices that record everything they see or hear, and allowing them to play back digital copies of their experiences at will. It is in this setting that the show presents a fairly typical story of a man who suspects his wife is cheating on him, but with the twist of having perfect memory to worsen his paranoia and uncover the truth.
We believe that the producers did not intend to cast the technology presented in the episode as either a good influence or a bad influence, just that it’s a change. The show remains remarkably neutral towards the grain with the notable exception of the end scene where the main character removes his own grain, but we argue that’s just a physical expression of the “I wish I could forget” feeling that many experience after a traumatic event. We see the characters use the grain extensively, but this is really just the producers showing us what a world with the grain would look like, for better or for worse – not a critique.