Is Apple turning into a dystopian, cyberbunk piece of fiction? Look to “Black Mirror” for confirmation.
A joke began with the unveiling of a new emoji feature on iPhone X. One is a TrueDepth camera that allows users to scan their faces and turn them into avatars and other emojis that can be used in messaging.
Apple used some popular ones as examples, including the alien and the poop emojis, but “Black Mirror’s” Twitter account added one of its own. See if you can spot it in the tweet below.
— Black Mirror (@blackmirror) September 12, 2017
Having trouble? Look in the second row, second from the right.
That’s a character named Waldo from the Season 2 episode “The Waldo Moment,” which told the story of a man who voices a cartoon bear run for public office. However, Waldo, who uses anti-establishment rhetoric and vulgar humor to gain the votes, ends up spinning out of control.
The people at “Black Mirror” weren’t the only ones to spot the resemblance. Many on Twitter joked that new Apple features and presentation tidbits were like “Black Mirror” episodes that haven’t happened yet.
Even Charlie Brooker, creator of the show, got in on the action.
"This is an X iPhone" pic.twitter.com/Lc0Cz3sx8z
— Charlie Brooker (@charltonbrooker) September 12, 2017
There’s enough fuel in this Apple presentation to inspire at least two more seasons of Black Mirror.
— Joey Ciccoline (@joeyciccoline) September 12, 2017
"Face ID learns your face, even if you change your hairstyle or decide to put on glasses…. It learns WHO YOU ARE."
BLACK MIRROR OU APPLE?
— Guilherme "Ghost" Jacobs (@GhostJacobs) September 12, 2017
The Apple presentation is first episode of Black Mirror season 4.
— Elliott Schwartz (@elliosch) September 12, 2017
Apple turning into a “Black Mirror” episode isn’t out of the question considering all the events that the anthology series has “predicted.” The very first episode, “The National Anthem,” was released before allegations that former British Prime Minister David Cameron had performed a salacious act on a dead pig were published (the episode features a politician who is forced to have sex with a pig).
Brooker was just as shocked as you were. “Just to clear it up: nope, I’d never heard anything about Cameron and a pig when coming up with that story. So this weirds me out,” he tweeted.
Just to clear it up: nope, I’d never heard anything about Cameron and a pig when coming up with that story. So this weirds me out.
— Charlie Brooker (@charltonbrooker) September 20, 2015
Brooker has also mentioned “The Waldo Moment” in relation to the rise of Donald Trump in the US.
“When ‘The Waldo Moment’ came out, people were saying he was too crude and people wouldn’t vote for something that offensive and witless. Then you look at somebody like Trump and you go, ‘Well, maybe we didn’t go far enough,’” he told Esquire last year.