You’ve heard of propaganda films — the devastating “Men Against Fire” episode of “Black Mirror” is an anti-propaganda film.
The fifth episode of the Netflix series’ third season joins “Full Metal Jacket” and “All Quiet on the Western Front” as one of the most powerful visual accounts of how war actually works. It powerfully makes the case that it’s much easier to kill enemies we don’t consider human.
It’s a phenomenon we’ve seen many times, in wars where we dehumanized our enemies by calling them racial slurs or accusing them of atrocities they may not have actually committed. In “Men Against Fire” the enemies are called “Roaches,” and soldiers are given implants that make these enemies — who are actually scared, fragile humans — appear to be vampiric monsters.
Late in the episode, a military psychologist played by Michael Kelly explains to a soldier nicknamed Stripe, played by Malachi Kirby, that one of the biggest problem in war is that so many combatants see their enemies’ humanity.
Here is his monologue:
“Humans. You know we give ourselves a bad rap, but we’re generally empathetic as a species. I mean, we don’t actually really want to kill each other. Which is a good thing. Until your future depends on wiping out the enemy … I don’t how much history you studied in school. Many years ago, I’m talking early 20th century, most soldiers didn’t even fire their weapons. Or if they did they would just aim over the heads of the enemies. They did it on purpose. British Army, World War I — the brigadier, he’d walk the line with a stick and he’d whack his men in order to get ‘em to shoot.
“Even in World War II, in a firefight, only 15, 20 percent of the men would pull the trigger. Fate of the world at stake, and only 15 percent open fire. Now what does that tell you? It tells me that that war would have been over a whole lot quicker if the military got its shit together. So we adapted. Better training, better conditioning. Then comes the Vietnam War, and the shooting percentage goes up t0 85. Lot of bullets flying. The kills are still low. Plus the guys who did get a kill, most of them came back messed up in the head.”
Kelly is kind of the perfect actor to deliver this ends-justify-the-means speech, because his “House of Cards” character, Doug Stamper, is the ultimate ends-justify-the-means kind of guy. Though he doesn’t cite any source for his numbers, the source for the episode’s title does.
“Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command,” is an influential book by Samuel Lyman Marshall, nicknamed “Slam,” a World War I veteran, newspaper reporter and military historian who said that in combat, no more than one in four men will generally fire their weapons. He said that this contention was based on interviews he conducted with soldiers immediately after combat in World War II.
Marshall proposed changes to increase the amount of shooting and killing, and according to a summary of his book, the ratio of fire more than doubled from World War II to the Korean War, just a few years later. Marshall later traveled to Israel, Beirut, the Congo, Vietnam and Nicaragua to write about war.
“He died in 1977, a legend among those who sought to understand men in battle,” says the introduction to the 2000 edition of “Men Against Fire.”
But others have cast doubt on the one-in-four statistic. The strongest case against it appears in a lengthy 1989 American Heritage article by Fredric Smoler that you can read in its entirety here. That article reads, in part:
“Unfortunately, the fruit of Marshall’s interviews, the astonishing insight, turns out to be a little too good to be true. In fact, it just may be that Samuel Lyman Marshall made the whole thing up.”
Smoler said that Marshall was inconsistent in reporting the number of interviews he conducted, with them ranging from “approximately” 400 group interviews with infantry rifle companies, to exactly 603 interviews. Smoler also cites an argument that in a by-the-book divisional assault — he offers a very in-the-weeds account of how such assaults are carried out — it might be entirely possible that the vast majority of soldiers might have no orders or reason to fire. (Before you say, “Of course they would fire! It’s war!,” it’s worth clicking on the link to see why that may not be the case.)
Whatever the facts, what makes “Men Against Fire” — the book and the episode — so frightening is the idea that someone would make a cold calculation that war would be better if it were more ruthless, not less.
The argument, in essence, is that the longer a war drags on, the more painful it is. So better to rip off the Band-Aid — or in this case, kill more people quickly — than to let the misery persist.
There’s a utilitarian argument — you may have heard it in a philosophy class — that it was more ethical for President Truman to order the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II than it would have been to invade Japan.
“Truman heard estimates that put the [invasion] death toll in the range of 500,000 to 1,000,000 Allied casualties. Truman was also aware of the continuing slaughter of Japanese from ongoing non-nuclear bombing, which had already cost the Japanese some 100,000 lives,” says a PhilosophyNow post.
In this framing of the argument, the simple question is whether more people died in the bombing than would have died in an invasion. (The number of people who died by bomb and atomic fallout has been conservatively estimated at 225,000, but could be far higher.) We’re supposed to solve a hellish crisis with a math problem: Whichever approach results in the fewest total deaths is the most ethical approach.
One of the many upsetting things about these kinds of arguments is that we have no way of knowing who, if anyone, is right. We’re horrified and repulsed by the idea of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but have no alternate history we can cite to prove the bombings caused more death and anguish than might have resulted from an invasion, or some other course of action.
The whole discussion feels disgusting. I feel gross even glancing toward the moral rabbit hole of counting actual lost lives against hypothetical deaths.
Part of what feels so sickening about the utilitarian framing is that the by-the-numbers approach ignores almost everything but numbers, and fails to assign a numerical value to the concept of humanity.
Using an atomic bomb doesn’t just kill actual people. It also creates a reality in which humans have dropped atomic bombs on each other, and the possibility that we might use an atomic bomb again. It makes us a people who have had and continue to have numbers-based debates about snuffing out human life on a mass scale.
What makes the “Black Mirror” episode so terrifying is that the technology that turns adversaries into “roaches” clearly isn’t being used for the first time. The technology serves as a symbol for almost any kind of weapon, from guns to atomic bombs to missiles to drones, that allow us to kill from greater physical and emotional distance.
It may have been introduced long before the episode takes place, to defeat opponents who struck first. It may have been used to end a war more quickly. There may have been sane, logical reasons for the technology to exist. It’s possible.
But it’s obvious that the “roaches” in the episode aren’t people who need to be killed. They’re largely unarmed and defenseless. The soldiers we meet on “Black Mirror” have slipped far, far down the slippery slope, and now they’re killing people they shouldn’t, enemies they don’t see as human, and becoming less human themselves.
The episode makes a powerful case that soldiers should be able to see the real faces of their supposed enemies, and make their own decisions about who deserves to die.
'Striking Vipers' to 'San Junipero': Every 'Black Mirror' Episode Ranked, From Good to Mind-Blowing (Photos)
With the arrival of "Striking Vipers," "Smithereens" and “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too,” it's time to re-rank every episode of "Black Mirror," going back to the first episode, "National Anthem." There are no bad "Black Mirror" episodes, so we ranked them from good to mind-blowing.
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23. Season 2, Episode 3: "The Waldo Moment"
Many have made the now-trite observation that this episode, about a cartoon bear who insults his way into higher office, predicted the rise of Donald Trump. OK. This episode does a good job of again showing that we bend too easily before the loud and obnoxious. But "Black Mirror" usually has more novel things to say.
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22. Season 3, Episode 6: "Hated in the Nation"
It's disappointing that "Black Mirror" Season 3 -- one of the best TV seasons ever -- ended with a story that feels a little like "Sharknado." Great acting, though, and it can be taken as a friendly reminder not to cancel people over tweets.
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21. Season 5, Episode 2: "Smithereens"
Topher Grace's lovely performance as a tech guru who hates beeps, bloops and push notifications as much as you do saves this from being a pretty run-of-the-mill hostage drama. But it is a "Black Mirror" episode that could happen right now, in the present day, and we always like when the show pulls that off.
20. Season 2, Episode 2: "White Bear"
Sure, this one's scary, but it's just scary. There's some "Purge"-quality social commentary here, and that's nice. But "Black Mirror" is usually smarter. ("Black Mirror" creator Charlie Brooker seems pleased with this episode, though: "Bandersnatch" calls back to it aggressively.)
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19. Season 3, Episode 2: "Playtest"
This episode relies too much on typical scares to be among our favorites. The sudden turn into real-life horror is more affecting than the haunted house scenes.
18. Season 5, Episode 3: “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too”
This feels like the umpteenth episode of "Black Mirror" in which someone's digital soul becomes trapped outside his or her body. This time the victim is pop star Ashley (Miley Cyrus! We like her), who ends up inside a robot toy owned by one of her adoring fans. A caper to reunite mind and body ensues, making this one of the funniest episodes of "Black Mirror." It feels deliberately light, and it's charming, but nothing about it will haunt you except Ashley's cheery take on a Nine Inch Nails classic.
17. Season 2, Episode 1: "Be Right Back"
We recommend this episode, and all the ones that follow, with zero reservations. Starring Hayley Atwell and Domhnall Gleeson, "Be Right Back" is another look at the qualities that make us us.
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16. Season 4, Episode 2: "Arkangel"
This episode has the best setup of any "Black Mirror," and seems poised to launch a savage critique of over-parenting. But it doesn't escalate as much as we expected it to, and can't quite live up to its brilliant concept.
15. Season 1, Episode 2: "Fifteen Million Merits"
This twist on "American Idol"-style mobs is gorgeously acted by Jessica Brown Findlay and a pre-"Get Out" Daniel Kaluuya, and their chemistry helps sell familiar lessons about literal cycles of exploitation. We think about this episode every time we ride an exercise bike, which probably isn't often enough.
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14. Season 1, Episode 1: "National Anthem"
This mean little story feels all the meaner because it's so easy to imagine it happening in real life. It's a perfect first episode, because there's no better test of whether "Black Mirror" is for you.
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13. Season 4, Episode 6: "Black Museum"
“Black Museum” references every past episode in the anthology, but the ruthlessness with which it merges three vignettes into one nasty story. Letitia Wright and Douglas Hodge counter the ugliness with some beautiful acting.
12. Season 4, Episode 5: Metalhead
Hey, Alexa: Is this episode just a stripped-down survival story? Or a grim warning that our reliance on Amazon is a slippery slope into Terminator dogs chasing us down across a hellscape Earth? Just asking.
11. Season 4, Episode 3: "Crocodile"
If Alfred Hitchcock had done a "Black Mirror" episode, it would go pretty much like this. A frosty blonde antihero (Andrea Riseborough) tries to outsmart a relentless insurance adjuster. A rodent gets involved.
10. Season 2, Episode 4: "White Christmas"
If you're dreaming of a black Christmas, this showcase for madman Jon Hamm combines two imaginary technologies -- one of which allows you to "block" people in real life -- to tell one of grayest stories ever told. Sentiment-free, it's the most "Black Mirror" episode of "Black Mirror."
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9. Season 4, Episode 4: "Hang the DJ"
Boy and girl meet cute in The System, which is designed to find “true matches.” If you and your better half are fighting over complicated wedding plans and too-high expectations, stop and watch this episode and remember you don't owe anything to anyone but each other.
"Hang the DJ" is probably the sweetest episode of "Black Mirror," and is therefore not our favorite.
8. Season 3, Episode 3: "Shut Up and Dance"
No episode of "Black Mirror" will leave you feeling worse about humanity than this one. The ultimate prank is on you. Oh, also? It could happen. Similar things have already happened.
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7. Season 4, Episode 1: USS Callister
This one makes the Top 5 on sweep and ambition alone. And it's one of many episodes that remind us to never let anyone make a digital copy of your soul. Stars Jesse Plemons and Cristin Milioti should be in everything.
6. Standalone movie: "Bandersnatch"
By far the most ambitious "Black Mirror," "Bandersnatch" does something never before attempted in serious drama, using the "Choose Your Own Adventure" format to ask provocative questions about free will and power. Part film, part video game, it's incredibly impressive, and builds a complicated, stunning alternate-reality 1984 that we're still navigating. The one flaw is that the lack of a consistent narrative makes it hard to completely engage with the characters.
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5. Season 3, Episode 1: "Nosedive"
This is the episode that probably hits closest to home: We think about it every time we get in a Lyft or consider writing a negative Yelp review. The Bryce Dallas Howard story is a perfect sendup of our obsession with social-media approval. As soon as it ended we tweeted how much we loved it, then waited to see if anyone would retweet us, and... why didn't they? What's wrong with them? What's wrong with us?
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4. Season 5, Episode 1: "Striking Vipers"
One of the best written and acted episodes, with an especially good turn by Nicole Beharie as a woman trying to figure out what's wrong in her marriage. What's wrong is very hard to explain, but it revolves around a video game obsession shared by her husband (Anthony Mackie) and his former roommate (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). This is one of the scariest episodes of "Black Mirror," because the fear of a relationship disintegrating is so well-grounded. But there's also a beautiful resolution.
3. Episode 3, Season 5: "Men Against Fire"
We don't say this lightly: This episodes stands alongside "All Quiet on the Western Front" and "Full Metal Jacket" as one of the best stories about how war really works. (Even though the speech about how most soldiers don't fire their weapons might be totally wrong.)
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2. Season 3, Episode 4: "San Junipero"
No other story better captures the 1980s' pulsing mix of hope, heartache, cruelty and perfect pop music. It's another episode that could have been a Best Picture, and it may be the best single episode of television at capturing raw emotion. (It also feels joyously defiant that this story of colorblind LGBT love was filmed in South Africa, a former bastion of government-mandated bigotry.)
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1. Season 1, Episode 3: "The Entire History of You"
If you've ever been in a relationship with anyone who's been in another relationship, this one will crush you. Should life be lived, or remembered? And can you separate the living from the remembering? We think of this episode every time our memories fail us -- or serve us much too well.
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There are no bad episodes of ”Black Mirror,“ but only one of the new episodes is among the best
With the arrival of "Striking Vipers," "Smithereens" and “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too,” it's time to re-rank every episode of "Black Mirror," going back to the first episode, "National Anthem." There are no bad "Black Mirror" episodes, so we ranked them from good to mind-blowing.