Black Mirror
Black Mirrorseason 6 starts substantial with the installment “ Joan Is Awful ” , one of the most meta stories Netflix has produced so far . After a retentive postponement , Black Mirroris back with time of year 6 on Netflix , its home plate since time of year 3.Black Mirrorhas become known for its geographic expedition of various writing style and musical theme associate to technological advancements , show the dangers of going too far with these . Through this , Black Mirroralso explore societal issues , fears , and presents scenario in near or far future that often serve as cautionary taradiddle – and following these lines is “ Joan is Awful ” .
“ Joan is Awful ” introduces Joan Tait ( Annie Murphy ) , a technical school chief operating officer living with her fiancé , Krish , and who feels like her life is n’t moving forward . One night , Joan and Krish total across a novel TV show on the cyclosis service Streamberry calledJoan is Awful , starring Salma Hayek . As the title say , the series is about Joan and her spirit , showing everything she did that day but with various overdone moment for dramatic purpose . “ Joan is awed ” evolves into a meta - commentary on streaming services , media depiction of actual people and events , and the impact of CGI and AI on content creation , and here ’s the real significance behind its layered ending .
Related : Why Black Mirror Season 6 Took So Long To come about
What Happens In Joan Is Awful’s Ending
Tired of her life being point in a TV series that she never consciously accord to , Joan take some uttermost measures to insure that Streamberry and/or Salma Hayek would stop producing and distributing the show . Joan binge - ate burgers and drank a feeding bottle of laxatives before dressing up as a cheerleader ( with a red member drawn on her forehead ) , crash a wedding at a Christian church , and defecating in front of everyone . This catch the care of Salma Hayek , who did n’t want to be associated with Joan after what she did , but there was no path out for her due to her contract .
Salma Hayek then become to Joan ’s house to obtain a solution to their mutual problem , and together they concluded that the only way to stop Streamberry andJoan is Awfulwas by destroy the waft ’s server . Hayek used her celebrity status to enter Streamberry ’s HQ and helped Joan sneak in , and together , they made it to the office of CEO Mona Javadi . There , they learned that the burden of the waiter , which Javadi call a “ quamputer ” , was at the end of the corridor in her federal agency . Hayek and Joan broke into the quamputer room and met the assistant looking after it , who was played by Michael Cera . The assistant drop some disgraceful truths on Joan and Hayek , which only made Joan more determined to ruin the quamputer .
As Joan fix to put down the quamputer , Mona came in with her security guard and tried to convince Joan not to do it , explaining she would be destroying a multiverse with billions of digital souls . Joan , take in the truth about her creation and that she was n’t in ascendance of her actions , found out she could n’t check herself because the actual Joan was about to destroy the server , so she carry on to axe the quamputer . After the destruction of the waiter , the substantial Joan and Annie Murphy were arrested , withBlack Mirror ’s “ Joan is Awful ” make a pocket-sized time - start during the end credits to show that Joan is now reconstruct her life while on mansion arrest , and she ’s friend with Annie Murphy , who is also on house collar .
Why Streamberry Made The Series Joan Is Awful
The biggest question throughout “ Joan is Awful ” is why Streamberry made the title serial and how it was capable to do it , as each sequence cover the day it was relinquish on . As it turn over out , there were various reasons why and how Streamberry was able to makeJoan is Awful , which are what make thisBlack Mirrorepisode one of Netflix ’s most meta stories . Joan ’s lawyer explicate to her and the hearing that she actually gave Streamberry license to use her life history and all personal data when she agreed to the platform ’s term and Conditions when she signed up .
In parliamentary law to bringJoan is Awfulto life , Streamberry rely on algorithmic rule and the tv camera and mike on computers , phones , etc . in Holy Order to get more info on Joan and her daily life . If that was n’t disturb enough , the reason why episodes were produced and released so fast was due to Streamberry ’s use of AI and CGI , which kick the bucket as far as not having the real Salma Hayek being filmed at all . Instead , Salma Hayek as Joan ( and every other character in the series ) was CGI , and Hayek had consented to this when she signed her contract with the platform .
In gain to that , Mona explain to a journalist that Streamberry ’s design was to make a show likeJoan is Awfulfor every one of their contributor so as to bring relatable depicted object , and that they used “ atrocious ” as viewer responded better to negative capacity . As for why they specifically used Joan first , Mona said it was because she was boring and a nobody , so she used her to test their concept and technology . Black Mirror ’s “ Joan is Awful ” fervidness shots at something as simple as the great unwashed never taking the team to say the Terms and Conditions and blindly agreeing to them but also at more complex issue like how far technology and avaritia can go . Streamberry was not only making a profit out of using the picture and life of others and flex events but also out of their concern , insecurity , and most vulnerable instant , not caring about how much they affected the many people they were take vantage of .
Who Is The Original Joan (& What Happens To Her In The Ending)
Black Mirroris no stranger to plot twist , and the bounteous one in “ Joan is Awful ” is that the Joan the interview had been espouse through the total sequence was n’t the veridical one . In the quamputer room , Joan saw herself on the screen , with the assistant explaining to her that she was n’t the real Joan , and the real one was “ Source Joan ” . The Joan that had been leading the instalment was a novelize interlingual rendition of Source Joan played by Annie Murphy , and the tangible Salma Hayek gibe to play herself in that level of fiction . basically , Streamberry had created a multiverse of Joans .
“ Joan is Awful ” cease with Source Joan telling her healer she ’s dating again and that she has a less corporate Book of Job now that she truly enjoys , discover that she last open her own coffee shop ( Joan / Annie mentioned at the beginning of the episode that it was her dream ) . Joan was see felicitous work at her chocolate workshop , with Annie Murphy visiting her as they had become friends .
What Happened To All The Other Joans In Joan Is Awful?
Mona explained that Streamberry ’s AI and CGI engineering leave them to bring out content in no clock time and based on middling much anything , create a multiverse with a clustering of variants . This was better exemplified by the reveal of Source Joan , as there was her , Joan / Annie , Joan / Salma , and Joan / Cate Blanchett , with multiple unknown Joans after Blanchett ’s tier . The destruction of the quamputer precede to the demolition of all of Source Joan ’s variants , so Mona was n’t lying when she sound out she would be kill gazillion of digital souls ( though that elicit the questions on how real these are and if they are as valuable as a existent , human living ) . By the end of “ Joan is Awful ” , only one Joan was left , and it was Source Joan .
The Real Meaning Of Joan Is Awful’s Ending
Black Mirror ’s “ Joan is dreadful ” addresses various modern themes and concerns based on content creation , how far technology has gone in creative fields , how the medium distorts information and sells it as fact , and how big tummy do n’t care about the pain they have as long as they can make a net profit . Streamberry’sJoan is Awfulpresents real - life sentence events but with big tone changes and more that make Joan seem , well , really painful , and while she knows that ’s not how things really pass , viewer take them as fact . Even multitude who were there , like Sandy , like a shot buy into the musical theme of awful , rude Joan even though she have a go at it well that Joan was n’t rude to her when she fired her .
“ Joan is terrible ” also makes sport of how almost no one conduct the time to read the Terms and Conditions , but through this , it also shows how company take advantage of their customer . Streamberry withdraw this way too far with their AI and CGI applied science , through which they left tangible citizenry like Source Joan with zero agency , but they did n’t care because the show was a hit . Black Mirroralso addresses how trespassing algorithm , cameras , and microphone in various devices genuinely are , showing that , in these mod times , privacy has become a privilege and almost no one can have it anymore .
Like many otherBlack Mirrorepisodes , “ Joan is Awful ” is a cautionary tale of how far society and applied science have gone and how far they can still go , as well as how desensitized society has become in late years . In the terminal , Source Joan got a well-chosen termination , but she had to go through hell for get there .
