
Throughout the course of history, certain groups of people have had to fight for their rights, whether they were miniscule rights or much more prominent ones. These people often face prejudice and wrongful judgement from other people. In the episode San Junipiero in the series Black Mirror, the life of the LGBT community members throughout the second half of the twentieth century and early twenty-first century is focused on. As the two main characters, Kelly and Yorkie, travel throughout this time period, and they are in love with each other for the duration of the episode. 

Kelly and Yorkie originally meet in the year 1987. Yorkie sees Kelly on the street and appears to be immediately riveted by her. Yorkie follows Kelly into the club. The song “C’est La Vie” plays in the background. This song translates to “It’s Life” in French. This could be an allusion to the couple’s relationship. Being in love is part of life, and it does not matter whether it is between a man and a woman, a man and a man, or a woman and a woman. The two make eye contact, and it becomes evident that there is already a special bond between the two of them. The two first engage in conversation when Kelly uses Yorkie as an excuse to get away from a guy that is trying to talk to her. Shortly after this, the song “Fake” plays in the background, which describes the “fake” relationship that Kelly and Yorkie have at this point in the episode. The two begin to talk and it becomes obvious that they are polar opposites. Kelly is a renegade who likes partying and having fun, while Yorkie is a quiet and reserved person who has never even so much as danced at a club before. Kelly offers to dance with Yorkie, and Yorkie is reluctant to say the least. She does not want to dance initially but Kelly convinces her to dance and have fun. Initially, it appears as if Yorkie is having fun and enjoying herself. But, she begins to look around the dancefloor and finds that everyone else on the dance floor is staring at the two of them. She immediately runs off of the dancefloor and outside into the rain. When Kelly finds her and asks what is wrong, Yorkie explains that she thought everyone was staring at the two of them because they were both females dancing together. The year was 1987, and people were not as accustomed to seeing a same sex couple as they are years later. Kelly, however, explains that people are a lot less uptight about same sex couples in 1987 then they used to be. This shows the dramatic change in the people’s view of the LGBT rights movement in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. Same sex couples were not granted even close to the same amount of rights as heterosexual couples, yet Kelly speaks about how people are more understanding of same sex couples like they have been given equal rights. In fact, it was not until 28 years later in 2015 that same sex couples were granted the right to marry. Yorkie clearly is attracted to Kelly, but is uncomfortable even looking at her. This shows how people were discouraged from being together if they were the same gender during this time period.

One week later, Yorkie is seen trying on many different types of clothes while listening to music. The songs “Girlfriend in a Coma”, “Don’t You Forget About Me”, “Addicted to Love”, and “Wishing Well” are playing. These songs all have relevance to the relationship between Kelly and Yorkie. Yorkie is clearly dressing up to impress Kelly. She is afraid the Kelly may have moved on and forgot about her. She is in love with Kelly, even though she does not believe it is right at the time, hence the phrase “addiction”. She is also wishing that Kelly will be at the club when she gets there. The use of these songs, although subtly playing in the background, convey a clear point about the mindset and status of Kelly and Yorkie’s loving relationship. Once Kelly arrives at the club, the song “Living In a Box” is heard playing. This song could be utilized to quietly describe Yorkie. Yorkie lived a very boring life prior to meeting Kelly at the club, and she admits this herself. She had never danced before, and she had never had a relationship with another person before, as she explains to Kelly while lying in bed with her. After she met Kelly, however, Yorkie feels much happier and is free. “Need You Tonight” plays as Yorkie searches for Kelly in the club. They find each other and go back to Kelly’s beach house. Once there, Yorkie asks Kelly when she knew that she was attracted to women. Yorkie still feels uneasy about the relationship, even though she knows that she is in love. This once again shows how during this time period, even a gay person could be uncomfortable with being in a relationship with someone else of the same gender. Same sex relationships were rarely accepted in this time period. 

Yet one more week later, Yorkie goes back to the same club, Tucker’s, to find Kelly. The year is 1980. The song “Ironic” plays in the background, alluding to the irony of the two’s relationship. She asks the bartender is he knows where Kelly is, and he tells her to check the Quagmire. Yorkie does not know what this is, but goes to find her anyway. She is shocked to see that it is a bizarre punk rock scene. Kelly had previously told her that she should not go to Quagmire if she didn’t already know what it was. Once there, Yorkie notices that the man who Kelly was trying to avoid at Tucker’s is there. He advises her to try different time periods to try to woo Kelly, as he himself had already tried the 80s,90s, and early 2000s. 

One more week later, Yorkie goes back to the club to find Kelly once again. The year is 2002. Yorkie finds Kelly playing a dancing game with a man. This man makes appearances throughout every decade the couple visit. He is attracted to Yorkie, yet Yorkie does nothing more than have awkward conversation with him. This could show how Yorkie is opening up to her relationship with Kelly, even though she is a woman. Once Yorkie and Kelly meet up again, they began to argue and Kelly punches a mirror in frustration. Yorkie leaves the club and sits on top of a building, where Kelly climbs up to talk to her. They converse about their past relationships and Kelly talks about her husband.

San Junipiero is a place where people could escape and have fun. Kelly and Yorkie were both older women using the town to escape reality It is a virtual world where Yorkie and Kelly went to relive their youth and have a loving relationship with each other. The two find happiness in San Junipiero. While traveling throughout time, the gay rights movement is focused on, as Yorkie becomes more open to the relationship as they travel further and further through time. 
