
In season one episode four of black mirror, San Junipero, two young but very old women fall in love through a virtual reality that is a for sure answer that an afterlife where everything is possible can actually be. The two women, Kelly and Yorkie are both near death in a futuristic society in which humans have adapted a mind controlling program to upload one’s soul or youth into a database controlled by a very large futuristic funeral home. The episode goes against most all religious beliefs, and follows tactics of euthanasia to put one’s mind at rest to not worry about what will actually occur when they pass over. 

Euthanasia is another term for an assisted suicide of someone who is terminally ill and is suffering from such physical or mental pain that life is way too hard to even prosper. Is Euthanasia morally correct? This is a debate that has gone on for decades and is a very close race for the fact that it ties back to religion and an opposing love for one’s well-being. The reasoning of both are extremely hard to argue, and for that reason the laws in the United States are just as hard to change. According to the telegraph, on November 15th 2014, Pope Francis denounced euthanasia as a sin against god. He stated; “Suicide is ... a bad thing because it is saying no to life and to everything it means with respect to our mission in the world and towards those around us, describing assisted suicide as an absurdity.” This ties euthanasia and religion together as one of the same in the episode of Black Mirror giving reasoning to why it is purely wrong from a historical Christian standpoint. 

In the episode of Black Mirror, the director gives the viewer a since of why it seems morally correct to those who love the person who is suffering from an illness such as cancer where one’s body is being destroyed day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, and second by second. Throughout history the conflict of whether or not euthanasia is ethical has gone on for a very long time and probably will continue to be a debate throughout many lifetimes. As a viewer it is neat to take the content in which we have learned over time and pay close attention to what the director is trying to get across.

 It is not certain that the director is trying to ask the question, is it possible that we may not have a place to go after life on earth and if this is true than do we need to create a safe haven for ourselves as humans after we do go, but it is very possible. This brings up the question to the average stoner, what would happen in millions and millions of years when the earth comes to a halt and all of those bodies with a chip on the side of their mind are wiped off along with the large facility? Those who did not go the pathway of religion and took the easy way out, making sure they would end up living after death, would no longer have any recollection of who they are and would be nothing in all of reality and would not have that chance to find out how magnificent heaven could possibly be, hoping that it is much better than San Junipero. John 5:13 states, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” This quote from The Bible gives Christians a sense of why to believe and have strong faith as he promises us that if you live your life with a love and appreciation of God, then after our time here on earth, a place far beyond imagination is waiting to give back what we have given back to the one who gave. 

In context, Black Mirror’s scientific methods of how we survive after death breaks not only rules of Christianity but breaks rules from most all religious backgrounds and follows an atheist scientific theory on where we will end up after our short span in which we call life is over. In the episode, Kelly’s husband and Kelly’s daughter passed away before the system was created and did not have the chance to experience what San Junipero was. They took faith as their way out and had no choice other than to believe in something and run with it. Throughout all of history and as far as humans know, religion has played such a major role and has answered the question of why are we here and what are we supposed to be achieving on earth. Creating a system such as San Junipero defeats the purpose that all of life for the past thousands and thousands of years have known best. 

Black Mirror’s season one episode four, San Junipero has the viewers mind circling and thinking about certain aspects of reality that we as humans wouldn’t even dream about. The episode focuses merely on a topic that in some ways could be described as unimaginable or simply irrelevant, but as the viewer pays closer and closer attention to the little things throughout the show it draws them into the real aspects that are mainly portrayed being religion and euthanasia. 

 