
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time” is a beautiful quote by Mark Twain. I believe that “Black Mirror Season 3 and Episode 4” is based on the moral of living life in the moment, rather than constantly thinking about the future. The creative and most interesting part of the story is that the writers depicted future as a metaphor of living in the present. Moments is the core essential of life. I believe everything that has past and everything that has yet to come is a moment. According to an article I read about Life and moments, “Life is not only a series of experiences, or milestones, or events, it is also a series of moments. Frequently, we must live moment to moment, in order to survive.” (Living in the moment, n.p).  Which I believe is so true. To live in the present one has to give up what has now become past.

Black Mirror’s episode 4 fictionally creates a world of one’s past, just to show them the importance of living in the moment. But how is it possible to travel back in time? The story is based in a future where it is possible to travel time through a simulator. Technology plays a prime role in this fictional story. The story sets in a party town named “San Junipero” around the time of 1987. San Junipero is a virtual world in the simulator. It is supposed to be every person’s dream place where everything is fun, no one judges anyone and an environment without negativity. It is based on the story of two girls named Yorkie and Kelly, who are poles apart from each other in their nature. Yorkie is shy and reserved and Kelly is Bold and outgoing. Both of them in reality are in the simulator. The story moves on and as time goes by they realize that there are some feelings between them. Kelly becomes a reason in Yorkie’s life which let her free from all the boundaries in life and live life candidly. The story ends with the moral that “Heaven is a place on earth.” Our life has so much to offer us that we shouldn’t wait for any other source of happiness after death. We should experience each moment and cherish it. 

One of the sources that I chose for this paper was an article by a 42-year-old woman woman who has been diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease called Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS) (Living in the moment, n.p). I thought this would be a perfect article to relate to this episode of “Black Mirror” because they have a common factor which is health problem. The article was called “Living in the moment”, which is the inspiration of my title. The article started with a questions; “ Are you living your life moment by moment? Or are you immersed in the past or worrying about the future?” (Living in the moment, n.p).  Both Yorkie and Kelly have some past which is becoming a barrier in their happiness. Yorkie is very shy and is afraid of living her life because she thinks that people will judge her personality. On the other hand, Kelly is afraid of her past relationship and is constantly trying to escape that. The article has a beautiful section that says “What happened yesterday might still haunt you or depress you, but it is in the past. The past cannot be changed. You only have this moment. What happened in the future might scare you, but it is only a thought? There is no guarantee that tomorrow will arrive. You only have this moment.” (Living in the moment, n.p).  I believe that Kelly understands this thing and is trying to forget the past and live in the moment. In the episode we see that she is the one who loves partying and go out as much she can. But Yorkie is having a tough time doing that. Eventually, Kelly becomes that angel in Yorkie’s life that comes and changes her life around. She teaches her how not to be afraid and be proud of herself. In the story we find out that both the girls know that they are in a simulator and have limited time. Having a limited time makes them realize the importance of it. I believe that they used limited time in the movie to show people that life is mortal and has an end. Even our time is limited and we should squeeze it as much as we can. Both the girls tries to take as much advantage of the moments as they can because they kind of  knew that this could be the last time that they meet. Moral of the story is that one has to realize that the time is limited.

Another angle that I looked this story was from a “technology vs region” perspective. As we know, technology is a prime factor of the story. The story baseline runs around a simulator that can make people travel time and have a mental cure. So, my next source is an article which focused on “The views on death according to different religions” (Religious Movements, N.P). We know almost all the religions in this world believe in afterlife. Let it be Christianity that believes in heaven, in which believers enjoy presence of God and other believers and freedom from suffering and sin. Let is be Islam that believes that present life is only preparation for the next realm of existence. Or let it be Hinduism that believes in rebirth and reincarnation of soul(Religious Movements, N.P). While, many think that technology is a curse to religion, I like to think that the relationship between technology and religion hold a very optimistic future. If we relate it to episode 4 of “Black mirror”, we can see that it is true. In the episode a simulator has been created which will take one to a world of no violence, no judgment and no negativity. If we think about it, doesn’t that remind you of a world that all the religions are refereeing to “afterlife”? So, I believe there is nothing wrong If technology take us a step forward to a place where we all want to be. Rather than we making technology and religion fight, we should encourage it to work together to make a better future for all of us.

In Conclusion, I would like to share a quote from Alan watts, “The only way to make sense out of change is plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”(Alan Watts, n.p). It is such a beautiful and true saying. To live in the moment is to dance with it and forget the past. Like most of the stories Yorkie and Kelly’s life ends on a positive note. They both forgot their past and understood the importance of present. They learnt hoe to dance in the change. 