The motif of virtual reality and the idea of a virtual existence is one that is not uncommon in the genre of science fiction, although the show Black Mirror grants a new perspective on the idea that is unique among the rest. Black Mirror portrays the lives of two women, Yorkie and Kelly, who meet in a virtual utopia called San Junipero where they exist as younger versions of themselves and can essentially do whatever they want with no repercussions. In the real world Yorkie is an elderly paraplegic whose body has slowly been slowly deteriorating in a hospital bed where she has been residing almost her entire life, and Kelly is an elderly woman with late stage cancer who is allowed limited access to San Junipero as a trial run before she decides whether or she wants to cross over and exist forever in San Junipero or die and leave behind San Junipero forever. This idea of real versus perceived reality has been explored in movies like The Matrix as well as novels like “The Giver” where characters live their entire lives in a world that has limited their view of what is and is not reality. In our daily lives all people have moments where they can’t recall whether or not something they experienced happened in real life or if what they are feeling is so familiar because it is something they imagined, but the real question is in those moments where you can not differentiate between reality and imagination what is the deciding factor in how we explain these feelings? One of the many problems addressed in Black Mirror is the issue of how decisions we make affect the world around us, and although we may only realistically be able to change the reality in which we currently inhabit it the ideas presented in this show create a dialog about how the repercussions of certain decisions can affect the entire world around us. 

In the movie The Matrix people are born connected to machines which project a world in their minds that has been modeled after the one which existed before machines took over. The matrix was real in the sense that it was the only world that these people knew existed but as they soon came to understand the world they had been living in for so long was just a mirage used to control the human race so that they could not rise up against the machines they had created. In this movie the virtual world was all these people had ever known until they were finally released from the cognitive prison they had been trapped in for so long which lead to denial and anger among people who did not know that life existed beyond their own perceived reality. This movie caused me to question the idea of a virtual reality because to these people the only reality they had ever known was the virtual world they were born into, and who could tell if they had never been made aware of their situation would they have never experienced reality or would the world they knew so well become their reality. In relation to Black Mirror Yorkie believes that San Junipero has the potential to become her new reality once she dies and crosses over into the virtual world she has been trialing for so long. Yorkie’s experience with San Junipero is different in a sense though because for her entire life she had lived as a quadriplegic and never truly got to live a normal life which is why the reality she found in San Junipero was ideal to her. The virtual world was the first place Yorkie was able to experience life and live out her days the way she never got the chance to before. The choice she makes in the end to cross over and live forever in the simulation is important because it presents the idea of being able to choose between her ideal reality and one that has brought her nothing but a painful and lonely existence. 

In the novel “The Giver” Lois Lowry creates a dystopian society in which the government controls every aspect of every citizen’s life to the point where they are able to limit the colors people can see and through these manipulations limit the emotions people are able to feel. These limitations began as a way to equalize all members of society which is why every family is given two children to raise and every citizen is given a different job once they reach the age of eighteen. Ultimately the society is changed forever when the main character Jonas is given the job of the receiver of memory which allows him the ability to see everything how it truly exists and colors begin to emerge and emotions he never understood before begin to emerge which causes him to defect from the society that had limited his perception of reality his entire life and in doing so release the other members of society from the control their government had over them. In making the decision to leave and free these people Jonas chose the reality which was most ideal to him the same way Yorkie chose to live in San Junipero because it was the reality that she preferred which begs the question, are these choices the things that make the situation they are in a reality. 

The difference between the real world and what people perceive to be real is changed due to the choices made by people who decided which situation was ideal to them and altered their own perception of reality thus changing the lives of many. One of the many questions tackled by Black Mirror is that of how certain choices can affect the world around you and in the case of Yorkie her decision allowed her to redefine her life without the handicap that had crippled her for years and grab life by the reins and make up for her time spent trapped inside of her own body. She was able to change the reality in which she lived and experience a new world where she could never be hurt, never die, and experience all that she missed out on in life through her new life in San Junipero, and once San Junipero became the only medium in which she existed would that not make it her reality?