Nosedive By Joe Wright

In the Black Mirror episode Nosedive, Director Joe Wright aims to reflect how basing your self worth on others can result in the loss of your true identity as you try to conform to the expectations of society. The world of Nosedive reflects social media’s effects on the world and how it has become a source of validation resulting in people creating idealised versions of themselves to fulfil this need with Lacie being a prime example of this. Through costume, mise en scene, cinematography, and sound, Wright depicts Lacie’s journey to realising her freedom within her jail cell to make the audience understand how releasing yourself from the expectations of online society can be a freeing experience. In the words of Author Zig Ziglar, “You cannot

The shape of the cell window makes it look like a phone with Lacie trapped inside. Wright uses this as a commentary to show how people are trapped in their phones and rely on it for entertainment and communication, both can be achieved by having a real conversation. The positioning of the cells forces the inmates to do so with holes in the window and makes them watch each other as the windows are directly across from each other. The lighting emphasises the set design as it sets up a dark and gloomy atmosphere, creating irony between Lacie’s freedom and the predicament she is in. The jail is black and white and feautures harsh lighting. The lighting shows Lacie’s dark mindset as she reflects on herself but in the midst of this, the camera focuses on dust falling from the sky which is illuminated by the light. This is a ray of hope for Lacie as she is able to take the time to see the small things in life that she never would have seen without her imprisonment. By seeing the dust, both the audience and Lacie are able to see that not everything has to be perfect, especially in jail where no one cares. This scene is used as commentary by Wright on how people can get so caught up in their virtual life they never make time to stop and perceive seemingly inconsequential

Throughout the film, Lacie rarely sweared until she started losing herself but was regretful when she did because it would impact her star rating. In the ending scene, she doesn’t have a device to rate anyone so she aks the man “What the fuck are you looking at?” Despite being free from the rating, she is still regretful as she has conditioned herself to be as nice as possible. She is hesitant to insult the man when he starts insulting her and takes a second to acknowledge the absence of sound as she is so accustomed to hearing the ding of disapproval. Max Richter’s score is used in conjunction with this to emphasise the emotions felt by Lacie in this scene. Wright uses a reprise of the opening song “On Reflection” to reflect on how Lacie has developed since the beginning of the film. “Consolations of Philosophy '' is a reference to a book written by Roman philosopher Boethius of the same title which was written while he was imprisoned and waiting for his execution. The book encourages readers to not pursue money or power but to instead seek internalised virtues which summarises Lacie’s realisation in jail. This song is a version of “On Reflection” featuring more violin to emphasise Lacie’s sorrows in jail and it crescendos as Lacie looks at the dust to signify to the audience that it is an important moment. Sound was used by Wright to show