Black Mirror Episode: 15 Million Merits Review

By Lauren Simmons

The Black Mirror episode “15 Million Merits” shows a society where people live in a slave-like existence.
The characters, in this not-so distant future, ride stationary bikes to receive points otherwise known as
merits. These merits pay for basic necessities such as food, soap, and toothpaste. Once an individual has
15 million merits hence the title, and a mix of talent, luck and beauty, they can be granted their “freedom”.
They are granted this “freedom” by entering a talent competition known as “Hot Shot”, where there are
three judges: Judge Wraith, Judge Hope, and Judge Charity. Only a select few are granted their “freedom”.
With this new found freedom, individuals can enjoy a life of “leisure” and “glamour”. Biking is used for a
means of survival. Most people in this society are so brainwashed that they have become comfortable living
a life of monotony and stationary bikes. This episode exemplifies the manipulation of the working/middle
class by the wealthy.

“15 Million Merits” portrays a dark reflection of our society with exaggerated themes. There are three
different types of individuals is this episode. There are the lemons who can be equated to the lowest part of
society. There are the bikers who can be portrayed as the working/middle class, and the judges who
represent ultimately the upper 1% of society. In this world, the lemons are subject to abuse by the bikers.
The lemons are normally overweight and shown as non-attractive, based on the beauty standard of the
episode. One biker by the name of Dustin is especially abusive to the lemons. The irony of Dustin's
behavior towards the lemons is that, he is close to being overweight himself, so he has no position to be
rude to others. The scenario with Dustin is similar to saying “ the pot calling the kettle black”. Dustin tries
his hardest to distance himself from a lemon even though he already has a phenotype of one.

During the Second Industrial Revolution, there was a sudden emergence of new social classes. With big
corporations monopolizing industries, the United States was introduced to the new class of wealth known
as the 1 percenters. These 1 percenters are known for fulfilling the American Dream. They have established
themselves as free citizens, who no longer have to work to survive. Through the work ideology and social
darwinism developed during this period, the idea that if one works hard enough they will get what they
deserve permeated through society. If the bikers in this episode worked hard enough, they would receive t
heir 15 million merits. If they worked even harder to perfect their talents, they will be elevated to a celebrity
status and join these 1 percenters. Some of the bikers are seen to ardently reach for this episode’s version of
the American Dream, while other bikers are quite comfortable with their status, which leads us to the middle
class. Throughout this episode the “bike” is given a negative connotation. This is shown when the judges
offer Abi a chance to be on Judge Wraith’s porn channel “ Wraith Babes”. Judge Charity states “it is either
this [porn] or the bike”. The bike can be equated to a 9-5 job. The bikers wake up every morning at 7:30 am,
to ride bikes for a certain amount of time. Everyday this cycle must be repeated, otherwise the bikers will be
reduced to lemons. Similar to our society in regards to the middle/working class. They must work tirelessly to
live decently, or to even make ends meet. The people who created this system are the one percenters. In the
episode bikers are able to use their merits to pay for entertainment. Most of these entertainment channels are
owned by the judges, and the ones giving these individuals the merits are probably judges, so basically this
system is created to make the rich, richer, and common working class man ignorant.  The bikers in this episode
have nothing to their names but this digital currency. Since most of the bikers feel as though this merit system
is rewarding them for their hard work, they go out of their way to cosign and protect the very system that
keeps them under. Sound familiar? To some Americans, working establishes economic freedom, while not
having to work represents other’s idea of freedom. It is hard to judge who is right, but:

“The best way to make a slave guard your property is to make him believe he owns it, to make him believe
he benefits from it”- Unknown