One Black Mirror Episode That Basically Stole the Idea from Harry Potter
Black Mirror is sci-fi, Harry Potter is fantasy – how do they mix? Turns out, pretty well if you have an imagination vivid enough.
The Deathly Hallows, which consist of the Elder Wand, the Invisibility Cloak, and the Resurrection Stone, play a major role in Harry Potter. Having all of them can make you the Master of Death, but having some of them separately can bring you lots of trouble.
While the Invisibility Cloak is relatively safe to use without consequence, the Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone will put you in danger. The first one will probably awaken your hunger for power and get you killed in the process, and the second one will make you mad to the point of committing suicide.
The Resurrection Stone can bring back people from the beyond, but they would be mere shells of themselves (“neither ghost nor truly flesh”). The owner of the stone simply needs to turn it three times in their hand, and their deceased loved ones will appear.
We don’t know about you, but we immediately thought of this while watching 2013’s Black Mirror episode, Be Right Back. It stars Hayley Atwell and Domhnall Gleeson in the main roles, but we swear that Bill Weasley has nothing to do with the association!
The episode is set in the future where AIs have become so advanced that they can create believable imitations of humans. Martha’s boyfriend Ash is unexpectedly killed in a car accident, and she can’t cope with his death. Her friend signs her up for a platform that is supposed to serve as a coping mechanism.
The platform allows the user to upload the deceased person’s images, videos, and social media posts and gives them a chance to talk to their lost loved one through the AI. Just like with the Resurrection Stone, it takes Martha “three turns” to get her Ash back.
First, she texts the AI in the chat box, then their communication transitions to phone calls, and finally, Martha orders a physical android with Ash’s appearance to her home.
The moral of both stories is pretty much the same as well – do not dwell on the past, move on, and let go. Bonus point: no magic or technology can bring back the dead, at least not truly.
Resurrecting people is not a new concept in the film industry, but the similarities between Harry Potter and that Black Mirror episode are certainly eerie, aren’t they?