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Alejandro Pantoja
Professor Srmabekian
English 114 B

Fifteen-Million Merits with a Marxist Perspective

When watching the episode of Black Mirror we see people biking as a means to
surviving, but the real essence to this was how people were separated. Separated as in put into
social classes. What happens throughout the episode is that there are messages of what a
communist life would be if there was one. As the way to make merits (money) you had to ride a
bike, what this showed was the working class. Individuals who have to work hard in order to
make a living. What Marxist informed us was that there are two classes in a communist society
the bourgeois and the proletariat. The proletariat is the working class and the bourgeois would be
classified as the people who own the means of production. They have what the class below them
wants as in money, living, culture, factories, and anything else the class below them need in
order to barely make a living. It shoes communism, but it also shows capitalism and democratic
centralism
As the character Bing goes through his days he works on the bicycles riding for merits in
which you use to buy food and all the other essentials to live life. His everyday life is essentially
the same thing every single day. The people are working for the system and the system needs
them to work in order for it to operate properly. As the system it need people to work for them
because if the people are not working the system is not making any money. What this basically
does it gets peoples every day materials and charges them with merits. Give and take the system

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uses commodity on the proletariats knowing what they need and selling it to them, they use a
smart and an effective way of supply and demand. If people do drop below the proletariat class
they would be labeled as serfs or in other orders a slave. In the episode it showed where a guy
stopped biking and ended becoming a serf.
As Bing meets a girl who has the voice to potentially become a singer he instantly falls in
love with her voice. With this in mind becoming a singer is better off than being a worker
because she has what others dont. In order to make it out the working you have to compete in a
competition that cost fifteen million merits hope they like the talent that you present to them, but
no matter how good you are or what the audience says they get the last word. Even if your talent
is singing like in her case they put her in porn. This showed them being biased to people who are
not privileged. They picked her because of her looks even though she was very talented in
singing, they wanted her where it would make them the most money. This is where Bing tried to
save her and somehow tell her to not take the decision. This is where the fact of love comes in
and throws off the system it gets people to do things unwillingly. What this did was spark bings
revolt against the high order. She ends up agreeing with their decision thinking this would better
her life, it did but in the worst way possible. This showed what a higher order can do to someone,
they manipulated her thinking it was going to be a better life away from the work force by using
her body. This is the way the higher class work they will give you a little if it keeps you from
saying anything this is a form of capitalism.
As Bing wants revenge for what they did on her he decided to go to back in the
competition he bikes in order to reach the millions of merits required to qualify back in the
competition. Once there he does his talent, but is really there to expose them. Telling the
people what they do is wrong and not the right thing. What keeps them from getting security is

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the fact he threatened to kill himself on television with a piece of large glass. What this did was
not only shook the judges but it made them think of something to do quickly. What they did was
use his anger they had at him and reverse offering him the option to not cycle anymore if he was
the producer of a show. What they did was manipulated him with money. This shows how money
can change those who dont have as much or nothing at all.
In their life and in ours this is how youre living is determined either by being born into
it, the way you look, your size, and many other factors that determine your class. What this all
revolves around is commodity you give the people what they want and you put a price on it. The
major points of this episode was locate the points where a person would do anything for and
manipulate them in order for them to do what they wanted them to do. His goal was to save her,
but when granted freedom it can easily change someones mind. As so the not only show us all
these things happening it used Marxs perspective which allowed us to see what truly was
happening in the episode rather than just watch it and be entertained. The fact is there is always a
hidden message in what you do, you just have to find it.