Analyzing The Black Mirror Episode 'Fifteen Million Merits'

In the world there are always social classes that separate people: by wealth, job, or power, something will draw a line between these groups. The Black Mirror episode “Fifteen Million Merits” focuses on the life of Bing in a society where workers spend their life on stationary bikes to generate power for the world. By biking, each worker also earns currency called “merits” which they use to buy basic necessities, food, and for leisure. When Abi—a new worker—is introduced, Bing believes she has what it takes to win “Hot Shot” as a singer. Hot Shot is a talent game show where three judges can decide who they want for their channels which then allows workers to move up in status. Bing spends all his fifteen million merits to buy a ticket for Abi
When Abi is about to perform a song for the judges, one of the workers gives her a drink called “Compliance”. This drink ends up literally making her comply more easily to the whims of the judges, and Abi ends up accepting Judge Wraith’s offer to be on his show that she didn’t want initially, revealing how the judges never allow anyone to ever truly have free will and control even within the tiniest aspects of this society and that the higher class will always try to maintain power over the rest. Later on in the episode, Bing goes on to also be on the show in a way to get justice for Abi, but he doesn’t drink the compliance. He makes a statement in front of the judges and says, “You don’t see people up here, it’s all fodder!...pumped through 10,000 pre-assigned filters, till it’s nothing more than a meaningless series of lights, while we ride day-in day-out, going where? Powering what?” Bing makes an impactful declaration to the audience about what kind of society they’re living in, showing us that he is aware of the oppression they face, except by the end of his speech Judge Hope offers him a slot on his channel and he accepts because Bing still wants the chance to rise in status from a worker. This reveals that people in positions of power will manipulate the lower classes by feeding them the hope of freedom and power,
Bing declared during his address to the judges, “Yeah, stick a fat man up a pole and we’ll laugh ourselves feral, because we’ve earned the right! We’ve done cell time and he’s slacking, the scum, so ha-ha-ha at him!” He’s discussing the channels they can watch while biking where one of the shows repeatedly shames fat people who have been taken off the bikes and humiliates them for the workers entertainment. This implies that a class even lower than the workers has been established in their minds; the workers should think of themselves as well off and productive compared to those beneath them, even though they too are being oppressed. This keeps the judges safe because the workers don’t try to revolt or change the system as they already think they have more power than another group so there’s no need to. Another example is when Bing and Abi enter the crowded waiting room before auditioning for Hot Shot, and Abi is immediately chosen to be previewed first, even though there were many others there before her. A girl angrily storms up to them and tells them how unfair it is that Abi gets to go before her as Abi’s new and she (the girl) has been waiting there all week, to which the guy ushering them all tells her that he ‘doesn’t pick the order’. This scene reminds the audience that the judges are the only ones who get to decide who succeeds and goes on in this