Striking Vipers
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Striking Vipers
Striking vipers, an episode in the series black mirror, has caused the unraveling of the world’s view of the LGBTQ community. In the series, two old friends, Danny and Karl, reunite years after college, and Karl gifts Danny, who is married to Theo, a Striking Vipers, virtual reality game. The two get involved in sexual activities during the game, which gives rise to them questioning their sexual orientation.
A sexual relationship without intimacy existing is a question that lingers at the core of all strong relationships. Danny and Karl’s relationship is no different; the two share intimacy; however, only in their avatar form interactions. In addition to their sexual encounters, they also spend most of their time together relating to each other, which at some point cost them their real life relationships.
After watching this episode, most people often ask if the two are gay because, in today’s society, unlike women, men lack the freedom to explore their sexuality, and it gets worse with race. According to Fabian, if a white man is exposed to a man’s relations, it would be assumed that he is exploring, while if a black man would do the same, they are labeled as gay (Fabian, 2016). If Danny and Karl were white or hyper-masculine, the reaction would be different as most people believe white people are more open-minded. In contrast, hyper-masculine people aren’t viewed to be exploring their sexualities.
This episode may have harmed the LGBT society because it contains tropes such as the down-low brother who married a black woman and continued to pursue his gay sexual relationship. This trope vilifies these men instead of addressing the main reason they remain in the closet. Generally, society has made it easy for women to freely explore their orientation than men because women have always been portrayed as submissive and feminine; therefore, this does not change by being gay or bisexual. Men, on the other hand, are expected to be dominant superior beings. Therefore their decision to turn gay or bi makes them seem less masculine or manly.
The writers used striking vipers as black mirrors first episode because it follows the series tradition to explore positive human intimacies with technology and pause on the technological dystopian nightmares that depict the future. Additionally, the writers used black characters to explore deeper black masculinity, LGBTQ, “bromance,” and black marriages, especially because they are race-sensitive.
References
Fabian, L. (2016). Insecure Asks, ‘Why Can’t Black Men Explore Their Sexuality without Being Labeled?’ accessed at https://www.out.com/popnography/2016/11/15/insecure-asks-why-cant-black-men-explore-their-sexuality-without-being-labeled on 12 November 2020.