Analysis Of White Bear

1027 Words3 Pages

White Bear, an episode of the TV series “Black Mirror”, can be seen as a critique of today’s criminal justice system. The eye-for-an-eye mentality seen in the show prevents society from improving after a tragic crime and concurs with the concept of capital punishment. Criminals should be rehabilitated in attempt to make them better citizens as opposed to suffering at cost of retributive justice. Sentencing offenders to retribution is very counterintuitive and does more harm than good and the episode “White Bear” can be seen as evidence of this concept. In addition, it is not doing Victoria, the main character, any good having the public ridicule her. The customers of White Bear are so bored with their own lives they find joy in watching others …show more content…

The way Victoria hurts and the indifference of her captors and spectators is brutally tough to watch. We see the cycle repeat and Victoria suffer with her tormented screams as her memory is wiped each time. We can’t help but sympathize, but at the same time, we’re being asked to sympathize with someone whose crime was unforgivable. It adds to the problem with the public being way too invested in other people 's struggles. This can be tied to the Casey Anthony case that happened in 2008. Casey Anthony was the mother of a two year old girl, Caylee Anthony, who mysteriously disappeared in Florida. When the case finally went to trial, the prosecution painted a picture of Casey Anthony as a promiscuous party girl, unconcerned with her missing daughter and responsible for her murder. This drew much attention to the young mother. Casey Anthony is now an extremely well-known name around the United States, when it should not be. Even though Casey was found not guilty, she still is almost a celebrity for committing a horrendous crime. Along with Victoria, these two women should not be seen as popular.
A real world example of retributive justice would be capital punishment. The National Research Council found that in 2012, 88% of people said the death penalty does not deter them from committing a crime that is punishable by execution. The criminal justice system is flawed in the way that for some crimes, such as Victoria’s, officials will treat offenders exactly how the offender treated their victim. When dealing with other crimes, officials will just lock up the criminals, they will receive no media attention and will not be used to entertain citizens with their own boring

Open Document