Plot: Joan is an ordinary woman, struggling with the little things in life. Her job forces her to make tough decisions, her love life is a mess and her therapist isn't really helping her get on top of things. Her life changes when she sees a dramatized version of her life appearing in near real-time on the most popular streaming service.
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June 20, 2023
The start of season 6 of the infamous Black Mirror series. I've never gotten the strong appeal of this series, I tend to find Brooker's simplistic tech doom to be pandering and boring, but people do love a shot of negativity (literally referenced by this short). Nothing much has changed it seems, as Joan Is Awful is a pretty straight-forward continuation of the previous seasons.
Not reading the terms and conditions, deep fakes, AI-generated content, surveillance ... it's all part of this story and none of it amounts to anything original. The direction is pretty bland, the presentation of the moral issues is basic, and the performances are negligible (despite some A-listers). The only reason to keep watching these is the relatively short runtime.