Max Headroom Episodes 10 and 11
Two episodes with important themes that still hold relevance, particularly in our current media environment.
Note: I wanted to wrap up the Max Headroom episode reviews from my previous website. Here are two more reviews, with two more that will be posted later this week. In the meantime, expect to see some more NFL content now that training camps are underway.
Episode Name: Whackets
Premise: Big Time Television has the most popular TV show on air, the game show Whackets, which is actually broadcasting a video signal that addicts people to their TV sets.
Themes explored: Addiction. The video signal broadcast during the show is the equivalent of a narcotic, which stimulates the brain to either feel pleasure or counter pain. It's so strong that victims of an apartment building that collapsed are so focused on recovering their TV sets from the wreckage (despite free TVs being made available to those who can't afford them) and that the injured no longer feel pain or discomfort while watching the show.
Of course, addiction doesn't have to be limited to a video signal -- we know all about the various forms of addiction in today's society, all because of the pleasure we feel in our brains or how it allows us to ignore pain. Opioids. Social media. Alcohol. Junk food. Shopping. These and many others can become highly addictive if we aren't careful about moderating their usage. And, yes, leaving a TV set to drone on, featuring one network or program can be just as bad for our brains.
That's particularly true with the underlying point of Whackets -- take away the addictive video signal and people realize Whackets is a bad show. It's worth thinking about regarding anything we watch, use or consume for pleasure. Is it really that good of a product to begin with? Or would our lives be better off if we didn't spend all our time with it?
Max Headroom quotes:
"I was dumped for some ninny trying to win a trash compactor?"
"Caught you watching the competition!"
"I want my Whack TV!" (An obvious reference to MTV's catch phrase back in the 1980s.)
"It's just TV with a twist."
Personal observations: This episode was timely back in the 1980s when the anti-drug movement was at its height. It remains timely today, though, because all throughout society, we can find things that people become addicted to, when we should remind ourselves to moderate our usage and, in some cases, not use it at all.
Additional thoughts several years later: One might make a comparison between the video signal that addicted people to a particular show and the desire for a dopamine hit that comes for social media. Why bother with something that provides insight when you can share a hot take for more likes and shares, thus giving you that dopamine rush you desire?
With that said, this Max Headroom episode ages well given the theme is still relevant in today's world.
Episode Name: Neurostim
Premise: The Zik Zak Corporation is selling Neurostim bracelets, which are designed to stimulate the brain to experience a fantasy, but at the same time, stimulate people into buying Zik Zak products.
Themes explored: Consumption behaviors are what's mainly the focus of the episode. The Neurostim bracelet prompts people to keep buying products, with some people doing it to the point that they go into debt. It raises the issue about advertising tactics that prompt people to buy things that they might not necessarily need.
But a larger purpose of the Neurostim bracelet is to allow Zik Zak Corporation to advertise its products without the need to broadcast advertising or sponsor shows on Network 23 or other television outlets. And after Zik Zak pulls its advertising from Network 23, causing the network's stock to drop, Zik Zak is able to buy cheap shares and put a member of its company onto the Network 23 board.
That raises the question about what happens when a corporation acquires a media outlet and how can the media outlet be expected to stay impartial when what it intends to cover may conflict with other business interests the corporation has. Today's media environment is like that, with corporations or individuals who acquire media outlets and then attempt to control the message. How can a media outlet operate independently if a corporation acquires it and forces the outlet to bend to its will?
One might also see a parallel between how Neurostim allows a company to advertise its products in a new manner, as opposed to traditional methods of advertising. (Did someone mention how newspaper advertising declined with the rise of the Internet?) It illustrates how much of our media is dependent on advertising to stay in business, so what happens when that revenue stream dries up?
There is a subplot regarding how Edison Carter and Max Headroom clash over who should be dominating the airwaves -- Carter's investigative reporting is popular, but Max Headroom is just as popular and the two are put into conflict. It's only after they each learn to accept one another in terms of how they bring in an audience that they learn to co-exist again.
Max Headroom quotes:
"A quick thank you goes out to the real sponsors: you. Yes, you. You buy the products, you give them their profits, so you're sponsoring the game."
"You buy the burgers, you finance the game, and you have to go buy a ticket to watch it. It's that funny old world."
"As long as it's the truth, does it matter which of us tells it?"
"That makes a lot of sense. He yells, I apologize."
Personal observations: The episode primarily focuses on Zik Zak providing Carter with a bracelet that's designed to excessively stimulate his impulses to buy things and keep his investigative reporting from interfering with its business strategy. That means that plot's resolution tends to dominate, while the subplot of Zik Zak taking over Network 23 tends to be resolved too quickly -- Zik Zak gaining, then losing, a spot on the corporate board gets wrapped up in the final acts. So it's not as good of an episode as previous installments of the show were, but the themes touched upon are worth consideration.
Additional thoughts several years later: Consumption is still a relevant theme in today's world. In some cases, though, we aren't turning over cash, but data about our personal hobbies and interests in exchange for the usage of a social media platform. But the warnings about watching what we consume remains.
I will add it would have been nice to see the subplot explored in more depth. The question about corporations acquiring media outlets is something that should be discussed more, particularly given the current environment in which corporate media promotes narratives while independent media may be more inclined to seek information that goes against a narrative, even at the risk of losing subscribers or advertisers.