Black Mirror: San Junipero - Character Profiles and Media Theories

Flashcards covering character profiles, media language, representation, and core media theories from the San Junipero lecture notes.

ACING

An analytical framework component referring to Audience and Industry Context, examining how contemporary (e.g., 2016) audiences respond to progressive and diverse representations.

Media Language (ML)

The technical, visual, and audio elements—such as costume, body language, proxemics, and camera framing—used to construct character representations and narrative meaning.

Yorkie

A shy, reserved newcomer in her 20s who is paralyzed from the neck down and requires a respirator in reality, struggling with identity, autonomy, mortality, and fear of discrimination regarding her sexuality.

Loosely framed LS (Yorkie)

A long shot camera technique used around Yorkie to visually emphasize her loneliness and status as an outsider in San Junipero.

Geek archetype (Yorkie)

A character representation constructed through Yorkie's glasses and conventional clothing choices, reflecting her introversion and social reservation.

Drinking Coke (Yorkie)

A media language choice symbolizing Yorkie's innocence, naivety, and childlike nature within the adult club environment of Tucker's.

Outfit montage (Yorkie)

A sequence depicting Yorkie trying on multiple distinct styles, visually communicating her struggle with self-identity before reverting back to her original aesthetic.

Kelly (San Junipero Avatar / 'Old Kelly')

An adventurous, outgoing woman in her 20s who appears carefree and unattached, yet conceals a profound sense of loss and grief from a 49-year marriage.

“I am bodacious”

A spoken piece of dialogue that encapsulates Kelly's confident, assertive, and self-assured persona inside San Junipero.

Bisexual flag colours (Kelly)

Kelly's costume palette consisting of pink, blue, and purple, visually encoding and representing her sexual orientation.

Kelly (Real-World / 'Young Kelly')

A confident and independent woman in her 70s residing in a hospital/hospice setting, whose narrative explores mortality, purpose, and the implications of digital immortality.

Beige / grey colour palette

The muted visual palette used to ground elderly Kelly's physical hospital existence, contrasting sharply with the saturated tones of the virtual world.

Greg

Yorkie's kindly hospital nurse who serves as a marriage witness, bends rules to facilitate communication, and offers to marry Yorkie so she can legally pass over.

Effeminate carer archetype (Greg)

A characterization of Greg as a gentle, 'cuddly big bear' figure who acts as a compassionate counterpoint to the other male characters.

Passing over

The legal and medical process of permanently uploading an individual's consciousness into the simulated reality of San Junipero upon bodily death.

Wes

A young male in his early 20s whose persistent, desperate pursuit of Kelly forces her to seek refuge with Yorkie.

“It was just sex”

Dialogue delivered by Kelly to Wes, signaling her emotional detachment, rejection of commitment, and assertion of sexual autonomy.

Davis

A thin, nerdy young man in his early 20s who attempts to connect with Yorkie over video games, illustrating that San Junipero can remain lonely and unfulfilling.

“Golden age right”

A dialogue cue spoken by Davis regarding 1980s video games that subtly hints at the simulated, time-shifting nature of the San Junipero environment.

Narratology (Todorov)

A narrative theory applied to key scenes to examine how narrative progresses from initial equilibrium, through disruption and recognition, to a new equilibrium.

Structuralism (Strauss)

A critical framework used to decode texts by identifying fundamental binary oppositions (such as real vs. virtual, youth vs. aging, and life vs. death).

Genre Theory (Neale)

A theoretical model proposing that media genres are defined by an interplay between repetition of established conventions and the introduction of difference and variation.

Postmodernism (Baudrillard)

A cultural theory applied to media texts to analyze simulacra, hyperreality, and the dissolution of boundaries between artificial simulations and physical reality.

Key Scenes (San Junipero Analysis)

The four core sequences designated for theoretical analysis: Opening, Yorkie's transformation, Hospital/hospice, and Ending.