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Tech Noir and Cyber Punk intrigued me because I had never heard of those genres. I’ve heard of some content that falls into those genres but haven’t heard those terms before. On top of being unfamiliar with the names of the genre, I have seen very, very few Tech Noir/Cyber Punk shows, movies, video games, etc. That being said, from what I read, the content sounds interesting, and after watching an episode of Black Mirror, I am definitely open to learning more. I liked reading the Wikipedia article on Cyber Punk, which explained the mood and the setting of Cyber Punk. The way they talked about their location and wanting to emulate “Hong Kong on a bad day” was a great way to describe the setting and gave me a good visualization. Learning about how the term Cyber Punk was coined was also interesting. The name perfectly fits the vibe of the genre. After the readings, I chose to watch Black Mirror from the list of TechNoir/Cyberpunk Media. I’ve always wanted to check it out, and I chose the episode “Joan is Awful” because one of my favorite actresses, Annie Murphy, played the protagonist. The episode follows a woman named Joan, and she discovers a TV show has been made about her, where Selma Hayek plays her, and they make her look identical to Joan. Joan has already made some not-great choices, but the show takes creative liberties to make her look worse. The worst part is that everyone in her life can see the show, causing her to lose her job and her fiancée. I was immediately hooked. I found the episode’s concept so interesting, and how it played out was captivating! Eventually, we find out that the streaming service’s terms and agreements that Joan subscribes to say that the service reserves the right to use her life to make a series. Now, Joan has to fight the service to stop them from making content out of her and others’ lives. This episode perfectly fits into the cyberpunk/tech noir genre because it explores the dark side of tech progress. While technology has become more advanced, corporations have become more greedy, and it leads to the downfall of humanity. Thankfully, Joan is Awful has a happy ending where they were able to stop the technology from getting too out of control. Still, it’s a cautionary tale for what could be if we become too obsessed with whatever the new shiny tech has to offer. When I finished the episode, I immediately recommended it to my friends. Now, I am immensely interested in the genre, and I plan on watching more content in the category!