bandersnatch

Black Mirror” is a science fiction TV series in which each episode examines modern society and its dependence on technology. Its latest offer is the interactive film “Bandersnatch” which premiered on Netflix last Christmas. In Bandersnatch, viewers like me and you make decisions for the main character, the young programmer Stefan who is adapting a fantasy choose-your-own-adventure novel into a video game. Viewers are provided with a series of choices about where we wish to take Stefan’s journey throughout the film.

The first choices we are presented is “Frosties or Sugar Puffs”, as Stefan’s father offers him what to eat for breakfast. Later on, we are presented with difficult choices that could drastically alter the direction of the film and most especially its ending. Last week, Netflix collected the data on which viewers made their choices. For starters, it seems that 60 percent of viewers chose to feed Stefan Frosties on the biggest day of his life.

Netflix also revealed that 73% of viewers choose to accept the job that Stefan was offered at Tuckersoft. Their data also revealed that British viewers were less likely to “throw tea” over the computer, as the rest of the world chose to do so 55.9% of the time.  And although there were five main endings to the film, the most optimistic of them all, the one in which Stefan gets on a train with his mom, was revealed to be the path least traveled.