The Waldo Moment
Year: 2013
Directed by: Bryn Higgins
Starring: Christina Chong, Jason Flemyng, Tobias Menzies, Chloe Pirrie & Daniel Rigby
Runtime: 44 minutes
Published: 07/07/22
Directed by: Bryn Higgins
Starring: Christina Chong, Jason Flemyng, Tobias Menzies, Chloe Pirrie & Daniel Rigby
Runtime: 44 minutes
Published: 07/07/22
The modern political landscape is scary. Lies and misinformation are rife with no repercussions for feeding the public false facts; this combined with the public distain for politicians often leads to dangerous and outspoken figureheads to take the spotlight and encourage hurtful and hateful practices. It’s strange to think then that Black Mirror predicted this back in 2013 with the third episode in the second series ‘The Waldo Moment’. The episode received generally negative reviews around the time of its release, but due to the rise of politicians like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and Nigel Farage, has managed to maintain relevancy to this day. So, is The Waldo Moment really as bad as people said it was when it released, or has its foresight surrounding cartoonish politicians made the episode worthwhile?
Jamie Salter (Daniel Rigby) is a comedian who portrays an animated blue bear, Waldo, on a topical comedy show. Following an interview with Conservative politician Liam Munroe (Tobias Menzies), Waldo goes viral and it is agreed that Waldo will take to the streets and mock Munroe and his competitors, encouraging people to vote for him in the upcoming MP by-election instead.
As Waldo gains more traction and moves up the polls, Jamie begins to wonder whether he is causing irreparable damage to the political system, and takes matters into his own hands to try and reverse the mindset he has been instilling onto voters.
I remember watching The Waldo Moment back in 2013 and I thought it was one of the most dull and tedious episode of a TV show I had ever seen, in fact it almost put me off Black Mirror for life. All of the characters are shallow and undeveloped, Rigby delivers an underwhelming performance as Jamie, and Waldo just isn’t funny. In fact, I found it so absurd that I simply couldn’t envision it happening. It seems I wasn’t alone in this view as the general consensus agreed that The Waldo Moment was generally bad TV.
Jamie Salter (Daniel Rigby) is a comedian who portrays an animated blue bear, Waldo, on a topical comedy show. Following an interview with Conservative politician Liam Munroe (Tobias Menzies), Waldo goes viral and it is agreed that Waldo will take to the streets and mock Munroe and his competitors, encouraging people to vote for him in the upcoming MP by-election instead.
As Waldo gains more traction and moves up the polls, Jamie begins to wonder whether he is causing irreparable damage to the political system, and takes matters into his own hands to try and reverse the mindset he has been instilling onto voters.
I remember watching The Waldo Moment back in 2013 and I thought it was one of the most dull and tedious episode of a TV show I had ever seen, in fact it almost put me off Black Mirror for life. All of the characters are shallow and undeveloped, Rigby delivers an underwhelming performance as Jamie, and Waldo just isn’t funny. In fact, I found it so absurd that I simply couldn’t envision it happening. It seems I wasn’t alone in this view as the general consensus agreed that The Waldo Moment was generally bad TV.
Conceived by Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker and comedian Chris Morris, The Waldo Moment was inspired by the rise of Conservative politician Boris Johnson, who at the time was Mayor of London, and had a public image of being a bumbling idiot. Much like the rest of the Black Mirror episodes, serving as a warning of what could happen if politicians like Johnson gained too much power.
The episode resurfaced in the public consciousness in 2016 with the referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union; where Johnson and UKIP politician Nigel Farage openly lied to voters about facts and figures related to the UK’s involvement within the Union, ultimately leading to the Leave campaign succeeding and Britain leaving the EU. It then stayed relevant due to Donald Trump running for President of the United States and eventually winning. A man that treated his campaign very similarly to Waldo’s, by using derogatory terms and a general lack of interest in politics to sway disillusioned voters to his cause.
The concept of Waldo and what he represents has ultimately had a greater impact on pop culture than the episode itself, now that in 2022 the political landscape of the UK is a circus of clowns all saying the most outrageous things possible to stay relevant and remain in the public consciousness, even if it means getting bad press.
Whilst the episode is low quality and I would usually recommend avoiding it, the foresight the episode had on political systems and figureheads makes The Waldo Moment worth seeking out for political theorists. For the average viewer, you could probably give it a miss, but if you want something to really make you think then The Waldo Moment will surprisingly do that.
The episode resurfaced in the public consciousness in 2016 with the referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union; where Johnson and UKIP politician Nigel Farage openly lied to voters about facts and figures related to the UK’s involvement within the Union, ultimately leading to the Leave campaign succeeding and Britain leaving the EU. It then stayed relevant due to Donald Trump running for President of the United States and eventually winning. A man that treated his campaign very similarly to Waldo’s, by using derogatory terms and a general lack of interest in politics to sway disillusioned voters to his cause.
The concept of Waldo and what he represents has ultimately had a greater impact on pop culture than the episode itself, now that in 2022 the political landscape of the UK is a circus of clowns all saying the most outrageous things possible to stay relevant and remain in the public consciousness, even if it means getting bad press.
Whilst the episode is low quality and I would usually recommend avoiding it, the foresight the episode had on political systems and figureheads makes The Waldo Moment worth seeking out for political theorists. For the average viewer, you could probably give it a miss, but if you want something to really make you think then The Waldo Moment will surprisingly do that.