History Recap / BlackMirrorTheNationalAnthem

* TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks: Part of the episode's critique. The fictional United Kingdom News is the centerpiece, but real-life networks, including MSNBC, Fox, and Al Jazeera, are mentioned by name.

* {{GIFT}}: In one scene, Callow's wife is looking at social media reactions to the news of what Callow is being demanded to do. Unsurprisingly, many of them are making crude jokes about the situation, mocking Callow despite the fact that the demand is for him to be raped.

* TheExtremistWasRight: Depressingly, yes. [[spoiler:Bloom acted because he was furious at having his art rejected at what he saw as an increasingly television-obsessed society and to humiliate and degrade them. He assumed they'd all be home watching television so he released Susannah in the middle of London...and he was right, and because they'd all pick Susannah (who was in no real danger anyway, as it wasn't even her finger he cut off) over Callow.]]

* {{GIFT}}: In one scene, Callow's wife is looking at social media reactions to the news of what Callow is being demanded to do. Unsurprisingly, many of them are making crude jokes about the situation, mocking Callow despite the fact that [[spoiler:the demand is for him to be raped.]]

* BrownNote: Right before the live broadcast, an unpleasant tone is played in an attempt do discourage everyone from watching it.

* MortonsFork: The nature of the demand: if Callow doesn't do as the kidnapper demands, Susannah will be executed and his reputation will be damaged because he allowed a beautiful, beloved young princess to die just to protect his image; if Callow does, his reputation will be damaged because, well, [[NeverLiveItDown he'll always be known as PM Pig Fucker]]. When Callow prepares to engage in the actual demand, Secretary Cairns tells him that he can't try to finish quickly and get it over with, as that will make him appear eager.[[invoked]]

[[center:[-'''BlackMirror/SeriesOne'''-]]]
[[center:[-'''The National Anthem'''-] -- [-[[Recap/BlackMirrorFifteenMillionMerits Fifteen Million Merits]]-] -- [-[[Recap/BlackMirrorTheEntireHistoryOfYou The Entire History of You]]-]]]

* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom fucks a pig on live TV to save a hostage -- something which ultimately turns out to [[ShaggyDogStory have been completely pointless]]. Welcome to Black ''fucking'' ''Mirror''.

* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom fucks a pig on live TV to save a hostage -- something which ultimately turns out to [[ShaggyDogStory have been completely pointless]]. ''Welcome to ''Black'' fucking ''Mirror''.''

->'''Jane''': Everyone's laughing at us.\\
'''Michael''': You don't know that.\\
'''Jane''': I know people. We love humiliation. We can't not laugh.

[[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Princess Susannah]] is kidnapped while the abductor taunts the police and press by releasing videos on the internet. The singular demand? That the Prime Minister [[{{Squick}} have sexual intercourse with a pig on live television.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=midBr3d3MUg Trailer here]] ([[{{NSFW}} Chance it if you want]])

* AllForNothing: See AnAesop below. It turns out Callow wouldn't have had to screw the pig after all.

* BatmanGambit: The kidnapper's entire artistic point hinges on this. He correctly guesses that everyone in London will be too busy watching the televised buildup to the 4:00 deadline to notice Princess Susannah, who is released at 3:30, wandering the streets alone.

* BrandX: United Kingdom News, a fictional team that represents the press at large. Interestingly, other news networks, both British and global, are mentioned by name, but presumably, none of them wanted to appear in the episode.

* ComeToGawk: Everyone in the UK watches the broadcast either for amusement or out of pity. Even those expressing disgust at others for watching are watching it themselves in horror. They're all so preoccupied with the prospect of the PM having sex with a pig on live television that none of them notice that the princess was released ''half an hour early,'' which it turns out was the kidnapper [[HumansAreBastards trying to make a point.]]

* DownerEnding: The Prime Minister does... ''it'', saves the princess, and even boosts his political career after the act. The ending shows that he's been destroyed ''as a person'' anyway, traumatized and with an utterly ruined marriage. And it turns out he didn't even need to go through with it in the first place.
* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom fucks a pig on live TV to save a hostage - something which ultimately turns out to [[ShaggyDogStory have been completely pointless]]. ''Welcome to Black fucking Mirror.''

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Scenes of the team at 10 Downing Street discussing what to do are intercut with shots of everyday Londoners glued to their television sets to follow the story. The "commoners" include a man watching from home, a group of rowdy pubgoers, an entire hosptial's staff, and a rustic-looking man going about chores. That man is the only one ''not'' watching the coverage. He turns out to be Carlton Bloom, a MadArtist who orchestrated the event to make a comment about the Internet age. Not only does his refusal to turn on the TV make perfect sense for someone who's critiquing the BileFascination trope, but it also serves as a clue to viewers: Bloom doesn't need to view the action because he knows what's happening already.

* IntrepidReporter: Malaika, a journalist at [=UKN=], will do anything to get an award-winning scoop -- be it sending nudes to a government official for insider tips on Downing Street's next move, or deliberately walking into the building believed to be holding the princess as the strike team raids it. Deconstructed, as she's caught and shot for getting in the way of operations.

* MortonsFork: The nature of the demand: if Callow doesn't do as the kidnapper demands, Susannah will be executed and his reputation will be damaged because he allowed a beautiful, beloved young princess to die just to protect his image; if Callow does, his reputation will be damaged because, well, [[NeverLiveItDown he'll always be known as PM Pig Fucker]]. When Callow prepares to engage in the actual demand, Secretary Cairns tells him that he can't try to finish quickly and get it over with, as that will make him appear eager.

** Played with in Michael Callow. While he is fairly clearly intended to be at least reminiscent of UsefulNotes/DavidCameron (who, incidentally, episode writer Creator/CharlieBrooker has an intense hatred of), Brooker has denied that Callow is based on Cameron, and notes that in any case the Prime Minister is probably the most sympathetic character in the episode. Still, Brooker was later amused to see [[https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/shortcuts/2015/sep/21/pigs-prime-minister-black-mirror-ashcroft-allegation-charlie-brooker Cameron accused of something reminiscent of this episode...]]

* PassThePopcorn: During one of the news reports discussing the reactions on Website/YouTube and Twitter a message to this effect is briefly shown.

* SensoryAbuse: In a last ditch attempt to stop people watching the broadcast, it's preceded with a minute-long tone [[BrownNote that supposedly causes nausea]].
* ShaggyDogStory: As if the Prime Minister actually giving in to the kidnapper's demands wasn't bad enough, a scene shortly afterwards reveals that he didn't ''have'' to go through with it. The Princess was released a few minutes before the deed was done, but with everyone else glued to their screens in [[BileFascination morbid anticipation]], she walked across a bridge unnoticed.
* SlaveToPR: The Prime Minister; played for drama. If he doesn't do the deed, Susannah will die and the backlash will wreck him, and possibly threaten his family. He does eventually acquiesce, but the experience is extremely traumatic.

* TakeThat: To David Cameron. Although played with; while the Callow[=/=]Cameron links are there, and while Callow isn't exactly a paragon of humanity himself, he is portrayed quite sympathetically and his experiences are ultimately ''not'' something to be laughed at or dismissed.
* ViewersAreGoldfish: An in-universe example. When the story of the kidnapper's demands first breaks, public opinion is relatively split over whether or not Callow should give in--but once news of the SWAT team's failed rescue attempt and Secretary Cairns's plot to use a porn actor leaks to the press, the public ''instantly'' turns on the government and starts calling for the Prime Minister to agree to the plot immediately. Later, those same individuals express horror and disgust when Callow actually goes through with it. It's all part of Bloom's critique of new media and his belief that it is causing attention spans to decline and independent thought to vanish.

* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom fucks a pig on live TV to save a hostage - something which ultimately turns out to [[ShaggyDgStory have been completely pointless]]. ''Welcome to Black fucking Mirror.''

[[CaptainErsatz Princess Susannah]] is kidnapped while the abductor taunts the police and press by releasing videos on the internet. The singular demand? That the Prime Minister [[{{Squick}} have sexual intercourse with a pig on live television.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=midBr3d3MUg Trailer here]] ([[{{NSFW}} Chance it if you want]])

It stars Creator/RoryKinnear (Callow), [[Film/{{Birdman}} Lindsey Duncan]] (Cairns), Creator/DonaldSumpter (Julian), and [[Series/RipperStreet Lydia]] [[Film/StarTrekBeyond Wilson]] (Susannah).

* VomitDiscretionShot: Poor, poor Michael Callow.

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: In between a faceless and ill-informed mob loudly braying for the Prime Minister's actions on social networking sites and watching a man who's been compelled to have sex with a pig live on national television with horrified fascination, self-serving politicians and media cynically attempting to twist the issue to their advantage while putting on an air of 'above-it-all' self-righteousness and self-importance all throughout out and the kidnapper who put everything into motion in the first place solely to prove a point and create a twisted art performance, humanity as a whole doesn't exactly come out of this one well.

** Princess Susannah is basically a cross between Princess Diana (widely popular among the public and a campaigner for good causes) and Kate Middleton (a fashionable recent university graduate, only recently married).

* NoPartyGiven: The episode never states to which party Callow belongs, though he stands in for Cameron, a Conservative PM.

* MortonsFork: The nature of the demand: if Callow doesn't do as the kidnapper demands, Susannah will be executed and his reputation will be damaged because he allowed a beautiful, beloved young princess to die just to protect his image; if Callow does, his reputation will be damaged because, well, [[NeverLiveItDown he'll always be known as PM Pig Fucker]]. When Callow prepares to engage in the actual demand, Secretary Cairns tells him that he can't try to finish quickly and get it over with, as that will make him appear eager--but he also can't take too long, or people will think he's enjoying it.

* ComeToGawk: Everyone in the UK watches the broadcast either for amusement or out of pity. Even those expressing disgust at others for watching are watching it themselves in horror. [[spoiler: They're all so preoccupied with the prospect of the PM having sex with a pig on live television that none of them notice that the princess was released ''half an hour early,'' which it turns out was the kidnapper [[HumansAreBastards trying to make a point.]]]]

* RapeAsDrama: In the end, being out of other options, Callow very reluctantly decides to go through have sex with the pig. The extreme humiliation and trauma he experiences while doing this is played as ''deadly serious''.

* ComeToGawk: Everyone in the UK watches the broadcast either for amusement or out of pity. Even those expressing disgust at others for watching are watching it themselves in horror.

* FingerInTheMail: The kidnapper mails the Princess' finger to the press after it is revealed that the PM is using a [[ItMakesSenseinContext body double in a sex tape.]] However, forensic examination shows it's NOT the Princess' finger. In an appallingly extreme bluff, it's the ''kidnapper's''.

* StreisandEffect: In-Universe. They tried to take down the video on [=YouTube=], but it only made it even more popular. The news tried to censor it by not talking about it, but it only made it more popular on social media.

* ReactionShot: This is how the actual demand is shown--after the Prime Minister tearfully remarks that he loves his wife and begs for God's forgiveness, the camera cuts to various people facing the screen. Their expressions gradually go from amused to absolutely ''horrified'' as the act goes on, with several viewers turning away and looking sick. One young woman remarks that it's been going on for over an hour before it's finally over...and yet, just as the kidnapper knew, they couldn't turn away.

* MortonsFork: When Callow prepares to engage in the actual demand, Secretary Cairns tells him that he can't try to finish quickly and get it over with, as that will make him appear eager--but he also can't take too long, or people will think he's enjoying it.

* HappyMarriageCharade: By the end, Callow and his wife present the facade of a happy marriage to the public, but once they're behind closed doors it's revealed that their relationship is destroyed.

* HappyMarriageCharade: By the end, Callow and his wife present the facade of a happy marriage to the public, but once they're behind closed doors it's revealed that their relationship is ruined.

* IntrepidReporter: Malaika, a journalist at [=UKN=], will do anything to get an award-winning scoop -- be it sending nudes to a government official for insider tips on the government's next move, or deliberately walking into the building believed to be holding the princess as the strike team raids it. Deconstructed, as she's caught and shot for getting in the way of operations.

* XanatosGambit: Michael Callow finds himself on the receiving end of one after the SWAT team fails to find Princess Susannah. Either he has sex with a pig and gets mocked by the country or he doesn't have sex with a pig, keeping his dignity but losing any chance at retrieving Princess Susannah and incurring critical backlash from the country for prioritizing his dignity above the life of Princess Susannah.