The Titan Submersible Tragedy or 'Black Mirror' season 6 episode 6

  Last Friday I sat down to watch the long awaited sixth season of the critically acclaimed show, Black Mirror. A show, in which the hubris, callousness, and stupidity of the modern day is tangled up with technological innovation and social media, often to harrowing effect for the characters in each episode. The show's five episodes this season offered a fresh take on the themes previously outlined as well as introduced the supernatural into a world that felt lively but spiritually sterile. My roommates and I screamed at the twist ending at the end of 'Loch Ness', danced at a particularly clever needle drop during 'Mazey day', and discussed the wider universe shift of the show after the end of 'Demon 79'. At the same time, unbeknownst to us and the rest of the world however, five men were about to set out into the depths of the ocean and the following tragedy and media circus would result in a saga fit for 'Black Mirror'.

After a brief delay, Oceangate's 'Titan' submersible set out on its journey at 8 a.m. EST on Sunday, June 18th. They were set to do a tour of the wreckage of the Titanic and to do so, they would first have to descend the 13,000 feet to the Titanic’s resting place, explore for a time, and then return by 3 p.m. However, communication with the surface vessel was lost at 9:45 a.m. Then, the submersible failed to show up at the designated time. This of course troubled Oceangate staff so they contacted the US coast guard at 5:40 p.m. regarding the missing vessel. By Monday, a massive search was underway complete with both US and Canadian ships and planes. It is also at this time that officials announce that the submersible is estimated to have between 70 and 96 hours of oxygen left. From here on, the story takes a turn.

While the search was underway, the media entered a frenzy with the kind of energy regarding an experimental missing vessel that I haven't seen since 'Balloon Boy'. There was round-the-clock coverage of how much air they had left. Interviews with hobbysist and scientists. Puff pieces about the founder of Oceangate, who was on the vessel, followed by an expose on how his disregard of safety conventions and wackadoodle approach to adventuring got them in this mess in the first place. Simultaneously, social media was buzzing with some of the most dastardly memes I've ever seen. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've seen what essentially boils down to "That's kind of shit you watch from the surface"-esque jokes. The mood especially on twitter was darkly jovial, similar to Black Mirror's season 6 opener 'Joan is awful'. Then came the hot-takes. "These people are humans and it is disgusting to make jokes at a time like this", followed by "These rich guys are probably dead because one of them thought he could outspend nature" and let's not forget, "We are wasting valuable resources on a futile search for a glorified tin can that had no business down there anyway" each take more true yet annoying than the last. Then, the timeline on the "remaining oxygen" ran out early Thursday and we could definitely say that all on board had been lost. 

Now, I want to begin by saying first that a loss like this is indeed tragic. One of the passengers was a 19 year old boy who was only on the vessel at the insistence of his father and that is truly heartbreaking. However, this was all so comically avoidable that it's hard not to feel indignant and a little smug about the entire thing. All passengers on board were part of the oppressive 1% that have destroyed so much of our economy, environment, and standard of living by virtue of their existence. Among the lost was a billionaire who owned a company specializing in private jets for the ultra wealthy. Jets that we know dump a disproportionately large amount of emissions into our atmosphere. Not to mention, it has come out that the CEO of Oceangate purposefully skirted safety regulations and ignored warnings from industry specialists, then charged $250,000 a ticket to take people down to the ocean floor in this death tube. It's absolutely inane and to top it all off, the navy and industry specialists knew and suspected that the submersible had imploded and they let us all do a grim countdown for days for absolutely no reason. This entire situation also exposed our media's deep biases. This week while the missing sub has received near constant coverage, the general news media has been silent on the sinking of a migrant ship in the mediterranean sea, where it is believed that hundreds are dead or missing. Notably, no famous explorers have been brought on to discuss that. However I can acknowledge that the use of the migrant ship sinking as a foil to the implosion of the submersible isn’t great either. That tragedy has been used like a “got ya” cudgel to own those who care for the millionaires lost on the submersible instead of being treated with the space and attention it really deserves which is that of the latest in the heart-breaking and never-ending mistreatment of migrants escaping unlivable conditions in their home countries. Not as a special hat you put on to let people know you’re better than them because you focus on the right things at the right time. Both of these situations are indicative of the destructive nature of capitalism in different ways in our society, with the logical conclusion being death all around. 

Returning to Black Mirror, it is fitting for a show like this to release its new season just to be overshadowed by a public interest tragedy more faithful to the theme of the show than they could ever hope to write. Black Mirror compels viewers to take a hard look at our current society and its likely future and ask if we want to be a part of it. While the answer usually ranges from “Nah” to “Dear God no”, the show also gives us definite “maybes” to consider. However, I believe this week has shaped a lot of folk’s answers.

Sources:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/syria-migrants-boat-sinking-titanic-submersive-missing-rcna90336

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/23/titan-sub-timeline-when-did-it-go-missing-and-other-key-events

https://www.corporatejetinvestor.com/news/action-aviation-issues-statement-regarding-hamish-harding-onboard-titan-submersible/